Instagram vs Reality

A few weeks ago, I was at lunch with some of my favorite Houston Bloggers and something came up that I haven’t been able to shake off since.! 

Anyways, I don’t know the full story but I guess it had something to do with the Instagram and the Blogger world. How Bloggers make girls, like you, feel bad about yourselves. That we show these perfectly curated photos, dressed to the nines, jetting off to new destinations every week and living this unreachable lifestyle. 

& like….I get it. Trust me. 

It’s even hard for me… but one thing that I want to point out is that honestly …. bloggers are just like any other form of advertisement. Just like that commercial you see on TV or the photo in a magazine, you are only seeing the finished product. 

You don’t see the production that actually goes into it all. For example, for a magazine shoot, a brand has to hire a full team, a model, a photographer, book a location, have the right lighting set and food for everyone and etc. Behind that perfect photo, is chaos and a lot of planning. 

In that same sense, that’s exactly what bloggers do. We create photos and stories that are aesthetically pleasing to you – except we don’t have that full team. It’s actually mind-blowing to me how much work can go into one photo. From the back and forth negotiations, to styling, planning the shoot, picking the location and in my case coordinating with Colton and editing all of the photos since we do all of our own photography. 

I mean it’s amazing and I love that I have the opportunity to do this every day but it can be less than glamorous at times. 

So in honor of International Women’s Day, I want to lift you guys up by sharing some real and not so glamorous parts of blogging. The back story of some of my favorite photos and some major bloopers. 

Instagram vs Reality

Left: a perfectly posed & edited fitness photo. Like, “Posing on the stairs is totally normal!“

Right: “Colton, I can’t breath and it’s freezing. Did you get the shot??” Lol – but really though, it was freezing on this day!! Like ice on the stairs! 

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This photo is one of my favorites, but what you don’t see, is 30 minutes prior, Colton and I driving around looking for the perfect new place to shoot. We were arguing because we were losing sunlight, we were 45 minutes late to his parents for Sunday dinner and it was 25 degrees outside.

Finally, we gave up and took this photo in front of a garage literally 4 minutes before the sun went down. It turned out great!!! But the moments leading up to it were less than perfect.

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Left: My gorgeous, finally put together little “office”! How perfect and clean. 

Right: Stack and stacks of an overwhelming amount of registry gifts that I was procrastinating to put away. Our second bedroom looked like this for months! It’s clean now – lol but it was definitely like this for quite awhile! 

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Left: Casually strolling through the ROD in my “favorite” pink top. | Right: “I swear, I’m about to murder this wind -ha!” 

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Pictured: “Oh how I love just getting twirled in this gorgeous flower field.

Real Life: Having a literal panic attack of snakes because we were not in a gorgeous flower field. We were literally in a ditch, pulled over on the side of a back road in Waco. Also not pictured, a very muddy dog who found a puddle while we were taking these photos. It’s so funny because these turned out so beautiful but I still know what was going through my mind at this time. 

** Side note: my photographer is a genius and so talented **

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Right: “On our way to a Christmas party!! How cautteeee is this little velvet dress??” 

Left: “I’m freezing, I’m over it. Wait, I’m about to sneeze. Oh my goshhh where is my coat??” 

I really do love this dress though lol….. 

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Pictured: “Fitness is life and I just love running on the beach every morning in Destin! It’s just so pretty!!” 

Reality: Colton doesn’t normally follow me on my runs just to take photos -lol. We needed a photo for a blog post and while I do workout every day on vacation, this was definitely planned. I swear I had to fake run like 100x times to get it too! Not to mention, a hurricane was hitting and Colton’s family was right next to us, giving me a hard time by practicing their very own slow-motion, fake runs lol! 

Top: Just hanging out with a cutie on a Sunday 🙂

Bottom: Colton patiently waiting & watching the game while I figured out the self-timer lol. We needed this photo for this post, but when your photographer needs to be in the photo…. you have to improvise! 

 

Left: Picture Perfect at the Beach! 

Right: Lol – not so much!

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Left: A casual #ootd pic 

Right: The 10,000 photos taken to get this one shot. 

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While none of these are crazy or over the top, I hope you get the gist of what I’m trying to say! 

I could have shown even more…. but then we would be here all day because I have way too many blooper photos to count!:)

Just like everybody else, we all show our best lives on social media. It’s just different because it is our jobs to show pretty images. Always remember that no one’s life is perfect and you never know what is going on behind the scenes.

If you’re a reader, reading this, then I hope this shines some light on the topic. I hope to only lift and inspire all of you. 

If you’re a fellow blogger, I challenge you to share one of your Instagram vs Reality photos!:) 

xo,

Lauren