Introducing the 'Plandid': The photo taking over your Instagram feed.

There is a new photo littering your news feed that is, I’m going to come right out and say it, a lie. 

It’s the guy looking out into the distance on a beachfront in Bali, with his muscles mysteriously flexed even though it appears the photo was taken with no warning.

It’s the woman eating brunch, trying to mind her own business, but also reading a very thick, very important book about entrepreneurship.

It’s the Instagram-famous-model, laughing in a bubble bath with TWO OTHER PEOPLE and an inconspicuous bottle of Verve just in-shot.

It’s the photo that leaves you asking one overwhelming question; Who… who took that picture? 

Well – now there’s a name for it: the ‘plandid’.

A ‘plandid’ photo is one that took hours of intensive planning, setup to look as if it’s completely candid.

It’s a picture that screams, “WHAT? I had NO idea that photo was being taken. I was just over here, looking hot by complete accident and somehow, someone got an incredible Instagram shot of it. Lol. Crazy!”

But, no. It is rarely, if ever, an accident. When someone snaps a shot of me without warning, I almost always have one eye half-closed, my mouth gaping open and some undisclosed food item sitting below my bottom lip. It’s… it’s offensive.

The point of the ‘plandid’ is to look completely natural, almost as though you have your own photographer following you around, as you lay on the beach in Positano/drink coffee/standing in front of cars worth more than everything I own.

It’s what the cool kids are doing, i.e. not me. And it’s not just women – men are just as keen on the faux-paparazzi shot.

So next time you see a photo in your feed, of someone looking ridiculously wonderful laughing with a friend, or staring off longingly into the distance, know how much goddamn planning went into that shot.