There was some discussion online today about a stock photo showing a woman in a purple shirt holding a soldering iron – at the heated element. See discussion at Tech.Mic. Here is the stock photo (on the right) and some similar ones, all from the Tech.Mic website.

From Tech.Mic.com

I guess these stock photo companies put some not very tech-savvy models in a lab and let them play with equipment, while the photographer circles around them. “Make love to the camera, baby!”

I bet there are tons of similar pictures in the laboratory realm. So I took a look at Alamy Stock Photos, and sure enough, there were some nice examples. Let’s call them #LabStockPhotoFail. They’re not all Fails, but let’s say that some are just very far removed from regular labwork.

“This is the Tipping Point”

“Tips are so overrated”

“My Gel is not Well”

“I love pipetting with my coworkers standing uncomfortably close to me” (and what the heck is that 10ml pipette on the right doing with the fluid level at 8 ml?)

“Safe and accurate pipetting techniques”

“Back in the lab after the long weekend”

“Coffee break during gel loading”

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