“No matter how fucked up things are – fries taste always good” like that or close to that was a twitter message, which inspired Henriette 6 years ago, when she had just lost her job and was really down. She created a new Instagram account – @frailfail. “I was looking hard for an alliteration, which was able to express my state. I felt failed and needed a change!”
@frailfail is an account with a red and white color concept and addresses failure from time to time. The inventions #einmalpommesrotweißbitte and #lonelypylony appear regularly. Henriette is writing longer captions than they are usual – “I like thoughtfulness”, she says. In 2014 she was on the suggested user list with follower boom and today has a few collaborations with renowned brands – IKEA, le petit bateau, fleurope… But nothing is further than calling herself an influencer, she prefers the term “creative concepter”.
The whole community idea does not convince her completely anymore. The homogeneity of Instagram, the same same of many images, the unpredictable algorithm for posts and the many possibilities to cheat are downers. When the Instagram stories came out “my worldview got wracked – typical for Mark Zuckerberg I thought”. But in the meantime @frailfail loves to observe how people use the tool so differently: Igers love a static cam, private users just have fun, show more, move and narrate.
By the way Henriette is a packaging engineer, was born in Thüringen, grew up in East Berlin and had her first simple plastic camera as a small child. “A good photo is not composed by technique”, she is still persuaded. “More important are a good eye and an understanding for image composition”. Her own shots are more likely snapshots – “with the hand at the trigger when I aim for street photography.”
Henriettes most favourite Igers
@oh.ladyfox because the stewardess is into yoga, mindfulness and has great tracklists.
@heimatpottential because she is telling stories with depth and discovered travelling alone.
