By the way, the image above is of us holidaying in London this morning before taking the bus back to Singapore today. We had to wait hours for the snow seh! #takenwithiphonexi

As you’re probably aware of, social media has taken the world by storm, with probably 99.9% of the world’s population using a media platform in one way or another (yes, including the Yishun tribe that apart from eating people, also use Instagram to document their food).

And like everything else, this phenomenon has also produced a new line of honorary professions, one that’s loosely coined and known only as…

The influencers.

Unfortunately, this front line of social media warriors haven’t been enjoying a particularly good rep (or at least in Singapore), with wedding sponsorships, delayed responses and particularly daddy issues the many unenviable reasons Netizens dislike them for.

And with local influencer Daryl Aiden Yow’s recent cock-up, it really makes you wonder about the viability of this profession.

Although it’s probably still more enviable than being say, an accountant.

1. Who’s the dude?

Lest you’re unaware, Daryl Aiden Yow is a Singaporean photographer who documents his captures (namely wildlife, landscape and food) on his Instagram feed, a platform that lends access to no less than 101k followers.

And it’s not an unjustifiable number, seeing how some of his pictures are just literally breathtaking.

And he’s no stranger to the media industry either, having done two interviews, one with popular online media The Smart Local, and the other with giant Mediacorp news platform Today.

Add the fact that he has done workshops in the past year with major players like Sony, Uniqlo and OPPO, as well as his impressive clientele list…

And you kind of get why he’s one of the top influencers in Singapore.

2. So… why is he in the news?

Though I would quite like to write about him in a positive light (seeing how my colleague follows him on Instagram and literally goes gaga every time a picture’s uploaded), I’m afraid I would have to abandon that notion, seeing how he’s in the news (this time) for a less than picturesque reason:

Apparently, he’s accused of getting images from photo sites and… erm… inserting his own picture in them.

Like this one.

See it? Because we definitely do.

3. Called out

We have no idea how long Daryl has been implementing such a trick for, but it wasn’t until recently that his antics were really plastered on the front pages.

Local online journalist site Mothership first picked up on it, with an entire article (followed by three more) dedicated to the influencer.

Accompanied by several photo comparisons (and even a gif) that just disintegrate the hearts of even the most ardent Daryl Aiden Yeow fanboys/girls out there.

And traffic soon followed…

And well, people obviously didn’t really take well to it, which led to Daryl having to step out with a…

4. Response

The ‘maligned’ influencer has since responded, not to queries by Mothership, but instead to an apparent interview conducted by local website MustShareNews.

In the interview, Daryl reportedly tells his side of the story, as well as denial of all ‘accusations’ of plagiarism and theft accusations.

Here’s a breakdown of the interview, consisting mainly of three primary points.

First, he supposedly pays for the photos, and does tag the source in them.

The influencer expressed that any stock photos he used are actually paid for, and he has the receipts to prove it.

Additionally, photos taken from other photographers or image-sharing sites (like Pinterest) are also duly tagged as such in his posts.

This, however, was contravened by a picture Mothership dug out for reference purposes. There was no tag, in spite of Daryl’s claims.

And being the deliciously savage individuals they are, Mothership even circled out the area Daryl failed to conceal from the public eye, and called it “poor PhotoShopping”.

Whew.

Additionally, Mothership also added that MustShareNews’ initial article actually included this following line:

“However, netizens have observed that he only began tagging related parties after the scandal blew up on social media.”

Hmm….

Secondly, Daryl claims that some of the photos do not, in actuality, require credits.

In the interview, the influencer spoke about how “for instances where there were no photo credits, it may have been because the Shutterstock images featured required none after purchase.”

And to exemplify his claim, he started describing his work, which are basically composites of different layers that require multiple stock image purchases to achieve. He then questioned the kinds of crediting standards that would apply, for this kind of work.

Again, this notion was contravened by Shutterstock’s own rules and regulations.

i. Falsely represent, expressly or by way of reasonable implication, that any Visual Content was created by you or a person other than the copyright holder(s) of that Visual Content.

3. His clients are aware that he uses stock photos in their paid posts, and did not intend to cheat his fans.

According to MustShareNews, Daryl said that his clients are aware of these stock photos and purchases, and has receipts that he presents to them once a job ends for claims (reminds me of that whole Singtel-NovelCommunication saga).

He also claims to have

• “not intentionally deceived his fans”
• “a pity that it came across otherwise”
• “never claimed that the photos have been taken live at the scene depicted.”

But once again, it’s contradicted by his actual photo captions.

“Hours well spent waiting for this!”

Erm, what.

“I would really really like to feel that feeling I felt that night again.”

Feeling of editing a photo?

5. But the damage has been done

If you take a look at Daryl’s Instagram feed, you’ll notice several snarky, questioning remarks that lie just adrift of the usual “Oh, so gorgeous” and “Sooo aesthetic” comments.

Caption: I love places with a story to tell. Mykonos is truly an unforgettable beauty with many stories to tell.

Caption: Definitely need to take some time off work to shoot crazy stuff like this again!

Anddd one more.

Caption: It’s been 3 years since we braved the Maldives waves and got this during sundown!

6. Other influencers have joined the fray

And it seems that snarky remarks aren’t limited to just disgruntled Netizens, as even fellow influencers have entered the ring.

In an exclusive interview with Mothership, popular blogger Xiaxue spoke about how Daryl should not have “implied that photos were shot by him if they were not his”.

“I’m quite disgusted. I mean those pictures that he didn’t claim is his can still be argued but what’s there to say about the photos he claimed was taken by his Sony camera, or those shots he claimed he spent hours waiting for, or those shots he put into his portfolio as testament of his work?!”

“And these are just the ones that are found out, who knows how many more? Now I’m looking at his feed playing Spot the Stock Photo and taking back my likes. Thanks a lot mothership.”

And of course Xiaxue has to jumped on the bandwagon with this:

Not photoshopped at all. I waited hours for this shot! You guys don’t understand the work that goes into this 😩 submitted by anonymous . Confused? Watch my ig stories

A post shared by Wendy Cheng ❄🦄 Xiaxue (@xiaxue) on Jun 19, 2018 at 11:14pm PDT

Preetipls, who’s renowned for her parody videos, took it one step further by uploading a photo on Instagram (in which she photoshopped herself against a Shutterstock photo).

Absolutely stunning

A post shared by preetipls 美丽求求你 (@preetipls) on Jun 19, 2018 at 9:48pm PDT

She also tagged her location as “Santorini Greece”, a notion that seems just a tad bit unbelievable.

And to end off the round of influencer bullets, Mr Brown himself had this to say.

⚡ “Kim Huat Goes Everywhere”#KimHuatGoesEverywhere #KimHuatLovesHashtags #KimHuatTravelInfluencerAndPhotographerhttps://t.co/FuNvKduHJU

— mrbrown (@mrbrown) June 20, 2018

7. Photographers too

Thought you’ve seen enough rage-filled comments to last a lifetime?

Think again.

As it turns out, the photographers had quite a bone to pick with Daryl.

And some took to Instagram to show it.

And there I thought jealous girlfriends are the scariest. #apparentlynotthecase

8. Heck, even Scoot wants in

And in a not-so-subtle dig at the hottest issue in town, Scoot advertised their promotional package to Athens and Berlin with this tongue-in-cheek poster.

In case you don’t get it, this is one of the pictures Daryl was believed to have utilised his ‘photoshopping’ skills for.

And Scoot”s caption lies as follows:

Suffice it to say; it’s extremely well-received.

2.9K shares… what?

In fact, one Netizen even called for the social media team to get a pay raise.

9. Decreasing numbers

According to Mothership, Daryl had 1165 pictures posted on his Instagram feed.

But after a quick check, we observed that the number has since decreased to 1,124 posts.

Though we also observed that the follower count has jumped by 1K (and counting) in the span of a few days.

Not bad.

So… what now?

While we’re no real fortune tellers, we have a feeling that these three things might happen:

• People will continue to talk about it
• The influencer in question will probably continue to stay low-key about it
• Contrary to what the influencer hopes, people won’t stop talking about it. Just look at Eden Ang; it’s been what, years? And people are still talking about his manbun. Like what?

But of course, we might be wrong. Really…

Only time will tell.

In the meantime, it’s time to learn some sick Photoshop skills so that I can be in Paris tomorrow.

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