Inside the indulgent world of vacation photography: The perfectly ordinary mothers who are paying hundreds of pounds a day for professionals to take their holiday snaps

By Sadie Nicholas for the Daily Mail

Updated: 17:10 EDT, 12 July 2023

Posing for a professional photographer on an expanse of white sand in St Lucia, Naomi Isted’s clothes are impeccably colour-coordinated with those of her husband and children, their smiles as bright as the Caribbean sunshine.

Bemused onlookers peer over their sunglasses eager to fathom the scene before them. Could they be models showcasing a new range of family beachwear, or perhaps they’re famous?

In fact, neither is true. They’re just an ordinary family from Hertfordshire who’ve taken the extraordinary decision to hire a photographer for their holiday — paying him hundreds of pounds to ensure their picture-perfect, sunkissed memories are caught on film.

‘It avoids the risk of getting rubbish pictures, or photos of only three of us at a time,’ says Naomi, 44, a broadcaster and interior designer married to property developer Haydn, 50, with whom she has children Fleur, 13, and Rocco, eight. ‘In the past, if I wanted photos of me with the children I’d have to pester Haydn to take some under duress. The results were often so poor I wouldn’t want to show them to anyone. Then I found a photographer in the Turks and Caicos in 2017, and haven’t looked back since. My kids smile for the camera when there’s a stranger behind it, and it means we get a gorgeous set of pictures of all four of us taken in as little as half a day.’

Welcome to the indulgent world of vacation photography. You might think the practice would be limited to image-conscious celebrities, but it’s a fast-growing trend with many ordinary people. Forget switching off with a book and leaving your hairdryer at home when the kids break up for the summer holidays. In the era of Instagram perfection, even a family beach holiday demands glossy photos for your grid and expertly filtered smiles for the Christmas card.

And women, in particular, are ready to part with thousands for the privilege. Companies such as Flytographer and Angel are cashing in on the boom, connecting travellers with photographers in their holiday destination.

Nicole Smith founded the former a decade ago. ‘Since then, we’ve had tens of thousands of people use our services to hire a photographer around the world, including solo travellers, couples and more than 20,000 mums,’ she says. ‘It’s so important for mums to get into the photo instead of always being the invisible one documenting the moment.’

For Naomi, hiring a vacation photographer is as much a part of a family holiday as buying a new bikini. In the past six years, they’ve had multiple shoots in St Lucia, Los Angeles, Turks and Caicos and Miami, their long-haul destinations of choice.

Prices start from £300, depending on the photographer and duration. The family’s most recent shoot, during the Easter holidays, was a six-hour stint in St Lucia costing around £100 an hour, for which they were all dressed in white and blue.

‘I always have colours and outfits in mind, and plan them when I’m packing our cases. My husband and kids don’t enjoy the shoots, but they prefer them to the alternative, which is me pestering them for photos throughout the holiday,’ she says, revealing that she sometimes hires a hair and make-up artist to get her camera-ready, too. (You can add on another £50 an hour for that.)

‘My husband would prefer to be lying on the beach with a cocktail, while the children would rather be in the sea. There have been many moments when I’ve told them we’re having a shoot and their reaction is: “Oh, please no, it’s so boring!”‘

Veterans of holiday photography know that getting your oh-so perfect photos means military precision planning to avoid possible pitfalls. Naomi once booked a photographer for the start of a Caribbean holiday, with the family’s skin still pasty from a British winter, save for sunburnt shoulders and noses.

‘Now I book the shoot for the end when we’re tanned, and make sure it ties in with the most photogenic locations or activities. I post them on Instagram, and use them for family Christmas and birthday cards. This summer, we’ll be holidaying in Florida and California, and I’m now looking for photographers.

‘People may say it’s an absurd luxury, but I’d argue that you can’t put a price on capturing memories we can then treasure for ever.’

Hannah McClune is another devotee of hiring vacation photographers — even though she’s a professional photographer herself. ‘Before, it was always me taking pictures on holiday, but rarely appearing in them,’ says Hannah, 41.

She lives in Reading with husband, Neil, 44, a finance manager, and their sons, Myles, 12, and Alexander, nine. ‘It would feel like work.

‘So when we flew to the Dominican Republic a couple of years ago, I knew there must be plenty of photographers on the island. I found a great one on the internet and briefed her to take candid shots of us all wearing white on the beach.

‘She and her assistant drove us to a remote beach and snapped away as we played with a football.

‘I took a variety of outfit changes, mostly colour-coordinated T-shirts, shorts and swimwear in bright shades to reflect the tropical vibe. The boys did get fed up, but we gave them snacks while the photographer took shots of me and my husband in the sea — the first photos on our own since our wedding day in 2009.’

The half day’s photoshoot cost around £700. Another in India two years ago was £300. ‘We holidayed in Kerala and the photographer turned up with three assistants,’ Hannah recalls. ‘We were up at 7am to go to a tea plantation. But it wasn’t quite as successful as the Dominican one, because the photographer staged a lot of the photos.

‘We only had one outfit change into swimwear there as we were travelling in a taxi, so there wasn’t really anywhere to change.

‘The kids sometimes complain, but it’s all over and done with in a matter of hours. My advice is to have a shoot towards the end of a long-haul holiday so the kids aren’t jetlagged. The best way to find a photographer is on Instagram and look for one with a photographic style similar to what you want.

Photographer Juliet Lemon, 41, specialises in wedding, corporate and wildlife photography, but since 2013, well-off families have also been hiring her to travel with them to document their holidays. Charging upwards of £2,000 a day, Juliet recently spent eight days in Finland with one family, snapping their adventures in the Arctic Circle. She’s also been to Palma, South America and on multiple safaris.

She says: ‘The clients who flew me to Finland wanted to be fully immersed in the holiday, not fretting about taking photos,’ explains Juliet. ‘Having me there meant they could enjoy those magical moments husky sledging, feeding reindeer, ice fishing or watching the Northern Lights, while I discreetly snapped away.

‘I accompanied one family on a multi-generational holiday to Africa, photographing them in the desert and whale watching at sea. Since the trip the grandfather has died, meaning the photos I took are now even more precious to his family.

‘Of course, there have been more challenging clients, too. One memorable woman hired me to travel with her, but often cancelled our day’s shoot at a moment’s notice if she wasn’t feeling in the mood.’

As Juliet points out, there’s a big difference between snapping away on an iPhone and having an experienced photographer, who understands lighting techniques and has everything from underwater equipment to drones and long lenses.

She wouldn’t need to convince hair and make-up artist Joyce Connor of the benefits. Last year, Joyce hired photographers for solo bucket-list trips to Cairo and Cappadocia in Turkey, and boasts envy-inducing pictures as a result. ‘I’m the world’s worst selfie-taker and asking a stranger to take a picture is a gamble,’ says Joyce, 59, who’s single and lives in Reading.

‘One man took photos of himself with my phone as he’d flipped the camera by mistake. In Cairo, a photographer charged me just £40 for a three-hour shoot. He doubled as a terrific tour guide.’

Joyce was so blown away that she planned her Cappadocia trip entirely around a photoshoot.

‘I wanted the shoot against the backdrop of Cappadocia’s famous hot-air balloon rides at sunrise in tribute to my sister who died last year from cancer, but loved them. I booked my flights around the photographer’s availability.

‘He even hired a fabulous, floor-length purple gown with a flowing skirt for me, which makes the photos even more sensational.’

Joyce was collected at 4am for a three-hour shoot costing £160, including dress hire, three drone videos and 40 edited images.

‘The assistant held the hem of the dress up, then let go as the photographer pressed the shutter, so that it billowed out in the pictures. I show them to everyone, they’re so incredible.

‘I’m already researching photographers for a holiday in Bali and Singapore in August with my daughter and grandkids to celebrate my 60th birthday.’

High-end stylist Oriona Robb, 46, has spent the past ten summers in various glamorous rented villas on the Algarve with her husband, Colin, 52, an investment banker, and their daughters, aged 21, 15 and ten.

Oriona, from North London, says: ‘I’ve been hiring local photographers for years to take the pressure off myself.’

‘I always style the shoots and prefer us to wear white outfits because it compliments a sun-kissed and glowing complexion. White also brings a simple, fresh and elegant aesthetic to the photos. I’ve bought a beautiful white dress for this summer, which cost £400 from Ivana Ma London.

‘There are always a few rows when it’s time for a photoshoot, though. Someone will be in a bad mood, or too hot and bothered. Whenever we gather for a shoot, the temperature seems to be scorching, so we end up sweating and arguing.

‘My husband is the only relaxed one on the shoots and just goes with the flow. When we see the pictures afterwards everyone is happy. I have a wall on the landing with all the black and white framed photos, and it’s super emotional seeing how we are evolving as a family from one summer to the next.’

Oriona pays around £150 per hour for a half day’s shoot and sometimes has a photographer a couple of times during the summer. ‘I always have a few taken on my own, too, styled in the pool, or a particularly photogenic part of the villa.

‘It’s pure convenience and indulgence, but the memories are worth every single penny. It wouldn’t be a summer holiday without a vacation photographer now.’

There are some tough photography-related words to pronounce, but which ones trip up the most photographers? SimpleGhar used the online pronunciation resource, Forvo, to find out. Which photo words did Forvo users look up the most?

The most mispronounced photography word is “bokeh,” which Forvo users have listened to the pronunciation of 20,000 times.

But how does one pronounce “bokeh?” According to Forvo, it is “bow-kuh,” but is that correct? It is no wonder that so many people are trying to get to the bottom of the “bokeh” conundrum because many photographers can’t agree, either.

As it turns out, despite its Japanese origins, there is divergence within Japan concerning the pronunciation of “bokeh,” so there is not one true answer.

When it comes to the second-most listened-to photography term, the situation is thankfully much more straightforward. “Aperture” has been listened to 17,000 times on Forvo. “App-er-chur.” Easy.

Next up on the list is a word that should be very familiar to PetaPixel readers — “pixel.” “Pik-suhl” is the correct pronunciation. Perhaps some people think it might be “pick-sell?” It is common for PetaPixel staffers to hear someone mispronounce the first half of the site’s name.

Throughout the rest of the top 10 are a few other surprising inclusions, such as “JPEG” at number five, “viewfinder” at number 9, and “backlighting” rounding out the top 10 list.

Camera companies were not included in SimpleGhar’s “Photography terms” list, but if they were, “Nikon” would have topped the list with 43,000 listens. Nikon instead made the “Consumer Tech Brands” list in the number 12 spot.

Nikon’s correct pronunciation is an unending debate among photographers. Per Forvo’s pronunciations, all come from users in Nikon’s native Japan, English speakers routinely miss the mark.

Nikon itself says there is no debate — there are multiple correct ways to pronounce the company’s name, including the popular “Nee’kon” and “Nick-on” in the United States and the United Kingdom, both of which are a bit of a departure from the Japanese pronunciation of Nikon.

Other photography-related companies making the brand list are Sony at number three, Adobe at number six, Panasonic at 18, and GoPro in the 20th position.

Additional lists of mispronounced technology words are included in SimpleGhar’s complete article. “GIF” makes one of the lists, by the way, although SimpleGhar sidesteps the controversy by saying that the hard or soft “g” sounds are both correct.

Mr. Jones was surfing on Sunday off the coast of Sumatra when the fin from his board cut an artery, The Associated Press reported.

… another great day, marred only by about ten program crashes the past couple of hours whilst I was trying to get the photos worked up that are included in tonight’s missive. Just for fun I added some pretty testy language to the mouthed complaints of the birds who are acting out tonight … also for fun, they spoke some words that earned them a mouth washing or three. The beta version of Photoshop has some serious problems and with more than ten crashes since midnight it has truly irritated me … but then, I know it is the beta version and stuff like this can happen in beta!

I like the little squabble going on in the two photos … first the guy gets his words in and then the gal lays it on him and he heads straight up and out before her wrath gets worse!. Absolutely no comparison with humans though … sure thing … you betcha!

Below is the Gem Silica I am working on … just finished rough shaping and now it is time to bring it down the diamond wheels before putting the final polish on it with cerium oxide slurry on a polishing pad. This is from rough gem material that I bought from Keith Hodson, back in the 1980’s and this is an exquisite translucent gem! Click on the link above and check it out 🙂

Gotta wrap this … off to Phoenix for lunch with a friend in not that many hours … have a beautiful day and enjoy the human condition … we are here and we get to live and enjoy the beauty of this little planet.

Smiles,

Ted

A bird flies through the sky, and I fly with it. I am in
each pearl of moisture sparkling in the sun. I lie lazy
on the clouds. And I acknowledge my kinship with
each winged thing.

I see all as one, and nothing repels me, as this new
day climbs noiselessly out of the valley of night.

Peace lies over the world and over the world of my soul.

excerpt from On A May Morning by Max Ehrmann

###

The easiest way to reach Mr. Grussing is by email: ted@tedgrussing.com

In addition to sales of photographs already taken Ted does special shoots for patrons on request and also does air-to-air photography for those who want photographs of their airplanes in flight. All special photographic sessions are billed on an hourly basis.

Ted also does one-on-one workshops for those interested in learning the techniques he uses.  By special arrangement Ted will do one-on-one aerial photography workshops which will include actual photo sessions in the air.

More about Ted Grussing …

• As a photojournalist, I’ve seen people make easily avoidable mistakes with their phone cameras.
• Lighting and angles are everything.
• For example, lighting your subject from the front — and not the back — will make for a better photo.

I went to school for photography and now I’m a photojournalist who travels around the world.

I didn’t have a camera growing up, so my first phone introduced me to the craft. Without it, I’m not sure where I’d be. 

While I’ve heard many photographers gripe about the abundance of photos in the phone-camera age, I feel the opposite. I love that anyone can get into photography and want to help people take better pictures.

So I’ve identified common mistakes I see mobile photographers make and outlined how to avoid them. 

Underexposing your photos is a classic mistake

In my opinion, one of the keys to a successful photograph is proper exposure. The image shouldn’t be too dark to see the shadows, and not so bright that parts of it are blown out.

I often see phone images that are too dark or too bright, so it’s worth checking to see if your smartphone camera allows you to manipulate the exposure before you take a photo.

On an iPhone, you can easily control the exposure. Just tap on the screen in camera mode and you’ll see a sun pop up. You can move the sun up and down to find right exposure.

I’ve found that adjusting the exposure is especially helpful when taking a photo in low-light situations.

In the below images, I wanted to capture a sunset landscape outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In my first photo on the left, I let my iPhone automatically select the exposure, but I couldn’t see the details in the shadows. So for the second image, I dragged the exposure up just enough to capture the foreground landscape without blowing out the sunset. 

Lighting your subjects from the back is another no-no

Unfortunately, not all lighting is even.

When the sun is lighting up only a portion of the scene, I tend to see subjects standing in front of the light source. But lighting from behind leaves the whole front of your subject looking too dark.

When I see people taking portraits like this, I want to yell, “Turn around!”

Lighting subjects from the front means the light will face them, which I think usually results in a better image.

Sometimes, however, the background you want includes a source of light, such as a sunset.

In these cases, I’ve tried an alternative strategy — lighting from the side. This way, I am still able to capture the light and color of the sunset without darkening the subjects by having the sun itself in the frame.

The below images of me and my partner on a beach in Mexico are a good example.

Only shooting at eye level is a wasted opportunity

For tips on phone photography, I recently consulted Kiliii Yüyan, a National Geographic photographer who tells stories about how different cultures relate to the environment, from the Amazon to the Arctic seas.

He mentioned that he often sees people default to shooting at eye level with their phones, and noted that this doesn’t always produce the most interesting shot. I agree.

To find the perfect angle, Yüyan said to start by considering the ways shooting with a phone — that’s lightweight and thin — can open up a whole realm of possibilities. 

“One good criterion is seeing how much depth an angle will show in a photograph,” Yüyan said.

For example, he said when photographing a child, an angle looking down at them will typically come out flat and boring. But shooting from beneath the child’s eye level looking up can better show the layers of the person and whatever is above them. 

“We rarely get down below a child’s height to look up at the world, and that perspective can be magical,” he said.

Yüyan’s example reminded me of how I photograph my small dog when we’re outside. When I take pictures of her from above or straight on, I find that I can’t get a sense of her expression or personality, which makes the picture look boring to me. 

But when I’ve snapped the picture while aiming up from ground level, I can see her explorative nature and the way she uses her environment to feel bigger, like perching on top of a rock on the edge of a creek. 

No matter what you’re photographing, take your time, think about light and angles, and shoot away.

Festival season is upon us.  Locally, on the next three weekends, one could easily enjoy Farming Man, Nipperfest, and the Rye Bread Festival without traveling too far from Nipper’s perch in Albany.  The live music, the food and drink, the artwork, the heat-but most of all, the people forming a unique new society for just a day (or four). Bonnaroo is Creole slang for “a really good time.”  I am Bonnaroo is local graphic designer David Bruce’s ongoing film photography project, “archiving life one frame at a time,” a passion project that keeps him trekking to the popular Tennessee festival each summer.

The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is held for four days each June in Great Stage Park, a former 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee.  “The Farm” is transformed with an average annual gathering of 80,000 Bonnaroovians and music around the clock.  Attendees radiate a loving, positive vibe between the What, the Where, and the Huh Stages.  David Bruce first went in 2011 and has gone back for the next 11 festivals (2020 was Covid-cancelled, and 2021 was canceled at the last minute due to flooding from Hurricane Ida).  Armed with old-school cameras and an impressive, downright biblical beard, Bruce sets up in the campgrounds of Outeroo, then sets out to capture the magic of the festival on film.

Leif Zurmuhlen: Why do you shoot film?

David Bruce: Images captured on film have a look and feel that is unique. More and more moviemakers are shooting scenes (and whole movies) with film again for this reason. And I love being able to point to a film frame on my light box and think, “That’s it; that’s the original capture.” To me, that makes it more substantial from an art photography standpoint. Having said this, if I were shooting events for publication or doing commercial photography, it would make sense to shoot digital. Shooting film is an expensive labor of love, but it’s the only way I’ll ever shoot my personal work.  The I am Bonnaroo project is full-on street-style photography, shot mostly on black and white film. I just started incorporating color film a few years ago. Typically I feel that unless color plays a role in making an image better, it can be a distraction.  Then I realized that I was missing something at Bonnaroo-specifically, color is a big part of the festival. 

LZ: What first brought you to Bonnaroo?

DB: In 2011, my daughter was a freshman in college and told me she was thinking about going to Bonnaroo.  I told her I was envious.  Her roommate’s father also wanted to go, and that’s how the idea of embarking on a trip together was born.  I bought a wristband, packed up some gear, and rendezvoused with this girl’s dad in Long Island. It was a leap of faith. We literally got to know each other on the 18-hour road trip to The Farm. Hindsight tells me that this was an integral part of my Bonnaroo journey. Meeting new people from places I’ve never been is a big part of the Bonnaroo experience.

LZ: Why do you keep returning to Bonaroo?

DB: The festival is a visual feast.  I had no idea how overwhelmed I’d be with the Bonnaroo culture from a photographer’s standpoint.  I became aware that I didn’t bring enough film to shoot on my first day there, so I went up to anyone with a camera and asked if they knew who I might be able to buy some from. Miraculously, I found someone who sold me a couple of rolls. Now I travel to The Farm with three 35mm cameras and 40-plus rolls of film.

LZ: How did you first get into photography?

DB: I bought my first 35mm camera in the early ’80s, inspired by photographers like Danny Lyon and Sally Mann.

LZ: What camera(s) are you shooting with?

DB: I have six different Nikon 35mm film cameras that have all been used for the I am Bonnaroo project. 

LZ: Do you find that your subjects react differently to older/film cameras?

DB: Some people recognize that I’m using a handheld light meter and film camera, ask questions, and immediately become more interested. There’s a different kind of interaction because it’s a bit more of a process. I’m not simply pointing my camera at them and shooting 30 frames a second.

LZ: I notice you focus on the festival goers as much or more than the bands-why?

DB: I learned the first year I attended that the people who attend Bonnaroo are truly what makes that festival the unique experience that it is. There’s a real sense of community on the Farm. The photographers that go there to shoot bands do an amazing job of capturing that aspect of the festival. The I am Bonnaroo project is a homage to the beautifully diverse community that makes Bonnaroo Bonnaroo. 

LZ: Do you wear anything identifying yourself as I am Bonnaroo?

DB: Not intentionally. People recognize me probably because I’ve worn the same hat and had the same look since 2011. This has made things a bit tricky for me the last couple of years.  Being anonymous makes it easier for me to meander through crowds and take photos without drawing attention.

LZ: How do you establish trust with your subjects?  Do you always ask first?

DB: I ask first when I can, but when I see a real moment I shoot and explain later. This has always yielded my best images and has never been a problem. The only way to capture real life in real time is to shoot when it’s happening.

LZ: Are you seeing some of the same people year after year?

DB: Yes! Which has been pretty cool. Time and life changes everyone and I love being able to document time this way. My motto is, “archiving life one frame at a time”, it’s tattooed on my arm underneath a tattoo of a 35mm camera.

LZ: How do you think young festival goers now compare to the Woodstock generation?

DB: Both the Woodstock generation and our current generation were and are dealing with a lot of uncertainty. People go to events like this and feel a sense of unity. Everyone is on the same frequency, and they celebrate life in that moment the same way. It’s a shared experience. I wasn’t at the original Woodstock fest but I believe that Bonnaroo would be the closest I could get to it.

LZ: I’m interested in the idea that you’re suited up like Dennis Hopper’s character in Apocalypse Now, with Vietnam-era camera gear attending a communal gathering like the original Woodstock festival.  Do you think you were searching for a peace and love vibe that you may have missed, being too young to go in 1969?  If so, did you find it?

DB: Ha!! That’s wild because Apocalypse Now is my favorite movie of all time. And I’ve dressed up like Dennis Hopper’s character in Apocalypse for Halloween. But I’ve never made the comparison to how I dress for Bonnaroo. I guess the similarity is undeniable. When I first thought about how I wanted my images to look before heading to Bonnaroo in 2011, I immediately thought about the original Woodstock Fest. So I bought a 1969 Nikon F and brought a few rolls of Kodak Tri-X to the Farm. Back when I was 14 years old and living in Nebraska I came across a book of photos from the ’69 festival. I was blown away by those images. I couldn’t imagine what being there must’ve been like. So my camera and film choice for Bonnaroo was deliberate. The Bonnaroo culture is very modern hippie. It’s a modern Woodstock ’69, with laser lights, but organized much better. Radiating positivity is the vibe.

LZ: Do you camp on the festival grounds?

DB: Yes. I don’t fly to Tennessee or stay in hotels. The 1,000 mile road trip to the Farm and living in a tent in a field with tens of thousands of people are all part of what gets me in the frame of mind I want to be in for capturing life for this project.

LZ: Do you have any multi-day music festival survival tips?

DB: Definitely. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment and over do it. It’s a four day festival. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Stay hydrated. Bring sunblock, Gorilla tape and baby wipes.

LZ: Any tips for photographing bands/crowds?

DB: Know what your objective is and focus on gear that’ll help achieve that goal. Leave everything else at home. If you’re going to shoot bands primarily, gear up for that. If you’re taking crowd shots or shooting atmosphere, gear up for this. I think being specific with gear selection will yield better images without generalizing.

LZ: What have you experienced at Bonnaroo that made you laugh the most?

DB: Oh, there are so many moments. I saw a dude walking around mid-day one year wearing nothing but a Dunkin Donuts apron. This year a guy showed up at the Yearbook shoot with his girlfriend and asked if he could get naked for his portrait and proceeded to disrobe in front of a line of people waiting to have their photo taken!

The I am Bonnaroo Yearbook series is a new, official collaboration with Bonnaroo which kicked off this year.  It’s a more refined portrait series in comparison to the I am Bonnaroo Project. It’s all shot on color film with more of a portrait style lens, and I use a diffused flash for a soft fill.  I pitched this concept to Bonnaroo back in February as a possibility for 2024 and they decided to start it this year.  I did an installment exhibition this year (2023) that was made up of nine 12 foot panels of my photos on site.  Bonnaroo had them printed on vinyl with grommets and the intends to use them every year.  It was beyond surreal to see my work displayed at the Festival after 13 years of building this project! 

LZ: What have you experienced at Bonnaroo that made you cry  (if ever)?

DB: I’m not an emotional person but when Paul McCartney headlined in 2013 and 85,000 people all sang Hey Jude in unison… that was a spiritual moment. And this year my daughter, who now lives in Nashville, showed up on site at the Yearbook shoot and surprised me. It was Father’s Day, I hadn’t seen her in months and work commitments had prevented her from attending Bonnaroo this year. But she managed to make it, just for the day.

LZ: What’s next?

DB: I’m pretty excited because I’m a big fan of the ’69 Woodstock Fest and this August is the inaugural Catbird Music Festival, which is taking place on the original Woodstock site in Bethel, NY.   Catbird is showing every sign of being the closest homage to the original Woodstock Fest to date. I’ll be there-dressed like Dennis Hopper, capturing the festival’s culture with my vintage Nikons!

@iambonnaroo

www.instagram.com/iambonnaroo

I AM BONNAROO / Photo Gallery by David Bruce

A photographer has revealed how older male celebrities would look like if they were Photoshopped like women.

Commercial photographer and educator Caroline Ross shared a viral video on TikTok in which she underlined the double standards between how older men and women are edited in images.

@caroline_in_thecity I definitely think about this everytime i see a cute little wrinkles on ‘silver foxes’ and smoothed doll skin on women the same age. #pedropascal #maybeitsphotoshop #photoshop ♬ Makeba – Jain

Ross is on a mission to educate people about Photoshop and teaches “digital media literacy skills” on TikTok — revealing exactly how celebrities edit their images.

In the fascinating clip, which has amassed over 1.1 million views, Ross retouches the faces of older male celebrities such as Pedro Pascal, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Affleck, and David Beckham, on magazine covers — as if they were women.

By Photoshopping these older male stars like their female counterparts, Ross reveals how suddenly their wrinkles are almost entirely removed from the photos. Their pores are also airbrushed away and their skin is smoothed out to perfection.

‘This is Sad’

TikTok users were left stunned by Ross’ video and the astonishing disparity between the beauty standards placed on older men and women in commercial photography.

Viewers called it “scary and sad” while others thanked the photographer for her “important commentary.”

“I think we all knew this but seeing it is something else,” one TikTok user writes.

Another user commented on how male celebrities, unlike women, were allowed to look older on magazine covers. In fact, the photography actually emphasized the attractiveness of the men’s age.

“It’s so interesting because in a lot of these [photos], their age is purposefully accentuated with heavy shadows and low lighting,” a viewer writes.

@caroline_in_thecity Replying to @ohfukc as you wish! Part two of photoshopping men to the same standards we apply photoshop to women #maybeitsphotoshop #photoshoppedmen #letwomenage ♬ Makeba – Jain

The clip was so popular that Ross shared a follow-up video in which she Photoshopped male celebrities of all ages like women. The photographer revealed how different Tom Hardy and Jason Momoa would look on magazine covers if they were edited in this way.

‘Every Image is Retouched’

In a previous interview with PetaPixel, Ross, who is based in Vancouver, Canada, explained how Photoshopping older women is an ubiquitous practice in magazine images.

“Nearly every published image of celebrities is retouched. It’s more prevalent on photos of women over 50. Women in media aren’t allowed to age,” Ross says.

“Retouchers try to hide all signs of Photoshop. For example, a 60-year-old plus woman may still have a few wrinkles in the published image, as removing all of them would look too fake. This often tricks viewers to think that the image is real, as there are wrinkles in the image.”

According to a report by The Cut in 2013, retouchers only ever allow women to have three wrinkles on magazine covers.

More of Ross’s work can be seen on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, commercial photography website, wedding photography, and awards website.

Image credits: Photos by Caroline Ross/Caroline in the City.