After a photographer named Edwig Henson posted her pictures without her permission, the 'Good Days' hitmaker warns her fans and followers to 'be careful' working with people they don't know well.
- Oct 27, 2021
AceShowbiz - SZA makes it clear that she's against people who shared her photo without her permission. The "Good Days" hitmaker found it "scary" and disrespectful after her bikini pictures were released without her consent.
On Monday, October 25, a photographer named Edwig Henson took to his Instagram account to post photos that saw the "Hit Different" songstress wearing a blue string bikini with sleek straight hair and clear high heels. Though fans and friends of the singer marveled at her beauty, it appeared that the images were posted without her consent as she commented, "I begged u not to post these."
Expressing her disappointment, SZA, born Solana Imani Rowe, tweeted on Tuesday, October 26, "Releasing pictures of me w/out my consent is scary. Y'all be careful working w folk u don't know well." When one fan asked if her tweet was about the recently released photos, the singer replied in a since-deleted tweet, "He literally text me [and] said 'sorry if u never wanna work w me again but I decided I'm releasing these' never felt more powerless or disrespected."
Following the deleted tweet, SZA penned, "Lemme pray. Cause karma realer than anything Twitter got." After the 31-year-old singer deleted the tweet where she expressed feeling "powerless," she revealed why she asked the photographer not to post her photos.
SZA said, "If I don't want pics out cause I don't wanna fight w My ex , or my album not done and I wanna wait or I decided i DONT wanna be wanna be hyper-sexualized in that way rn." The New Jersey native added, "Das my choice as a woman. As a human."
Shortly afterwards, Edwig defended himself in a statement he wrote via Twitter. "Firstly I would like to apologize for any hurt feelings I have caused by my decision to post my work. I have the utmost respect for women and have no intention of disrespecting anyone," he began.
"With that being said I work very hard in this industry to be able to create freely and make this my full time career," Edwig added. "When it comes to working with celebrity clients I like to believe they will respect my time, energy and work ethic just like all of my clients will."
In his lengthy statement, Edwig explained that "Sza reached out to [him] on Sept 22nd to collaborate on a shoot." He went on saying, "Of course I was excited and said yes right away. I agreed on clearing my entire schedule and began planning a costly shoot all while charging $0 in compensation."
"Once the shoot was done and I sent selects to her I was told to not use the photos which she has her own reasons for," Edwig further detailed. He continued, "Of course I respect her choice to not want them posted however as a creative who paid for a Studio, Hairstylist, & a Makeup artist and got no form of compensation in return, sharing my work with Sza was the only form of compensation I was allowed."
Edwig stated that SZA "agreed on her buying the photos from me for Co-ownership but had very poor communication with management." He admitted that "contracts were made but never signed." He also pointed out that "payment till this day hasn't been made."
"As the photographer I own rights to these images, it was a collaborative shoot. Again, there were no contracts signed and I always respect a contract," Edwig wrote. "I always have good intentions when working with others and I always want the client to be happy."
Edwig also stressed that he's "definitely not doing anything for clout." He added that he's "not a bad person." He concluded his statement as saying, "I'm not arguing with anyone on social media. Never have, never will. And please stop sending death threats."
