How NOT to be a Photographer: The Case of Tony Le-Britton

If you’re in a photography-related industry, I would highly recommend that you avoid working with photographer Tony Le-Britton, unless you would like to work with someone who has used other people’s images as his own, and would like to potentially be paid in eternal excuses. The only bank that accepts that currency is the bank of a**holes.

The short version of the story is: Tony has been caught stealing and using other photographers’ work as his own. He has also not paid me and others huge amounts of money for over a year. I don’t know who else he has screwed over, so I am speaking out. Learn from our mistake.

Here’s the long story of my dealings with Le-Britton…

Just today, August 20th, industry retoucher Natalia Taffarel sent me a message to warn me about Tony. I am so glad she did. The message showcased photographers he had been stealing from and claiming as his work. This shocked me because he had been using those images on his Facebook claiming it was his. Sadly, I did not get a screenshot because it was taken down after he was called out. However, below where I post my conversations, you’ll see him using one of the offending images as his display photo.

Just after Natalia’s message, I saw my friend Dana Cole post a warning to all creatives about him including the images and the photographers he stole from:

The image on the left actually belongs to photographer Yu Tsai.

Here are all the links from the others that he has stolen from: page one and page two.

He even publishes other people’s published work as his own.

The admission of guilt came immediately knowing he blocked everyone that called him out and immediately deleted his website and all his social media accounts.

This is what inspired me to go public about my story.

My Story

I never take on new clients unless payment is completed first prior to working together, or at least 50% of it. With Tony, we had worked together on a couple of jobs in the past and he did pay. So I didn’t think much of it when he asked for help on a commercial hair campaign. He seemed to be working on a regular basis on big jobs — he fooled me using other people’s work even then. Usually, on massive jobs, payment usually comes within 30 to 60 days.

No one has ever not paid me before for a big job like this. I feel very fortunate because I recently had made a post asking how much money creatives were never paid for. Some of the answers ranged in the tens of thousands. However, the more we spread awareness, the more we can help others.

Well, a month goes by after our job and I ask about payment. As you can see, they also loved the images (and are still using it on their website).

You can see where this is going. Below this entire story, I’ll post screenshots from his other “reasons” that span an entire year of excuses.

Around November, I get a message from retoucher Whitney Minthorn out of sheer coincidence, asking me about Tony. It seems he was playing with him as well. And amazingly, the first image is one I also worked on along with the rest of the ones on their website. I will be asking the company whether or not payment was made to Tony on their behalf.

These messages below are just the snippets from our conversation, with date stamps. He gave him the same kind of run around. I even gave Tony the benefit of the doubt as we had worked together in the past. I had been extremely patient.

Below are screenshots from Whitney’s conversations with him going forward.

As you can see, he’s not getting anything.

This is my warning and opinion for everyone else out there in the photo industry: based on my experiences with Tony, I would avoid working with him if you ever have the chance.

As promised earlier, below are screenshots from my conversations with Tony along a similar timeframe. Tony did not know Whitney and I both knew what was going on. We’re looking to see what our options are now. However, we just want to warn others before they fall into the same situation.

(via Retouchist)

About the author: Pratik Naik is a photo retoucher specializing in commercial and editorial work. To see his work, head over to his website or give him a follow on Instagram and Facebook. This article was also published here.