One-hour spring break photo horrors

or: Spring break photos haunt the innocent

EDIT: This post was originally the first draft of my column, but it is now the final draft. If you want to read the first draft, you can find it on my zine, The F.Y.I.

Working in a one hour photo lab, I see a lot of things. Spring break pictures are the most developed item at this time of year, and after seeing some truly terrible things, I ask of you this: be careful!

Last year was probably the worst as far as disgusting pictures went. As always, I didn’t have enough money to go on a typical spring break trip, so I worked at the photo lab and developed spring break pictures instead.

The first pictures to come in were from some sort of massive house party in an obviously warm area, as there were palm trees in the yard. The pictures were taken from the ground, looking up at a huge second story balcony overlooking the big back yard full of extremely drunk college-aged kids.

The first picture is of some guys standing on the edge of that balcony, his arms in the air with a beer in his hand, and everyone is cheering. The second picture: a broken arm.

And it wasn’t just any broken arm picture. There was blood all over the guy’s face, and his mangled arm was flopping around by his side. He appeared to be limping through the group, but he still had his beer in his hand, and everyone was still cheering.

The rest of the roll had the typical party pictures of people drinking, laughing and dancing like nothing had happened.


Another guy brought in pictures from a similar setting, except these had guys “relieving” themselves off the balcony. There were multiple shots from on the balcony, above the balcony, and even worse, below the balcony.

Probably the one picture that will stick out the most in my head, though, is less disgusting and more disturbing.

It’s a photo of at least 20 guys on a beach surrounding one girl. Everyone in the picture is obviously sloshed, and the girl is topless with only her bikini bottom. She appears to be in the process of tripping or falling, and there are three guys pulling on one of her arms while three other guys pull her bikini bottoms in the other direction. The guys are smiling. She is not.

Now, I don’t know exactly what was going on when this picture was taken, and I’m sure there could be some weird explanation for what I saw. But I have to admit, the first thing that came to my mind is the worst possible explanation you could think of. Unfortunately, it’s the most likely explanation.

I still remember the day I developed that picture, because right when it showed up on the screen, I immediately felt like I was going to puke. I had to hold my breath and inspect it more closely, trying to look for some sort of clue as to why that girl was being pulled around and stripped down by a huge group of guys.

When no clues presented themselves, I went from feeling horrified to feeling extremely angry. I wanted to simply not develop that picture and just cut the negative from the strip and throw it away. But I couldn’t. It’s not against the rules where I work to develop nudity, and we’re not allowed to “interpret” what we see. Unless it’s pornography or child abuse, it’s private and allowable.

The rest of the pictures from the roll were of people partying on the beach, and there were many where the camera was shoved inches from girls’ cleavage.

I hate to say it, but that guy’s name is burned into my mind, still to this day. Out of curiosity, I once looked him up on Myspace, and sure enough, he was there. I wanted to remember his face so I would be able to avoid him if I ever saw him in public, especially if I saw him at a party.

Girls, guys, please be careful on spring break. Have all the fun you want, but remember, there are people like me who are going to witness everything you wish you never did, thanks to people taking your pictures. Maybe when you’re sober, you’ll be just as horrified.