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Saturday, March 22, 2014

A Tribute to Mandy Faith

Mandy Faith is a Malaysian student who was studying in the United Kingdom. Sadly, she passed away in February 2014 from a virus and another angel was added in heaven.




I stumbled onto Mandy's blog when I was searching for tips on photos filters. 99% of the time, her photos have the exact colour tones and hues that I like a lot be it pastel, dreamy, whimsical, vintage, natural light... I fell in love with many of her photos and started reading her tutorials on Photoshop. Even though I do not have Photoshop, I applied similar techniques of adjusting the colour curves on Photoscape and I was really pleased with how many of my photos had turned out.

I'm also particularly fond of having pinkish orangey sunset tones in my outdoor photos. She has a tutorial just for that too! I really love how the photos on my blog of Venice, Florence and London look after applying her techniques. My friends often look at my travel photos and comment that I take really good pictures despite not using a DSLR and I would always inform them that photo editing plays a huge part too.

I commented on her blog post once or twice. From the way she replied to people's comments on her blog, you could tell that she is such a sweet and generous girl. She was also giving away free editing tools for her readers and was always sharing her knowledge on photography and photo editing on her blog.

Mandy had an Instagram account too and needless to say, I'm a faithful follower of hers. I would talk more about her Instagram account at the end of my post.


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Check out some of her pastel tone photos. She once admitted that she was quite the collector and would buy lots of decorative pieces, trinkets and ornaments which were great objects for her to photograph.




She had before and after comparison for the photos on her tutorial and if you hadn't looked at the before shots, you might not even notice the slight sunset pinkish hues to many of her photos.










I personally love fade vintage photos when they are as a stand-alone picture or a set of pictures. I once tried this effect to some of my photos and felt it was an overload of vintage. Nonetheless, I was happy to just be equipped with the knowledge of how to edit a vintage feel to photos.




Mandy also did amazing outdoor photoshoots and from all the sweet words she wrote about her models/friends/friends of friends, you could just tell how lovely this girl is. She always had a kind word for everyone amidst the beautiful photos.




She took many cute shots of her friends too as they toured various European cities together.





She was really artistically-inclined in any form of the word "art".






I was practically walking through her lenses as I've also visited some of the cities she visited before:


London




Paris




Florence




Venice






I also love how she always seized every drop of sun ray to take beautiful shots like this.




Disclaimer:
All photos in this post are taken by Mandy Faith. I do not know how to request for permission to use her photos and I hope that since this is for a good cause, her family and friends would not take offence.


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Hacking of Mandy Faith's Instagram Account

I only got to know of Mandy's passing just two days ago and the news took me by utter shock.

It so happened that I was scrolling through my Instagram newsfeed and saw a photo of a style that I did not quite like. It was a picture of a lady soldier carrying a toddler with the caption:

Do you love your mum?
Like = Yes    Ignore = No

Now, I really DETEST photos like this. Same goes for those heart-wrenching photos shared on Facebook that have captions like:

Like = 1 prayer   Share = 10 prayers   Ignore = You don't have a heart

No matter what good cause it is, I would never ever like or share such photos. I can pray in my heart all I want, what exactly does it mean by like and share equating to prayers??? In the case of that photo on my Instagram newsfeed, it works in a similar logic. I love my mum and not liking that photo certainly wouldn't demean any love for my mum.

At that point of time, I was wondering "Hey, since when did I follow such an account?"

I saw a few people asking the same question too and there would be different people replying about how they believe this was Mandy Faith's Instagram account which got hacked. Some people also mentioned that it was hacked after her death.

I was utterly shocked when I saw that comment about her passing. I started consulting my best friend aka Google and realised to my horror that it is indeed true that Mandy had passed away last month due to a winter virus. I also stumbled upon some pages demanding for people to help Mandy's family get her Instagram account back.

Have I already mentioned that this account is now called "myflawlessjournal"?

From myflawlessjournal's profile introduction:
Journal of faith love and inspiration We all have a journey to adventure Friends and places to discover But 1 thing's for sure.. Love keeps us pure

The only comment about Mandy Faith that remained (which has since been deleted when I'm typing this) was somebody asking:
"Is this Mandy's Faith account?"

To which myflawlessjournal replied:
"This is my old quotes account. I've changed theme."

It was exactly this comment which sparked me to do something more.

Each time I refreshed the page, all comments related to Mandy Faith and those puzzled/annoyed people's comments about not remembering following such an account were deleted. Only all the nice and good comments and comments tagging people to the photos remained.

I acknowledge the fact that myflawlessjournal's account seems to have kind intentions but that doesn't change the fact that he/she had hacked Mandy's Instagram account, changed her account name, deleted all her photos and replaced with photos that asked people to comment, share or tag their friends to them. I HATE, DETEST, ABHOR advertising style like this. The hacker is clearly making use of Mandy's legion of 300,000 followers (I can't remember the number but I thought I saw 300k) as an existing fan base that have most of the people clueless that they are no longer following the real Mandy. Worst of the worst, the hacker lied that it was an account with a changed theme.

Even though Mandy isn't a personal friend or even a blogger friend of mine, I felt like I have to do something for this amazing girl and wrote this comment on all the 3 photos myflawlessjournal had uploaded so far:

Dear myflawlessjournal, 
Your intention may have been good but whatever good intention you have about providing inspirational photos and quotes to people seems negligible to your intentional hacking and lying. 
It isn't nice that you have hacked an account of somebody who had passed away, deleted all her beautiful photos and even pretended that this is an old quotes account of ours that changed theme. I notice that you have also been deleting comments explaining to people that this used to be Mandy Faith's account and that her account was hacked. 
Any decent person with respect for those who passed on would leave their legacy untouched. You have completely marred Mandy Faith's legacy on Instagram.

Seconds after I posted that comment and unfollowed that account, I realised that myflawlessjournal had blocked me. I'm not able to search for this account on the Instagram app at all. Fortunately the url is still searchable.

I have provided myflawlessjournal's webpage as a hyperlink for all of your knowledge on this hacker and I do hope and none of you would follow or like his/her photos.

There is no platform for any of us third party to report this to Instagram.For a start, the follower count has definitely dropped drastically and I hope more people know of this fact and continue to unfollow. I do not know how we could help Mandy Faith's family get her account back but I hope that with more people being aware of this, maybe somehow somebody would know what to do.

Links related to Mandy Faith:
Blog
Facebook
Instagram (managed by her family)

33 comments:

  1. Hi Jo, feeling terribly sorry and sad after reading. Unfortunately, I didnt know her, but I soon checked out her blog and her amazing photos and I was really impressed. How sad she is passed away!:(( And how sick that person who hacked her ig account! Seriously? How she/he could dare to do such disgusting thing to a lovely person who is dead, Im really shocked! Hope that account will be soon unfollowed from all and her family could get it back. I neither know how to report on ig, very sorry, but at least I am aware of it. You did very well to write about it. :(

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thank you for your sweet words, Lilli. I'm glad that I brought awareness to her beautiful works and also to her hacked account. The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word. I'm glad to know that you're impressed with her amazing photos.

      Delete
  2. Ah those photos are brilliant. The tone of them is so soothing. What a life she had at such a young age to travel and all her friends. So terrible to be ended. Thanks for introducing them to me. I also cannot abide the begging people on IG and FB, Why would I even want 1000 followers if I didn't know 999 of them? Guess I am there for a different reason that they are. I am there to meet sweet friends like you :)

    http://downwithpants1969.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I'm happy to hear that you like her photos. The least I could do is to introduce her work to more people. Yup, we're on the same wavelength regarding those begging types. I mean if you're sincere and really like my stuff or interact with me, I might still consider returning the favour but not when you go around begging everyone. Ok you do know, my "you" doesn't mean "you" right? I was re-reading and thought it sounded funny. Haha... Yup, I'm glad there are so many like-minded sweet blog friends who really interact just like you!

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  3. Wow. So tragic that she died so young. She was beautiful, talented and such a great person. I don't think her family minds at all using her pictures for this post. What a wonderful tribute. Love the sampling of her pictures. It's horrific that someone took over her account and then blocked you. How horrid and unkind! I did not know about her, so thank you for writing this post.
    http://www.averysweetblog.com/

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I'm so happy to know that you're impressed with Mandy and her amazing photos. The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word. So it's good that more of you know about her story through this post. Thank you for your sweet words, Kim. I'm glad that I brought awareness to her beautiful works and also to her hacked account.

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  4. Even if I don't know her and only found her blog after reading your blog post, I am saddened by the news too. :( I think she's a lovely and adorable girl and it's just sad how she passed away so young. :(( and it's really not nice to know that such people, like that hacker, exist. :(

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word. So it's good that more of you know about Mandy's story through this post.

      Delete
  5. ohh her photos are so amazing! they're so hazy, romantic, soft and pretty! i'm so sorry to hear she passed away. she seems like such a beautiful soul!!

    that is so bleh what happened with her account tho!! people ugh!!!

    www.lisalovescoco.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew you would like such photos too! The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word on both Mandy and the hacker. So it's good that more of you know about Mandy's story through this post.

      Delete
  6. I just had a look at her blog and the photos are so beautiful! Thanks for the BL follow, I am following your blog now too. See you around!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm glad that this post brought Mandy's works to more people. Thank you for following! Love to keep in touch.

      Delete
  7. I'm sorry about her death. It's so sad to hear about a young girl who has passed away.
    The hacker is such a horrible person! And I also hate the posts who ask you to like, comment, etc.
    I hope the family finds a solution about the hacked account, although their pain must be so big that this would be the last thing to care about.
    By the way, I really don't know if we can protect our accounts and images on the Internet. Lately people have stolen my profile photos and although I have reported them, nothing has been done.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word on both Mandy and the hacker. So it's good that more of you know about Mandy's story through this post. We are on the same plane when it comes to such photos and all.

      Oh dear, do you know the person who stole your profile picture? Which website did she use it on? One of my Facebook profile photo has been used as somebody's YouTube Profile picture. I pm-ed the person and she immediately removed w/o apologizing or anything. Are you able to directly message the person? I would write a post about it and link that page as a last resort.

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    2. Two people have stolen my photos on google +. I reported both and I posted about them on google + and facebook. They are both men, nevertheless, the one of them is using my photo as his profile photo and people don't even see it's a male's profile. And the other person was bothering me with comments and now he has made collages with my photos. I always write my logo on my photos, but they removed it.

      Delete
    3. OMG! That sounds horrible! Reporting them doesn't work at all? That's why sometimes I think all these options on apps and sites to report abuse doesn't seem to help at all. I'm so sorry to hear this and I hope something could be done to these people who stole your photos.

      Delete
  8. I saw this post you made on Facebook so I immediately clicked through. Her photos are so gorgeous and its tragic to hear about what happened to her and her account--that's just tons of memories gone completely, and that's horrible!

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    1. I'm happy to hear that you like her photos. The least I could do is to introduce her work to more people and also create the awareness and spread the word on both Mandy and the hacker.

      Delete
  9. Hello Jo. I really appreciate you shared about Mandy and her blog. It really saddens me such people exist..hacking an account for his/her personal benefit to glorify oneself is downright unethical and extremely disrespectful of the deceased. I do not personally know her but hoping that more people be aware that IG account has been literally stolen and erased the true stories of the rightful owner.

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    1. I like what you've said about being unethical and being downright disrespectful to the deceased. I'm glad that I brought awareness to her beautiful works and also to her hacked account through this post. The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word. Really glad to see you reconnecting back on blogger! It's been lovely reading what you've said.

      Delete
  10. It's so sad that she passed away. I'm really shocked. I have checked out her blog and I can see why you liked it so much. The photos were marvelous. Some people are really disgusting!! How can they hack someone's account. I hope everyone is going to unfollow the bas... It's so lovey that you made this beautiful tribute.

    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Go ahead and shout the B-A-S... out! Hehehe...

      I'm so happy to know that you think her photos are marvellous. The least I could so is to create the awareness and spread the word. So it's good that more of you know about her story through this post. I'm glad that I brought awareness to her beautiful works and also to her hacked account.

      Delete
  11. That is so sad...she had a beautiful spirit...I didn't know her, such a shame she has passed away...my thoughts and love are with her family & friends...so young xx

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    1. I'm glad that I brought awareness to Mandy's story and her beautiful works. Her family members would definitely appreciate your kind thoughts.

      Delete
  12. UGHHH I can't put into words how disgusted I feel about this. What an insult to Mandy's memory and a tasteless thing to do. The only good news is that the follower count has been dropping steadily and is now at 145k. I hope they end up with nothing for what they've done.

    Brittney

    Another Beautiful Thing

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    1. I haven't been taking note of the follower count so thank you for informing about the drop. That is reassuring. Thank you for your comment, Brittney. Have a great Sunday!

      Delete
  13. It isn't exactly meant to be a stylish post but thank you for dropping by my blog. =)

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  14. SHE PASSED AWAY?... WHEN? HOW? Gosh... How come?

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  15. Yes, so sad. There really isn't any concrete contents to read about what happened to Mandy but I read from some websites that she passed away from a winter bug/virus.

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  16. Hi Jo.

    I used to be a fan of Mandy's artwork and its been a long time since my last online to check both her IG and blog. I just found out the news tonight that she has passed away when i randomly visited her blog. Its so heartbreaking to hear that.

    I once visited her IG couple months ago by IG's search feature without noticing about the things. At that time, I'm just wondering why she lost bunch of her followers, never update any new photos instead of re-update her old photos with unusual caption about the number of each her old uploaded photos's likes and comments. I didn't realize at all that its a completely different (brand new) IG account which held by her family because of what happened to her old account. Anyway, i track down her old IG just now and its name right now has change in to @inddianaa (which its before name was also @tasty.y << maybe its an after changed of @myflawlessjournal). The changing of mandy old account's name can be known by viewing the only one following of @myflawlessjournal2 (which i thought its was made by one of mandy's follower to against the hacker). Its so sad to see mandy's old beautiful page turn into a page with bunch photos of an unknown not-so-sexy woman. =(

    Actually, Its not that i know her in personal closely. I have ever chat with her maybe just around 3 to 5 times in her old personal blog (which she has closed once she made her new photography blog) and she just once came by my blog. But still, I thought its very nice to know someone who are nice and very talented like her.

    She maybe has passed away but her amazing artwork is still there inspiring lot of people. The memories about her presence will remain forever in the heart of her family, her close people, and (must be) her thousand hundreds of followers.

    Thanks to you who have kindly wrote this tribute for her, it means a lot. May she rest in peace.

    With Love, CY
    cyiris.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hi CY,

      I read your comment with great interest. Thank you for your comment and updates on the nasty hacker of Mandy Faith's account. I didn't keep myself updated with the hacker ever since I was blocked and hence your info really helped a lot. In a bout of curiosity, I tried searching for all the account IDs you mentioned but I guess he/she closed it down too or probably because I'm still blocked.

      I do not know Mandy personally too but the fact that she interacts with her readers and replies to comments make me like her. I'm always very appreciative of communication in the blogosphere and she does sound like a lovely person as what I've mentioned in this post.

      Thanx for reaching out to me, I had a quick click around your blog when I read your comment of my email and I love your photo style too! Similar style as Mandy's yet with your own flavour. Will pop by your blog for more in depth reading soon.

      Delete
    2. Hi Jo.

      I see, ya i thought the hacker has blocked many people who she thought against her. Her follower right now has fallen till around 77K but it seems much of the followers were just pasif reader or inactive account, since she didnt have much like or comment on each of photo's of hers. Well, she can stole mandy's account but cant steal her real follower :D

      Haha ya thanks to uncle Google so i could catch up here :D
      And thanks to you too for replying and passing by my blog :)

      Nice to know you & your great blog.
      Will follow your update as well ;)

      Love, CY

      Delete

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