The New Yorker Takes on #Vanlife

#Vanlife on the gram. 

A recent story written by Rachel Monroe for The New Yorker features a young 30-something couple and how they've turned their life in a van named Boscha into a profession. (Read #Vanlife, the Bohemian Social Media Movement here.)

Emily King and Corey Smith make around $18,000 a year posting photos on their Instagram account @whereismyofficenow for their various sponsors. They are expert content creators who have tuned into what their 143,000 followers what to see—which is mainly bikini shots of King coupled pictures of their dog, Penny. They've lived in the van for four years now and have posted over 1400 photos to the account.

Monroe writes: Scrolling through the feed in chronological order, you can see King, who shoots most of the photos, become better at composing and editing images, and at tailoring them to what the audience wants to see. In the early days, she took pictures of flowers and sunsets. “I’d never post something like that now,” she said, looking at a closeup of ripening blackberries, from four years ago. As I thumbed toward the top of the screen, I had the disconcerting sense of watching a life become a life-style brand.

Read the rest here. 

I thought this story was interesting and thought-provoking. It made me think critically about they way we use social media these days—the good and the bad. 

What do other mountain-centric folk think? 

About The Author

Follow

stash member Leslie Hittmeier

Leslie is a freelance writer and photographer. Storytelling is her focus and she spends her time following badass skiers and climbers around in their natural habitats. As an obsessed skier and climber herself, she plays and trains in the Tetons.