What worries me in the “influencer” landscape, is the unrealism they portray. The cringe and irony.

Hanna put all of these in the spotlight and I could not agree more. Some people are just far too manipulative and deceiving.

So here is a little disclosure or two about my honest “image”.

Not that I’m trying to be (or pretentious as such) an “influencer”.  Sooner or later, someone will suspect that I am lazy.

Disclaimer: The pictures portraying "Expectations" are only derived from alternative free-for-use images. Many that require reference to a specific brand are far and few hence the alternatives.

Studio Setup.

Expectation (left): Sony A7III, Shure SM7B Mic + Boom. Soft box lights + accent mood lighting bar(s). Sound isolation panels. Staging set up, fake plants, moss, shelves, lava lamps, indoor treatments, decorations (Exc all other accessories) ~ $4,500
Reality (right): Used Pixel 4. Used iPhone 5S. Used Nokia Lumia 930 as microphone. Used Sony NEX-5R and 2.8 Lens. Two soft box lights ~ $700.

I should disclose and admit  ~ that I am still saving up to improve my own setup, including room treatments. I am saving up firstly, the wall acoustic slat panels.

The rest of tech meanwhile? Well, let’s just say I’m hanging on.

It is going to be obviously, a far cry from 2019-2022. Back when I was applying jobs to the north of hundreds + working on full trial projects (as part of applications) for free.

My (working) hard drive back then was a failing Seagate® 750gb hybrid (70% disk mark health last time I checked).

Then ~ there's the Sony NEX-5R's infamous 5-10 minutes overheating and battery drain limit. To mitigate these I had to record at 480P. Yes you read that right. "VGA / Video Graphics Array" resolution. 60-70% of ALL the footages in my "best" and most important video so far, as per screenshot above  was recorded entirely in VGA. Why VGA you ask? Simple - to accommodate the dozens if not hundreds, of failed takes.

Typical Meal sample.

But how and what do I eat? That is much more understated.

Expectation (left): 250 - 500g rib eye. ~ $20 AUD. (Excluding the “grass fed”, “grass-finished”, or “organic” butters).
Reality (right): 250g (any) short-dated mince, 2 boiled eggs, sardine spring water, up to 100g worth of cheese. (Per-serve/use-price from bulk purchase) : $2.5 for pork mince + 0.90$ eggs + $1 cheese. ~ $5 AUD.

...And what everyone is anxious and nosy about ~ carbohydrate allowance / refeed / cheat meal) sample.

Expectation (left): entire cheesecake full size. ~ $20 for entire serve. "Organic", "Free-Range" + whatever  extra "Labels".
Reality (right): rice pudding (mushy rice, milk, condensed milk, lemon, eggs) or jam cake (plain flour, 2x eggs, olive oil or butter, choice of jam @ 100g). ~ $4 AUD per entire batch of 1.5 to 2 serves.

My early years of CKD+IF had me believe that "junk discretion cheats" - be it crackers, biscuits and all were good value. Until I prep my own. How times I have changed.

Since we're talking about food, what about cook/prepware?

Expectation: $350+ Instantpots®, $400 drip coffee machines,  $300~$500 artisan mixers.
Reality (right): IKEA® pressure cooker. $5 coffee French press.  A stainless steel pan, sauce pan, and glass tupperware. No plates*.

*As I recently moved to new place earlier this year I had to discard many things I don't technically need. This included bowls and plates. 

Below is a snapshot of what I do in the kitchen.

1. Reusing as much commercial packaging as possible. Chicken liver batches 500g (Coles®) for instance, is quite convenient.
2. Microwave is a godsend. In addition to batch pressure cooking large batches of discounted / short-dated tougher cuts (eg. Pork shoulders, lamb legs, etc) - I almost exclusively rely on microwave to cook all minced meats.
3. No plates at all, just glass tupperwares.  As strange as that may sound, my life in the kitchen revolves around  cooking (oven and/or microwave method), eating and store ~ all using same cook-safe Tupperware. Glass obviously.
4. Bleach, could be your best friend. It whitens, disinfects, cleans, and for pest control ~ may work as detterent (but at least it keeps the environment free off attractants).

Conclusion.

Let me clarify. This isn't an article to intentionally attack influencers for their character ~ insidious or not.

Instead, I am concerned about repercussions upon their own audience. And whatever measures used, at length.

This is all about a reminder that we need to manage our overall expectations, in and out of all mainstream media.  This required honest and straight disclosures.

On the other hand, I admit that being consistently "cheap" isn't necessarily sustainable nor feasible either. Something's got to give. Especially with technology.

I don't know when my mirrorless NEX-5R will die itself out as I've been using that also for my actual paid job. I recently had an entire one TERABYTE NVME gone kaput on me; without warning years worth of work in this project could have been gone / vaporised. Then, there's health effects from relying too much plastic convenience.

I don't think all this needs to be said. But it beckons to be said that I live by what I say, as well as on things I'm willing to compensate. 

Nonetheless, this is still work.

Arriving home exhausted from daily motions, only to be greeted by your "other life" waiting and beckoning the long to-do-list, is not glamour. It's grind. It's actual work.

I hope this clarifies and "settles" the noise from whoever that might be; spouting nonsense about me.

Live-It-Forward,

AW .