Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t it funny how pictures can be so deceiving? Not really funny haha, but more like, “Funny, you looked way better on Myspace.” Well, I suppose it’s not really funny at all. Quite frankly, I probably shouldn’t say it’s funny, more so crappy. But I digress. A perfect example of the everyday fraudulence; the food menus in virtually every restaurant you’ve ever eaten at. Just think, when has your Western Bacon Cheeseburger ever looked like the burgers in the photos on Carl’s Jr’s menu, with the little water droplets on the lettuce and tomato, and the incredibly juicy, meaty burger patty on the airy, gravity-defying sesame bun? Or how about the ultra cool looking clubs with the uber panache, moody lighting like you see in the magazines or on the club’s website? And when you get there, you realize, “Whoa, it looked so much bigger in the pictures.”

Sadly, as someone who works in photography, I am among those who feed the machine. I make not-so-hot people look like rock stars. I make small rooms look huge. I make average products look like they’re the most amazing things in the world since sliced bread. I make everything look like a big deal. It’s my job. That’s right. I am the asshole that makes everything look awesome for the sake of economical stimulation.

Having said that, you’d think I, Mister embellisher-of-the-average, Captain “Angles”, would know better. Uh, no. I too, have fallen victim to the marketing shams directed at the average American consumer. In fact, my recent Ikea online shopping endeavor further reinforces my point.

This contemporary, stylish, trendy Swedish designed furniture company has fooled me, yet again, into spending my hard earned income on, essentially, particle wood and recycled soda cans remanufactured and fabricated in a third world country, shaped into some chic… thing, for me to take home and assemble myself. Now don’t get me wrong, my apartment looks awesome and inviting and comfortable, just like the catalog. But dammit, if the shit didn’t look so frikkin’ cool, and if I weren’t so overwhelmed with the Swedish eye candy, I probably would have considered, or even thought of, the drawbacks and actually made more logical decisions other than, “Oooh, pretty.” I am such a consumer whore.

Karma sure has a funny way of coming around…

 

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