A picture tells a thousand words… except when you have the help of a neat Instagram filter.
On March 2nd this year, South African 20-somethings Chanel and Stevo quit their jobs in advertising and quickly became the envy of thousands of people.
They sold most of their belongings, set up a blog and an Instagram account that has currently amassed more than 60,000 followers, and decided to travel the world.
Their blog told stories of travels through Denmark, Sweden and Austria, their Instagram photos of beautiful destinations and breathtaking views.
It was literally picture perfect.
It also was nowhere near the full story.
In their most recent blog post, Chanel and Stevo have told of the ‘behind the scenes’ realities that they haven’t yet documented.
“It’s not all ice-creams in the sun and pretty landscapes. Noooooo. So far, I think we’ve tallied 135 toilets scrubbed, 250 kilos of cow dung spread, 2 tons of rocks shovelled, 60 metres of pathway laid, 57 beds made, and I cannot even remember how many wine glasses we’ve polished.”
Despite coming from comfortable lives, the couple wrote of having to pick up these odd jobs in order to continue financing their trip.
The post continued, “You see, to come from the luxuries we left behind in Johannesburg, to the brutal truth of volunteer work, we are now on the opposite end of the scale. We’re toilet cleaners, dog poop scoopers, grocery store merchandisers, and rock shovelers.”
“It’s painstakingly hard and dirty work.”
Although they talk about the rewards of the last few months, they also called them “some of the dirtiest and smelliest, and we’ve had to adapt with the least amount of necessities and food.”
“We eat jam on crackers most days, get roughly 5hrs of sleep per night, and lug our extremely heavy bags through cobbled streets at 1am, trying to find our accommodation (because bus fares are not part of the budget, obviously).”
After reading their post, I for one was furious. How dare they make myself and other followers so envious of their perfect lives?
How dare they keep up this illusion for so long, deceive us into believing that we were all living a lesser life because we held down a job and had a regular income?
How very dare they?
But… This is the point where I need to admit something.
I am so, so guilty of this. In fact, I did it just last week.
On a recent trip to the Hunter Valley, I asked a friend to take a photo of me as I liked my outfit. I later filtered this photo on Instagram (minimal saturation, a lot of contrast, sharpening, brightness and warmth for good measure) before posting it.
In the end I nailed it, just look:
But the other photos tell a different story.
Hunter Valley - the out-takes.
But this wasn’t the first time.
On a recent trip to Thailand, I posted some beautiful pictures of the ocean and a couple of strategically posed bikini shots (including one of me diving into said ocean, two birds one stone etc).
Here is one of the winning photos:
Yeah I know. It’s awesome. But to get there, many, many shots had to die.
Maybe I, like Chanel and Stevo, am merely using my accounts as a beautiful cover for our otherwise very unglamorous lives.
But then I scroll through my Instagram feed and reminisce about all the wonderful, highly filtered memories I created on it, and I smile.
And really, like life, you only get one shot at your Instagram post.
Why not make it the best one?
h/t Adweek
Are you guilty of airbrushing reality from your social media feed?
Top Comments
I have travelled extensively, in particular in my late teens and twenties. When I look back on my hard copy photo albums of 10 years ago I feel a private joy, a sense of personal achievement, a nostalgia for good (and challenging) times. Whilst I will now post the occasional travel pic into Facebook I am always mindful of not being a show off (lots of my friends could never afford to make even one such trip in their lifetime) and of the very personal aspect of taking time out from everyday life. I'm no old fogie, but the obsession with projecting a perfect life online makes me squirm with its falseness.
I have taken pretty much any and every opportunity to travel throughout my adult life and my parents were avid travellers, taking me on lots of holidays as a child too. Yes, there is the reality of life on the road, the highs and lows, but if you quit your job to travel, you will inevitably need to return home or settle somewhere new at some point. This 'starting over' phase is not something many would envy. It can be exciting to discover a new place, but eventually reality sets in all over again. While I have learnt a lot about the world through travel, and don't regret a second of it, there is something to be said for working and taking holidays to interesting/relaxing/exciting places most years like everyone else. Noone has a charmed life, it's all in your attitude and how you make the most of the life you have - whether it's in front of the Eiffel tower, on a tropical beach or at your desk.