Couple Creates Very Awkward Photoshoot Of Their Breakup
So dramatic, sad, and a little creepy.
Getty Images We’ve all heard of engagement photos, but an entire shoot is dedicated to a breakup. Why?
People spend a whole lot of time, money, and self-dignity trying to forget a breakup, so why the heck would these exes want to solidify the memories in photo form?
In 2015, Jackie Martin and Harrison Bach, two high school sweethearts, broke up. Going away to college separated the two and, apparently, long distance wasn’t really their thing.
After three and a half years of dating and trying to make it work, the couple broke it off and hadn’t really seen much of each other since the ordeal.
However, on New Year’s Eve of 2016, Harrison had this artsy little idea.
Kind of like the couple out there who took cute family photos with a burrito, Bach wanted to poke fun at all the lovey-dovey photos that his friends in relationships were taking.
"I see my friends who are in relationships doing really nice professional photography photo shoots," he said. "I had the idea of doing the same thing in the same setting, but post-relationship, in a different way."
He said, "I got the idea, 'Wouldn’t it be interesting to use that same setting everyone uses for their happy relationship photos in terms of after the relationship?'"
He had a camera, a tripod, and a flare for photography, so he convinced Martin to take part and started shooting.
"It was actually kind of funny — we were getting along extremely well," Bach said of the photoshoot.
While it started out with them faking the emotions that I can only assume they previously tried to bury, Bach recalled his real emotions rushing back to him, making the breakup photos a pretty sad experience. He said, "It ended up being really real emotions and we got kind of sad."
Martin chimed in with her feelings on the experience, saying, "Taking those pictures felt like slipping right back into our relationship — the good and bad. Looking at them now, I am reminded of everything about him I fell in love with."
She seemed to have had some deep thoughts about the whole thing, adding, "Detaching from the whole process at the end was very hard. Not falling back in love with someone takes extreme practice and patience, and when I look at these pictures, I am reminded so vividly of every single thing about him I fell in love with, and every little thing I did wrong.
These pictures are proof to me that romantic love can evolve beyond pain, suffering, and passion into something freeing and full of ease. I think it's awesome that people are reacting to these pictures, and am so proud of Harrison for putting them into the universe. He's awesome."
So, were these two surprised that things got emotionally weird? I don’t really know how they couldn’t see that coming.
Even their friends seemed to find it a little strange as Bach’s buddy posted the breakup photos on his Facebook in a manner that seemed to be filled with jest. It didn’t take long before they started to go viral on Twitter.
“S*** started to get weird,” as Bach put it, and eventually the trolls of the internet clasped on to the couple’s little joke, turned them into memes, and had a good old laugh at their expense.
Bach said the negative responses on Twitter were completely different from his friends' responses on Facebook: "They instantly related to the images. They saw themselves, as opposed to seeing me if that makes sense. It was really neat because I never intended that. I originally thought this is ironic, this is funny, and it ended up being an emotional rollercoaster for everyone."
But he also seemed to be cool with the fact that the photos got him his fifteen minutes of fame... I mean, the Twitter world was not feeling this particular photoshoot.
He said, "I see where they’re coming from. But for me, to be around her, it became such a personal thing more than I cared what everyone else thought."
He then said, "Looking at it now, I guess it is a little weird. Like why would she be OK with doing that? We clearly don’t look happy. Why the hell would we do this?"
Yes, the photos were weird, guys. Come on, what did you expect the internet to do?
Shannon Ullman is a writer who focuses on travel and adventure, women's health, pop culture, and relationships. Her work has appeared in Huffington Post, MSN, and Matador Network.