A2E22 PARTICIPANT - Anchy

Behind the Filter

The latest photo is posted on my Instagram, which is already full of my photos form various destinations. Always the same outline, a wonderful view with me in the background.

I am at the local caffee shop. A gentleman approaches me and coughs. I look away from the screen of my laptop.

"Hey! I recognize the inscription on your laptop. You are that Instagram girl who posts awesome photos, aren't you?" Yes, I have my profile name written on the back of my laptop.

"And you are?"

"Instagram Model Manager. I follow your work, refreshing I must admit. I saw the location of your latest post and couldn't miss the chance to see you in person."

"It means a lot to hear that from the manager."

"You have something, a spark, as we say..." he smiled and sat opposite me. I wasn't aware I was being interviewed for the job of an Instagram Model.

The latest post has more than a million likes and counting. My friends would sell a kidney for these numbers. Today, everyone feels the urge to be famous on Instagram. I am given the opportunity to make my work recognizable, of course I want to be Instagram Model.

A month have passed since then. I have been to various educations, my Instagram profile is verified and connected to global profiles. Honestly, everything seems unreal to me. All the profiles of my colleagues are somehow different than mine, I just can't put my finger on it. Today, me and my manager will select and publish the first photos since I became a verified Model. 

"Who is this?"

"It is you, dear."

"What do you mean, it is me? Where did my moles go? I am pretty sure I don't have eyes this big, nor a waist this narrow. I can't post this. What was wrong with the photos I sent you?"

"You still don't understand, you you? Photos must be unattainable. If we publish natively, without filters, we are not really publishing something that the followers don't already have. The goal is for you to be unattainable because than they will do whatever it takes to be just like you. They must think they can achieve what we achieve with filters, because that is the only way we remain the ones who determine trends and order, the power is in our hands."

What have I done? I allowed them to convince me that I was special and valuable so they could use what I created myself and turn it to their advantage. Has everyone here been brainwashed? I don't want to be part of their game, their vicious circle of filters and likes. 

Fancy clothes, luxury trips, extravagant food... At what cost? We are all worth much more than a filter. Everyone is beautiful in their own way, shame that they don't see it themselves. I gave up and returned to photography.

Beauty isn't something artificial. It is in the eye of the beholder, and as long as I am the beholder, beauty is in all of you.