We spoke to the real life geniuses behind your new favourite voyeuristic Facebook page, Boyfriends of Instagram

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We spoke to the real life geniuses behind your new favourite voyeuristic Facebook page, Boyfriends of Instagram

Not all heroes wear capes

Legend has it that behind every girl’s Instagram photos is a loving boyfriend going to great lengths to take the picture, often reluctantly. It’s practically become the modern way to know you’ve found the one – if he’ll take a good picture for your Instagram, he’s definitely a keeper.

No where else reveals quite the amount of effort which goes into nailing an Instagram picture as much as “Boyfriends of Instagram” the Facebook page curating the best ones for our voyeuristic pleasure. The page, full of pictures gently mocking both the guys taking the pictures and the women in them, has over 40,000 likes.

It’s really taken off in recent weeks, even being featured in Cosmo, so we sat down and had a chat with the people behind the page, and how successful it has become. The two guys who run Boyfriends of Instagram are secretive, they won’t tell me their names, ages, where they’re from. But they had to lot to say about men taking pictures of their girlfriends.

Boom…money shot

What made you come up with the idea for the page?

We had the idea for a while before we actually made the page, we saw heaps of people looking ridiculous trying to get good photos, but we didn’t think people would find it as funny as we did. We made it just to see how it would go, and see if people would find it as funny as we did, and finally out the couples that go to stupid lengths to get a couple of likes on Instagram.

Do you agree with the people saying the page is sexist in the way it’s mocking the girls who put selfies on Instagram?

We personally don’t think it’s sexist, the page is equally mocking the guys as it is the girls. I think some people struggle to realise that we are taking the piss out of the whole situation rather than the two individuals in the photo.

Why do you label the guys taking the pictures as heroes when they’re just being nice people?

I think we have only ever used the term ‘hero’ once, the captions we use are simply there to aid in making the picture a lot funnier. That one for example, we used the caption ‘not all heroes wear capes’ because they guy had rose to the occasion and ‘saved the day’ for his girlfriend by taking the shot. Again, the whole page is very tongue and cheek and the captions shouldn’t be taken so literally.

Some people seem to think you’ve made the women in these selfies look like monsters forcing their boyfriends to do horrible things, was that your intention?

No we haven’t, wer’e just bringing the fact that people simply do not give a shit about their surroundings in order to get the perfect shot, and yes in most cases, the boyfriends are forced into taking a picture for their girlfriends.

It’s just a page that’s meant to get a few laughs.

What’s the most ridiculous picture you have been sent?

Videos are the best submissions we get. I don’t think I could pick one though as they are all pretty crazy in their own way.

Why do you think the page is so successful?

It’s something that happens so often all around the world, but you often don’t even notice that it is happening. Now we have created a page that targets these people and the public are starting to notice it in their everyday lives and find it funny.

Would you go out of your way to get a picture like this for your girlfriend?

Well actually, we both feature on the page ourselves.

All photos from the Boyfriends of Instagram Facebook page

@alexx__wright