Photographer to the stars BJ Pascual took to social media on Sunday, September 6, to explain the concept for actress Coleen Garcia's maternity shoot for local fashion magazine Preview.
This, after a gossip website compared the photos to Gigi Hadid's pregnancy portraits, and allegedly insinuated that they copied the idea from the supermodel's maternity shoot.
"There was NO WAY we could have copied Gigi's photos," said BJ, who shot Coleen's photos, on Instagram. "Coleen's photos were actually inspired by a combination of the Birth of Venus by Boticelli and The Swing (and partially The Meeting) by Jean Honore Fragonard."
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He also pointed out that they did Coleen's shoot last August 1, while Gigi's photos were not released until August 26.
"So, unless my psychic abilities ako, or baka sobrang close siguro kami ni Gigi, 'di ko lang alam (lol), WALANG WALA talagang way para 'kopyahin' namin 'yung shoot nila! Sadyang nagkataon lang," he wrote.
BJ told the gossip site to "be respectful of Filipino creatives," saying "some of us actually work hard on conceptualizing shoots to create these images."
"Stop making this an issue. While you're at it, please STOP pitting women against each other," he went on. "Pati ba naman mga buntis?! 2020 na. May pandemya pa. Toxic ka pa rin. It's never too late for character development, siz."
It was on Saturday, September 5, when Preview unveiled its September 2020 cover featuring Coleen, who is currently pregnant with her first child with husband Billy Crawford.
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In the exclusive feature, Coleen, who is expected to give birth any time now, opened up about her experience being pregnant during a pandemic.
Coleen first announced her pregnancy last March.