Photography: Pictures could be without clothing, barrister said
The barrister and amateur photographer suspended for two years for a conversation with a woman about modelling told her she did not have to start with nude pictures, it has emerged.
Information about Alan Wheetman’s misconduct is slowing coming out after he was found guilty of making “inappropriate comments and behaviour of a sexual nature made towards a female involved in a case he was instructed in at a magistrates’ court in August 2022”.
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) explained: “Mr Wheetman showed his photography website to the individual, which included semi-nude images, and offered to take photos of her, with the suggestion this could be without clothing.”
The Bar disciplinary tribunal ordered the BSB not to issue him with a practising certificate for 24 months.
The tribunal’s full ruling has yet to be published but on Friday it did release a summary that showed that just one of five charges was upheld, with two of them dismissed for having no case to answer and one because the BSB offered no evidence.
The only one that was detailed was the charge that was upheld. This said that, on or around 2 August 2022, while at a magistrates’ court “or thereafter”, Mr Wheetman asked Person A if her eyelashes were real and told her that he had done his own “stalking” on Facebook and found her profile.
He then showed Person A photographs of “semi-nude women” on his photography webpage on the Purpleport website, and offered to take photographs of Person A, “with the suggestion that the modelling could be without clothing, with words to the effect of ‘you don’t have to start with fanny or minge shots, we could do face pictures and then do a bit more if you want’”.
Mr Wheetman went on to offer and then provide Person A with a link to his photography webpage.
PurplePort connects photographers with models. The photos in his portfolio are a mix of artistic-style nude, topless, bikini and clothed images of women.
In a post on his PurplePort webpage last week, Mr Wheetman said the decision should “serve as a warning to all photographers who are employed or working in a regulated profession”.
Reproducing the BSB press release, Mr Wheetman explained that he had been talking to the woman about modelling.
“Please be very careful when engaging people in discussions about modelling or showing any images from your portfolio to anybody in the workplace,” he wrote.
“What may be viewed by some as an innocent discussion about your hobby or pastime, can so readily be interpreted by others as ‘inappropriate comments and behaviour of a sexual nature’.”
