Man’s Life Ruined by Instagram After Outstretched Arms Get Stuck While Posing for Ironic Picture

Man’s Life Ruined by Instagram After Outstretched Arms Get Stuck While Posing for Ironic Picture

A man from Egoton, England has had his life ruined after his outstretched arms became stuck while posing for a selfie at the top of a mountain.

For David Narcy, a photograph that was supposed to capture a perfect moment of isolation and connection with nature has now become a horrible reminder of an affliction that may affect him for the rest of his life. Eating and trips to the toilet are now incredibly difficult.

Speaking to Fstoppers, Narcy explained how it happened: “I was on a trip to New Zealand and decided to head up Roy’s Peak to get this photo that I’d seen online. It’s quite a nice walk, and once we were at the top, I joined a queue of people all waiting to get their unique moment. I was a bit worried because it was a bit windy that day, and sometimes, it’s hard to express my spiritual relationship with the elements if my hair isn’t right."

“I’ll never forget what happened next. I put my arms out to demonstrate to my followers how awed I was by the landscape. My girlfriend took the shot on her phone, and suddenly, I realized that I couldn’t put my arms down. What’s worse is that, like everyone else, I was doing it ironically,” he explained.

"A few people tried to help, but we just ended up talking about how it's best to add a bit of orange in the highlights."

Doctors are unable to explain what has triggered this affliction, but psychologist Trudy Spencer has speculated that the internet has reached “peak outstretched arms in high place selfie,” and the backlash has manifested in Narcy’s subconscious mind. “It’s his brain secretly punishing him for thinking that his connection to nature is unique and his experience is authentic, whereas the truth is that it is incredibly contrived and, let’s be honest, really annoying.”

For Narcy, the flight home was particularly difficult. He added: “I guess it’s lucky I wasn’t doing yoga.”

Lead image by Joshua Earle.

Andy Day's picture

Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He's addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means.

Log in or register to post comments
69 Comments

Maybe the greatest article ever posted on this website

I will screenshot your comment, print it out, and hang it above my desk. Thank you.

Haha, I could never give back to you the amount of joy your article gave to me

I second that.

Superb.

Wait... what? Is it April 1st already?

the lead image being a photo of a rock in columbia, published on unsplash... is this related to the story ? Clearly looks like a massive scam. but funny story :D

Fstopper fans have been frustrated with the lack of written articles (as opposed to just sharing videos with a CAPTION). Let us all take note that this is one of those coveted written articles Fstoppers talks so passionately about!

My suggestion, create one post with a digest of the videos for the day... OR find a few videos with the same subject and contrast and compare the videos bringing depth to the article instead of just writing a caption post about one video.

My opinion, this article is not the reason I read (notice the word read), it is slightly funny but please go back to more articles to READ

We post 4-7 full original articles a day: www.fstoppers.com/originals

I've actually noted that, whilst a lot of content is posted per day, a few articles are being broken up into "Part 1" and "Part 2" or more, and yet each part only has 3-4 paragraphs of content... making it barely an article worth clicking on. By the time the writer has finished introducing the topic, they've reached the conclusion without ever discussing anything at all!

Just a trend I've noticed a bit in the articles recently :|

That's weird. Which Fstoppers subscription tier are you paying for? Gold or platinum?

While being humorous and all, nowhere near the point.
Either way, as constructive criticism, the site is full of very small and short "articles" with very little point other than humor or news recycling.

I haven't seen a single article that digs a little deeper than an introduction to a simple matter.

A proper article regarding portrait lighting maybe.
Something about landscape photography such as how to do perspective blending.
A writing about the various composition rules.

Articles, not "articles".

Just making an observation that there seems to be a trend. If people get sick of articles with no content, less people will frequent the site, which means less people buying the products you offer.

So, no, I don't pay for a subscription. But you're welcome, for my patronage, and everything that encompasses.

Sorry, jokes aside for a moment - we do appreciate the feedback.

I think there's a great mixture of content on the site, both lightweight and heavy in detail (for examples of the latter, Eli's article on sports portraits shot in an office, Joanna's article on underwater photography locations, and Jean-Claude's piece on shooting athletic wear). Given that the model of a freely available online resource does not typically reward detailed, niche articles, this is pretty impressive, I think.

Numbers of visitors to the site are at their highest right now which I think reflects the quality of the articles that we're producing.

Oh, without a doubt the majority of the content is still really good, informative and helpful! And that's the thing, is that because the quality of content produced is usually in depth, lengthy, and highly detailed, it was so very atypical for there to be these articles that seemed to break it up into small chunks of less detailed, less informative pieces.

I for one, very much preferred the beefier of the two, but, as you said, as "a freely available online resource," you can't make every piece a thesis! :)

What type of videos you want them to compare exactly ?

Imagine if he had done downward dog!

HA HA HA, I love when you guys post ironic articles.

Ha ha! Plot twist : not only was his future destroyed, but the future of the whole world was destroyed because the photo was geotagged before it was posted to Instagram! 😂

Happy to know it wasn’t only me!!

There's also the phenomenon of guys doing a "hard man" stance with clenched fists, looking out into the landscape. When the wind changes, and they get stuck, they forever look like they're trying to hold in a big poop.... Trying.

Yeah, I think I have a few photos of myself doing that from about 15 years ago... 😂

We call that Prairie Doggin'

I needed that .. nice one!

You're welcome! :)

Excellent. Genuine laugh out loud moments. “...if my hair isn’t right.” Well done.

Thanks! :)

wait, what ?

I take it this article was written to become an entry for the competition Repetition ?
Yesterday's article on the very same matter isn't enough ? https://fstoppers.com/landscapes/instagram-threatens-mountain-ecosystem-...

Woosh!!!

The irony of your "Woosh!!!" is palatable

LOL, I get what you're saying, I'm with you on that one!

(Ironic when the guy who said "woosh" was actually the one who completely missed the point...)

this is a better choice than politics- well played

He is going to get so many free hugs now!

Sixth paragraph, second sentence. "himfor" should be "him for".

Fixed. Ta!

Ironic or iconic? Sorry. Pretty skeptical about this.

"Narcy" lol :-)

At first I misread the title, and thought it said "outstretched arms get STRUCK" as in, struck by lightning. And I was all "wtf how could the author be so rude about this kind of tragedy?".

... and then it dawned on me.

Brilliant article.

Ha! Thanks! :)

That's where Narcism came from

editor will probably have realised he pushed the button to publish April 1st article quite early. Good attempt.

Humour?: Really?

Narcy sic

I'm stuck trying to figure out the intent of the srticle.

HAHAHAHA

“I joined a queue of people all waiting to get their unique moment.” “Narcy” could speak no truer words to himself....

It reminded me of a guy who got his left arm growing longer and longer because of his girlfriend who kept pulling it forward for every picture - you know the "she led me there" type of picture. The guy now has serious scoliosis and uneven length of arms!

Similar thing happened to me when I was a teenager. One of my arms somehow got a lot stronger than the other. I guess it was getting more regular exercise.

More comments