THE REALITY BEHIND MY 2016 BEST NINE

Let’s admit it, scrolling through Instagram is fun. Nonetheless, I often have to remind myself of the reality behind everyone’s photos. The life that we show others on Instagram is not 100% accurate. For this reason, I’d like to use this post to demonstrate the reality behind my most popular posts in 2016. I’m hoping that this will help my readers understand that what you see is not always real. Plus, you’ll get to see some of the photos I chose not to post. With that said, here are my top posts of 2016: 

9 & 8. Polka dot wall (Chattanooga, TN)

It’s no secret that I have a bit of an obsession with brightly-colored murals. In fact, after seeing so many pictures of this particular polka dot wall in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I knew I had to see it for myself. So, my mom and I took a quick day trip up to Chattanooga (only a little over a 2-hour drive). After arriving, it took me a while to locate the wall. For those looking to find this mural, it’s directly across from the Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel. 

Now, here are some outtakes to prove that I look like a dork in 90% of my unedited photos.

Top by Pitusa.co

7. The side of the Pink House (Savannah, GA)

This photo was born as my family waited for our food to come to the Pink House for dinner. First of all, a big shoutout to my boyfriend, Cristóbal, who is typically the photographer when I appear in my photos. He was kind enough to get up from dinner before the sunset and take pictures for me. We did quite a few shots of me in the same place, and Cristóbal stood across the street from the side of the restaurant to take them. Here’s what the photo looked like before I edited it for Instagram along with an outtake:

6. Sunset in White Sands (Alamogordo, NM)

This is probably my favorite photo of 2016 because of how much I enjoyed White Sands. Nonetheless, what the photo doesn’t show is how crazy the wind was and how covered in sand my friend Katharine and I were after exploring the dunes. In fact, we were traveling in Katharine’s tiny Honda Fit that kept getting pushed back and forth from the wind. Tips for saving yourself some trouble at White sands: wear sunglasses to keep the sand out of your eyes. While the photo that I posted on Instagram looked great and super colorful, here is the original photo along with a silly outtake:

All of this goes to show just how much a little bit of editing via Snapseed makes a difference!

5. Windy White Sands (Alamogordo, NM)

Like I mentioned in #6, it’s REALLY windy at White Sands National Monument, making pictures a bit of a struggle. My hat actually kept blowing off my head, and I had chased it a few times, so I decided to hold it in my hand for the picture. You’ll notice that even in the photos where my hat is on my head, my hand is holding it in place! Even in #5, I have my hand holding back part of my hair so that it would stop blowing over my eyes and into my mouth. So, this pose that I’m doing is not as glamorous as the picture might make it seem! Here’s an outtake: 

4. Arabia Mountain Barn (Lilburn, GA)

Wearing: Ember & Earth

I was kind of surprised that this photo did as well as it did on Instagram because it was taken only a few minutes away from my hometown! I had gone hiking around Arabia Mountain with a good friend (Ali), and I brought my camera as I had been told it was a great destination in Georgia for photography! Funnily enough, the photo I really liked was me in front of this barn, not even actually anywhere on Arabia Mountain. To capture this photo, I told Ali to take a bunch of pictures of me walking towards the barn to see if we could get any of me in action. Here is the best funny shot: 

3. The Olde Pink House (Savannah, GA)

Sadly, I don’t have any great bloopers for this shot! Cristóbal (my boyfriend) took this of me sitting in front of the Olde Pink House restaurant in Savannah. If you’re heading to Savannah, this spot is great for photos! I will say you’ll probably want to go at a time of day where the restaurant isn’t super busy to get a shot like this.

2. Wormsloe Historic Site (Savannah, GA)

This shot was taken at the most beautiful place I visited in 2016: Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah, Georgia. I had been worried during the whole trip that I wouldn’t get a good photo at Wormsloe because it had been raining for most of our time in the city. Nonetheless, it stopped raining long enough for us to visit and take some great photos (hence the puddles along the sides of the picture). There were plenty of outtakes before I got exactly the shot I wanted. Moreover, I need to apologize to Cristóbal for getting frustrated when he didn’t take the shot how I had pictured it (oh, the struggles of an Instagram husband). So, shoutout to all the other Instagram husbands out there who make our photo dreams come to life. 

Now, it’s time for some of my not-so-glamorous outtakes:

1. Machu Picchu, Peru

This photo was taken during my trip to Machu Picchu in May 2016 with Santiago Exchange Network. While it’s a great shot of this classic bucket list destination, there’s a lot you can’t tell just by looking at the Instagram. For example, some of my first photos of the day included me with huge sweat stains from doing the hike to get to the top…

And the best outtake of all…

Click here to see your own 2016 best nine.