Woman's Viral Photo Capturing Couple's Proposal in San Francisco Divides Netizens over 'Ethics'

Earlier this week an American photographer attracted the attention of netizens after she posted a picture of a wedding proposal of a couple in San Francisco. Texas-based photographer Valerie Contreras claimed on her Twitter post on Tuesday that she was just out at the sutro baths in San Francisco when she started suspecting a proposal about to happen. Seizing the opportunity, Valerie went for her camera and captured the moment when the couple shared the intimate moment.

However, she asked her Twitter followers to help her find the couple so that she could send them the pictures, since she did not know them. The tweet garnered over 694.4k likes and 94.1k retweets and eventually reached the couple photographed in the picture. Valerie informed her followers in the following tweets that the Sutro Baths is a popular place at the bay of San Francisco and lots of photography goes on in the area. She also mentioned that she used a zoom lens to take the pictures since she was pretty far away. The photographer further tweeted that she did not want to approach the couple when they were in the middle of an intimate moment and just thought of seeking the help of social media.

Although netizens are praising the photographer for this incredible coincidence, an allegation from San Francisco-based wedding photography Studio iQPhoto soon appeared on Valerie’s Instagram post. The photography company alleged in the comments section that the couple had already hired them to capture the proposal and Valerie jumped in with her camera despite knowing that they were doing the job. iQPhoto had shared similar pictures captured by their photographers on their Instagram handle three days ago. The Instagram post also tagged the couple Jazmine and Ricky Johnson Jr.

Many netizens commented on iQPhoto’s post talking about how they found the pictures first on Twitter through Valerie’s viral tweet. One user wrote, “I don’t really know the full context of what happened but I do think it’s misleading and unprofessional (in a way) for the other photographer but yea.” Replying to the comment, iQPhoto alleged that the other photographer, Valerie, was on their right hand side during the proposal and left shortly after that. They further mentioned that since their crew was focused on the couple they only saw her through the corner of their eye. iQPhoto in their defence say that they did not say anything to Valerie at the time, since she was not interrupting the proposal and thought that she just wanted memories for herself.

Jazmine, the woman in the frame, also replied to the comment and said that she thought Valerie had taken the pictures from another place and not right next to the hired photographers. She also wrote that she and her fiance Rick do not recall seeing anyone else besides the iQPhoto crew, however, she also mentioned that it is possible that at the moment the couple was distracted.

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