Photographer defends 'Walking Dead with kids' shoot

One of the scenes recreated for a series of photos taken by Alana Hubbard. Photo/Mother Hubbard Photography

A photographer has been forced to defend a shoot in which children act out graphic scenes from hit zombie show The Walking Dead.

The confronting photos, posted on the Facebook page of Alana Hubbard's New Jersey-based business Mother Hubbard Photography, show children recreating zombie maulings, bloody beatings and death scenes.

One scene shows children involved one of the show's most disturbing scenes, in which Carol assassinates a young girl called Lizzie on railway tracks.

Another shows a child dressed up as Negan, the villain who showed up at the end of season six and controversially beat a main character with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. His victim hasn't yet been revealed.

A third shows a girl playing Sasha lying on top of a pile of dead zombie children.

The photos come with warnings and disclaimers, including that the injuries were added using Photoshop. But Hubbard, whose own children played Rick and Carol in the photo series, has been slammed by some viewers.

One wrote on Facebook: "I like The Walking Dead, but it's an adult show for a reason! This is just disturbing." Another said: "WHY would anyone subject their children to this?"

Hubbard replied: "No child was harmed in the making of this .... it's pretend! These are MY children and their friends let's be respectful here. And those of you who don't like it... Don't look at it."

She told Gizmodo: "I don't see it as a big deal. The kids were all laughing, no children were harmed, no children even had zombie make-up on. It was all edited in Photoshop. They had a fun time killing zombies and running around."

And Hubbard admitted the children enjoyed filming the Negan scene the most.

"All the kids wanted to get dead. They had a blast!" she said.