I read a lovely article from Business Insider that discusses how hotels Photoshop the pictures they put up online of themselves.  while I am glad that a well read website is starting to feature stories like this to shed some light on this growing issue, is this something that we are really surprised by?

I know that personally when I am researching hotels online, I only look at the pictures that guests have shared of a hotel.  if you didn’t know this was an option, check out a hotel on TripAdvisor to see what I mean.

below are some of the examples given in the article of the unreal and real photographs of various hotels:

what you think you are getting…

what you actually get.

what you think you are getting….

what you actually get.

what you think…

what you actually get.

(to be fair though, I didn’t think this one was all that bad. the photographs are just taken at different angles and different times of the day.  I personally didn’t find this one to be deceiving.)

I am happy that they are talking about this topic.  but I do have to add that I do think the article is a fabrication of the truth.  yes, hotels photoshop and edit their photographs.  that’s a fact.  but when you look at the actual pictures of the hotels, they aren’t that bad.  you can take a picture of anything from a certain angle/height/etc. and change the perception of the look.

and that’s exactly what is happening with travel photographs, no matter where they are shared in the digital sphere.

I think this is more of a case that you can’t please everyone.  on one hand, individuals are starting to go against enhanced images of not only travel destinations, but pictures of everyday life (I’m looking at you fashion bloggers).  however, when “real” photos are shared people don’t have the same reactions.  it just doesn’t seem “cool” enough.

what does this mean for society then?  are we really that disgusted with our actual realities that we would prefer to live in a fantasy world?  is reality become so mundane that we feel like we need to participate in this “pageantry of vanity” to make it seem like we are living in a beautiful, fantastical bubble?

share real photographs?  or share enhanced/Photoshopped/different angle photographs?

where do you think the line should be drawn?