Belle Gibson faked cancer. The Stauffers rehomed their adopted son when the content became too difficult. Ruby Franke is currently sitting in a prison cell.

It’s easy to look at the monsters of the influencer economy and think, "I am nothing like them." But if you peel back the layers of how we document our own lives, the difference might be smaller than we’d like to admit.

In this episode, we dig into the "Curator's Disease"—the urge to professionalize our own existence. We look at how commercial production techniques have trickled down from ad agencies to our Saturday mornings, how we reverse-engineer our lives to fit a "Lululemon" aesthetic, and the exhausted reality of treating your family like supporting cast members.

We discuss the difference between capturing a beautiful moment and interrupting a life to manufacture one. It’s time to get out of the Director’s Chair.

In this episode:

• The Monsters: Why the Ruby Franke and LaBrant Family stories aren't just isolated tragedies, but symptoms of a wider infection.
• The Lululemon Brain Worm: How commercial "lifestyle" marketing taught us to fake our own weekends.
• The Composite Client: Patrick breaks down a real commercial shoot to show how "authenticity" is manufactured in a conference room.
• The Interruption: The critical difference between seeing beautiful light and forcing your kids to stand in it.
• The Unpaid Internship: Why you’re exhausted from trying to hit commercial production standards on a home-video budget.

Connect with The Terrible Photographer:

• Website: The Terrible Photographer
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• Email the Host: patrick@terriblephotographer.com – Questions, hate mail, and existential spirals are all welcome.

Credits:

• Music licensed through Epidemic Sound and Blue Dot Sessions.
• Episode Artwork licensed through Adobe Stock.
• Written and Produced by Patrick Fore