Last week, Megan thee Stallion’s Harper’s Bazaar cover went viral, but not for the right reason. A lot of people were up in arms because they felt like the cover was subpar compared to other covers that they have. In most of the covers, the women are shot in vibrant colors, they are posing in a feminine manner, and they are usually wearing soft glam makeup. The photographer in Megan’s shoot had her in dark clothing, not wearing any makeup, posing in a masculine way, she was even being compared to a wrestler. It even seems as though Megan was not satisfied with her shoot because she edited the pictures before posting them on Instagram.
Megan has definitely had some better shoots. NME is a good example of that. Her photographer was Orin Fleurimont, a black man. For her July cover, she was wearing a vibrant blue, she was wearing soft glam makeup, and she was posing in a feminine way. This shoot shows that it was very capable for Megan to have a shoot like the other women that were on Harper’s Bazaar’s covers. Fleurimont’s portfolio is very remarkable and you can tell he knows his client’s angles and the type of lighting that is needed for the different skin tones. This is the work that Megan needed in her Harper’s Bazaar shoot.
All in all, it is important that photographers learn how to properly shoot black women. Black women can be and are feminine. If all the other women who have been shot for your magazine have looked feminine and soft, then black women should be too. Make sure that you know the lighting that black women need and the types of angles that compliments different
body types. Not only is this disrespectful to Megan, but it tarnishes your own image because it shows that you cannot photograph different types of people.