This article was first published in October 2021.
A hungry wedding photographer's spontaneous act of revenge has made headlines around the world, after he revealed on Reddit he deleted all a couple's photographs after being denied a meal.
Posting in Reddit's popular 'Am I the Asshole?' forum, the user revealed they're actually a dog groomer by day, a job which requires them to take many pictures of animals.
"It's kind of my thing," they added.
"A friend got married a few days ago and wanting to save money, asked if I'd shoot it for them.
"I told him it's not really my forte but he convinced me by saying he didn't care if they were perfect: They were on a shoestring budget."
The photographer agreed to shoot the whole wedding day for only $250 - a small amount for a 10-hour event.
He revealed he followed the couple around for the whole day: "Following the bride as she goes from appointment to appointment before the ceremony, shooting the ceremony itself, speeches and people mingling [during the reception]."
He says he wasn't offered food or even water the entire time.
"I started around 11am and was due to finish around 7:30 pm," he recalled
"Around 5pm, food is being served and I was told I cannot stop to eat because I need to be a photographer; in fact, they didn't save me a spot at any table."
The photographer noted at this point he was getting tired and regretting taking on the job "for next to nothing".
"I told the groom I need to take off for 20min to get something to eat and drink….He tells me I need to either be a photographer or leave without pay.
"With the heat, being hungry, being generally annoyed at the circumstances, I asked if he was sure, and he said 'yes'."
It was then the photographer snapped.
"I deleted all the photos I took in front of him and took off saying I'm not his photographer anymore.
"If I was to be paid $250, honestly at that point I would have paid $250 just for a glass of cold water and somewhere to sit for 5 min."
He turned to fellow Reddit users asking if he was the "asshole", adding the couple's friends had been posting on their social media pages asking to see photos, to which they were not responding.
The post racked up almost 3000 comments, with the majority of users siding heavily with the hungry photographer.
"You could have risked your health and they treated you like shit," one person pointed out.
"They wanted mates rates but didn't even save you food? The dogs are much better people than these 'friends'," another joked.
Another person had regrets over how the photographer handled the situation.
"[The poster] shouldn't have deleted the pictures. As satisfying as it is, they should have just left and then when her friend asked about them later should have said she'd sell them the pictures for double or triple the price."
