Travel Influencers Defend Instagram Photograph of Woman Dangling From Infinity Pool

The location of the Kayon Jungle travel resort in Bali. Screenshot/Google Maps

A travel influencer couple have been defending themselves over a carefully crafted Instagram photograph showing the woman dangling off the side of an infinity pool.

American couple Kelly Castille and Kody Workman typically get a few thousand likes from their 60,000 followers for their slick photographs taken at breathtaking travel locations around the world, and posted to their Instagram account Travel Positivity.

But their positive philosophy was hit with negative feedback after they posted a picture of Kelly hanging from the edge of an infinity pool in the jungle in Bali, with only Workman’s strength holding her from falling.

The post was liked by over 18,000 people. But not all of their fans were impressed.

“Dumbest thing I’ve seen today,” wrote one. “Imagine if she fell, all for the sake of a little internet fame.”

“You know, other people are gonna start dangling themselves from infinity pools and dangerous like this also to get a shot like this,” wrote another. “Way to set an example.”

Extreme selfies are the bread-and-butter of some Instagram accounts. But the travel couple’s other images don’t dabble at all with danger, instead showing portraits of dream romantic locations, from tabletop mountain in South Africa, to the Austrian Alps, and beaches of Bali.

The couple appears to have replied to each of the hundreds of comments on their infinity pool shot, many of which were full of praise, defending their stunt.

“I had a good hold and Kody also had a good hold on me,” wrote Castille in one response.

The couple say there was another pool below at the Kayon Jungle Resort, and that they were confident in their own judgment.

“Only you can know your body, feel the space around you and understand your capabilities,” they wrote on the Instagram post. “We would all do well to remember this, knowing that not every action, style or path we witness through others is or should be, replicated. At the end of the day we are to hold ourselves accountable for the decisions that we make.”

Workman told Business Insider, “I held her the entire time and if zoomed you can actually see my grip on her arm.”

“We have both jumped off of waterfalls and bridges much higher than this infinity pool so the height aspect wasn’t a concern for us at all.”

In October, researchers found that since 2011, there had been 259 documented deaths worldwide from taking selfies. The research, however, was limited. They believe that the 259 recorded cases to be just the tip of the iceberg, as people brush with death to get the perfect image, falling off boats and over waterfalls.