A photo of me drinking cider on the beach pissed off the Daily Mail

Something happened, someone took a photo, and the Daily Mail became outraged. It’s a series of events that’s happened before, and my money’s on it happening sometime again in the future.

Yesterday, a fire destroyed Eastbourne pier and an ‘unidentified woman’ became the face for the unfortunate event. A good-looking, care-free girl enjoying the sun in the foreground; a relic of Britain’s past burning in the background. It’s not hard to imagine the sense of glee that must have ran over the Mail editor’s face when he saw it: it’s literally their modus operandi in picture format.

The girl’s name is Louisa Foley, and she studies printed textiles and surface pattern at Leeds College of Art. She was a friend of a friend, and like many others, I found the picture pretty captivating, so asked her a few questions about it.

The Tab: Hi Louisa, what happened yesterday then?

Louisa Foley: My friend was visiting Eastbourne, where I’m from, so we decided to pop down to the beach. We were drinking and enjoying the sun when she asked me if the pier usually has smoke coming from it. That’s when we realised it was on fire and saw it as a great photo opportunity – it’s not exactly something you see everyday.

A lot of people are criticising you for your casual photo with something serious is going on around you.

It’s ridiculous. It’s a great shame that it’s happened as the pier’s obviously a great landmark in Eastbourne, but at the end of the day there’s all kinds of photos throughout history of similar events. I’m not part of any ‘new’ selfie taking generation, for starters, it’s quite obviously not a selfie.

Is it weirder to have strangers on reddit make comments about your appearance, or have Daily Mail commenters make judgements about you?

Both are equally weird! I think it’s hilarious how some people are making assumptions of how I’m a tourist or on my day off from work – why do they care? They’re making assumptions about my life and who I am, which is none of their business.

Has the photo caused much other interest? I’d imagine it’d be a great photo op for an unnamed cider company.

Haha not at the moment.

The pose in the photo’s pretty striking, was there any inspiration or was it just a natural thing?

Betty Page! I’m a big fan as she’s such a great icon. With regards to the actual pose, it’s not like it was something we planned out and I modelled for. It was literally just two girls on a beach, and we decided to take a few photos. Of course the burning pier is the main part of the picture, but it’s a historic event and we wanted to capture it. It’s not like we were the only ones taking photos…

What’s the reaction been like among your friends?

Every single one of my friends and family have been really positive. Most of them think it’s funny, and on Facebook there’s comments such as ‘classic Louisa‘ and ‘I know you’ll be loving this fame bitch‘.

Any plans to do anything with the photo? It’s now your profile picture – any plans to use it in your work?

Might frame it for my parents. That’s about it though.

Any regrets?

Should’ve milked it for more money from the Mail the bastards!