"Hey, what do you think of this photo?" I asked.
I'd snapped a self-portrait in the tea kettle that was sitting on the picnic table in our backyard. Yes, the weather has been so warm that I drank my morning cup of tea outside. And as you can see from the photo, most of the snow has melted away.
Often after I move my photos from my camera to my computer, I will grab the nearest person and make them look at the photos with me. When I showed this photo to Film Guy, who happened to be sitting near me on the couch, he nodded knowingly and said, "The reflection in the tea kettle shot. Well, that's certainly been done before."
He paused. "Except you're supposed to be naked."
"WHAT?"
The teenagers in the household have given me all kinds of grief about the absolutely innocent nude photos I've posted on my blog. "My eyes are still burning," First Extra will say, shuddering. My own sons rarely read my blog, so worried are they that they might see their Mom with some tiny bit of skin showing. And now Film Guy was suggesting a nude shot?
"It's a photo that's been all over the internet," Film Guy explained. He said that some guy posted a picture of a tea kettle, one that looked exactly like mine, on an online auction site, with a reflection of his naked self on the tea kettle. Apparently that photo started a trend called reflectoporn. I checked an urban myths website, which confirmed what Film Guy said: sometimes people trying to sell objects with reflective surfaces make sure that the online photo includes a reflection of naked body parts.
It's hard to see how reflectoporn would work as a marketing technique. I mean, who in the world would want to buy a tea kettle that showed a naked middle-aged guy with a potbelly leering from the reflection? That hardly seems a bonus. And let's face it. You don't need a higher degree in physics to figure out that, unless you live in some kind of Harry Potter book, the tea kettle that came in the mail would no longer hold the image of the weird naked guy.
I thought for a moment about taking a nude shot in the tea kettle. Just to keep up the internet tradition. But the weather, mild as it has been for January, just isn't THAT warm.
16 comments:
OK, is this some kind of a challenge??
FA
Scriv did this, too...
Reflectoporn? Apparently I need to get out more.
Awesome photo. And I remember seeing that EBay item. It was NOT a selling point.
You could take that picture again in the late spring when it is warmer.
Of course, it was in the mid 70s here today and we had to turn on the a/c to get the air circulating in our classroom today.
Just to make clear, by "this" YT meant a tea kettle photo, not reflectoporn, which I had never heard of before. I think the tea kettle photo is officially a meme now.
And I suppose that when I read the title for this post, there's supposed to be a silent "wolf" in the front of it?
Thanks for clearing that up, Scrivener. I thought maybe Yankee knew something about your ebay habits that I didn't.
I am sure the weather would get hot in an instant.
Just the extra traffic on the internet would generate enough heat to do the trick
That is officially the new thing I learned today.
"reflectoporn"...LOL!!! Hmmm...my tea kettle isn't reflective. Guess I'm out! :)
Hilarious.
Now, I liked the reflected light and the waterfall effect of the reflection of your hair and the colour of the table top - and the clouds in my coffee feel of the sky.
I vote for you taking a photo of the teakettle with your naked reflection...in the kitchen, maybe, and you can drape a tea towel provocatively over whichever bits you choose...!
I love the reflection of the clouds - almost as if they were painted on. I am quite alarmed by the reflectoporn concept (but might go and have a peek ).
And a meme is born... :)
Let's see, Joe at a conference drinking tea naked in front of friends and kettle with camera on timer.
Weird thing is: I can picture it!
Thank God my tea kettle is a Mickey Mouse one, and would not reflect my hideous nakedness!
"Reflectoporn" kills me, btw. I'm glad Scriv clarified your little mention, because I was on the fence about heading to his site to try and find his "tea kettle" photo. I really wanted to see if he really had the nerve to just lay it all out for the entire internet, but then I thought, no....there's just *some* things friends don't need to know about each other, you know?
You DO know that, thanks to you, that "reflectoporn" will be a *hugely* popular Google search for the next few days?!? :)
Great picture! If you'd have asked me, I would have said I loved it.
Reflectoporn, now that a bit weird I have to say. LOL!
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