We’re all either the model, the photographer, or in this case Jake-taking-the-piss-out-of-both, when it comes to Instagram photos.
Whoever you are, you’ve got to laugh at the fake candid pictures many of us indulge in. If you can’t laugh, Jake Arredondo from Arizona will do it for you.
The 28-year-old marketing manager decided to do a bit of light-hearted mockery on his recent trip around Europe where he was astounded at the number of Instagram boyfriends he saw.
Speaking to UNILAD about how the idea came about, Jake said:
I spent over 30 days in Europe. My inspiration came from the hundreds of boyfriends taking photos of their girlfriends.
Everywhere we went, we kept seeing ‘Insta models’ and would just laugh at how many photos they were taking.
A few days into the trip, I decide to impersonate all the models. Sometimes I would involve my friends.
We would first watch girls get their photos taken, and then we would either mimic their pose or attempt to do better than them.
Jake watched these women do their thing and felt he had potential as a fellow Instagram model. God, was he right.
Jake explained how the project snowballed:
At first, it was just me and three guy friends. This led to us having to ask random strangers to take our photo.
We generally looked for someone who would laugh at us to take our photos.
The girl that took the Aqua photo could not stop laughing. I think the whole beach actually laughed at us. Some of the girls’ boyfriends would give me/us high fives.
I would sometimes ask random ‘Insta models’ taking photos if this pose would highlight my butt, if they thought I was pretty enough to be on America’s Next Top Model… Generally, the girls laughed at me and took it in good spirits.
The gallery of familiar yet extraordinary poses are an amusing reminder to stop taking Instagram modelling so seriously.
They largely consist of pensive stares into the distance while in front of a landmark, as if you had no idea the camera, or anyone else for that matter, even existed in the world. That’s how lost in thought you are.
Jake explained how he found people to help him ‘become basic’:
After the Aqua photo, I just kept having friends take the photos. My friend’s sister, who is still in college, came halfway through the trip and fully embraced helping me become basic.
She is the one that gave me posing advice and also told me where to look. Apparently you are not supposed to look directly into the camera.
As for Jake, he just ‘likes joking around’, and would ‘love to have a bigger audience on Instagram just to make people laugh’. He has created over 50 joke Tinder profiles and also spends time editing photos of his friends’ kids.
The point of all this, you ask? He explained:
I just think everyone takes Instagram too seriously, we all need to spend more time having fun.
We think Jake’s got a point.
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