In our digital world, "photobombing" or the act of spoiling a person or thing's picture by suddenly appearing on the background, whether as a joke or prank, is but an unwelcome thing to do. But not for an 86-year-old grandmother who posed for some real estate images that became an instant hit online.
Yolie Ball, who wanted to sell their home in Davenport, Florida, gamely appeared in the images showcasing the different parts of the house. A tweet of the shots went like this: "MY GRANDMA IS TRYING TO SELL HER HOUSE IN FLORIDA AND THESE ARE THE PICS I AM LAUGHING SO HARD." The tweets were posted by her granddaughter, Makenzie Ball, and they have sinced caused the photos to become viral.
While typical real estate photos would normally show the various rooms without any person, Mrs. Ball's decision to be in them became the focal point of such marketing materials.
Good Morning America reported that it was Mrs. Ball's daughter, Sandra, who was taking the photos, when she suddenly felt like joining. The results became photobomb-like, with her peeking through the doorway, leaning on the counter, head sticking out of the bedroom door, casually sipping coffee on the lanai, reading a magazine in the living room--but all definitely cute and adorable.
Buzzfeed also noted that the staging pictures were not used in the actual listing, but its circulation went faster than a realtor could ever imagine, with the retweets recorded as tens of thousands.
Granddaughter Makenzie also wrote on her Facebook page, "If I had a dollar for every time someone tweeted me and said 'LOL Does the grandma come with the house?' I would literally have $14,000."
Ball recognizes that everything was made just for fun and lovingly recalled that the photo session with her daughter Sandra was "...just a joke. We're always doing silly stuff."
She also considers herself as a "dinosaur" in terms of technology and admits she did not have an idea of what Makenzie meant by Twitter.
Although the house has remained in the listing since it was made open for sale months earlier, there were many who stopped by the house while a news team was interviewing Ball after her photos went viral. Several have also expressed interest in the house on the internet. More importantly, Mrs. Ball enjoyed every minute of the experience and the overwhelming attention she got.
