Steve Harris defends posting modelling shots onto OnlyFans
Young women who posed for modelling photo shoots have spoken of their horror at discovering the photographer published their images on a website known for including pornographic content.
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Young women who posed for modelling photo shoots have spoken of their horror at discovering the photographer published their images on a website known for including pornographic content.
Port Macquarie photographer Steve Harris has closed down his social media accounts and website after police questioned him at his studio home at Lighthouse Beach last week.
Police have confirmed they spoke to five women who had complaints about 61-year-old Harris, who also worked as a school bus driver, but found no criminal offences had occurred.
They instead issued a warning about reading the “small print” of contracts.
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“Officers urge anyone wishing to report a crime to contact police or Crime Stoppers, and we urge people signing contracts with reputable companies to always read the small print,” a police spokeswoman said.
One tactic Harris employed to drum up business was to contact young women on Facebook offering free professional shoots for their birthdays.
When questioned by The Daily Telegraph last week Harris claimed he had only earned $500 in revenue from OnlyFans over two months and all photographs were taken with consent and knowledge.
“They’re mostly glamour shots on OnlyFans, they’re not all nudes, and the platform has all sorts on it, gardening, actors and models on there,” he said.
“The girls have all signed contracts, they don’t own the pictures, I’ve now taken down images of the girls who have complained.
“They all knew what they were doing and what images they had taken. What difference is there putting pictures on my website where everyone can see them, or putting them on OnlyFans?
“Maybe I should have done more research on OnlyFans, I don’t do porn, I imagined it was 50-50 … I was just trying to make a dollar, I made a mistake.”
Danika Ahern, 21, was 16 when Harris approached her offering a free photo shoot that could help launch a successful modelling career.
She continued to model for him over a two-year period but was horrified to find eight photos of her on OnlyFans.
She said while she was underage she never had her parents with her but Harris has denied this, saying adults were always present for anyone snapped under 18.
“It started off well, he got me paid work for a Manning Shoes advert and said when I turn 18 I could do nudes if I wanted,” she said.
“I was young and naive, desperate to do clothes modelling, I kept saying no and ignoring his crude comments.
“I said no to nudes so many times and he agreed if I did, because I was young, they would never go anywhere – there are eight photographs of me on his OnlyFans, one in a see-through shirt but he’s removed the silhouetting and you can see the outline of my boobs.
“I never agreed to nudes, or to be pictured on OnlyFans, now I’m all over a site that shows porn with perverts leering at me.”
Sydney mother of four Emily Gainge, 27, was distraught to discover two months ago naked photos of her had been uploaded to OnlyFans.
“I did one naked for my own use and told him never to use it, but it’s on OnlyFans,” Ms Gainge said.
“He might make a few bucks out of it but now half of Port Macquarie has seen me naked.”
Mother of two Steffanie Davies, 23, complained to police Harris pressured her to remove the top of her swimsuit but she refused five years ago.
She said she also found photos on OnlyFans.
“His house was creepy, there were framed, naked, pictures of girls everywhere,” she recalled.
“I wanted a professional picture of me after having my first child, he messaged me on Facebook and when I looked up his website it said he was a respected school portraits photographer.
‘’He kept telling me to pull down the top, I refused, Steve convinced me to pull the straps of my swimsuit down and wrap a sheet around me and lie on a daybed so I looked naked.
“When you do a professional shoot you expect it to stay between you and the photographer – how did I end up on a porn site without giving permission?”
A mother of two, 29, who asked not to be named, was 23 when she agreed to a photo shoot in the family’s ten-acre paddock in Port Macquarie. She says side on nudes of her getting changed behind a piece of fabric have ended up on OnlyFans.
“I’m so upset and have lost sleep over it, I’ve gone to the police, they say legally he’s done nothing wrong, I signed a contract, the small print says I waived my right to owning the pictures,” she said.
Harris said he had quit his job as a school bus driver following the complaints from the women and he never intended to cause any harm.
“It was never the intention to hurt anyone, I’m allowed to take photos for the promotion of this business,” he said.
“My reputation has gone, I’m destroyed, I had to tell my brother, my boss, I know the girls are devastated, I apologise to them.
“Anyone under 18 had adults with them, I’m not sleazy and creepy, I voluntarily rang my boss and resigned as a bus driver.”
Harris’ now-removed website Fab Photos 4U describes himself as Port Macquarie’s premium schools portrait photographer.
He had only recently began promoting his nude photographs and his OnlyFans account through his different companies, Amorous Photos 4U and previously Fab Photos 4U.
Before it was removed the website boasted about daily posts to OnlyFans for which his followers pay $9.99 for access to his feed.
In one post uploaded through Amorous Photos 4U he writes ‘super hot tkini on superhot twenteen model”. In another he boasts “gorgeous babe with lovely boobs in tiny hotpants (boobs and camelto (sic)”.
Originally published as Steve Harris defends posting modelling shots onto OnlyFans
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