Matthew Miner

Wonderfully Weird VR Stock Photos

That stock photos are often ridiculous is nothing new — look no further than Women Laughing Alone With Salad to convince yourself — but those that depict people experiencing virtual reality can be especially absurd.

There’s a plethora of models waving their hands around like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, naturally, and countless shots where the subject’s mouth hangs wide open as VR blows their mind all the way to Halifax, but there are also scores of photos that are… well, bonkers describes them best.

Take, for instance, this man inexplicably hanging wallpaper while wearing a VR headset:

Man hanging wallpaper while wearing VR headset

Or how about this image a coworker recently shared of a woman biking through serene countryside with a Gear VR HMD casually strapped to her face:

Woman riding bicycle while wearing VR headset

Operating a bicycle with completely obscured vision is preposterous, but I also marvel at the sheer difficulty of such a feat. Surprisingly, this isn’t the only photo of somebody simultaneously riding a bike and experiencing VR.1

Man riding bicycle while wearing VR headset

Look at the sheer joy on this man’s face. I may have just called the bicycle + VR combo preposterous, but this guy sells it. And it’s not even the best one.

Man riding bicycle while wearing VR headset... in a living room

The bicycle in the living room. The enthusiastically supportive friends. The ecstatic woman with the bowl of popcorn. I love every detail of this stock photo. If this charming scene doesn’t convince you that virtual reality is the most electrifying technological development since Microsoft Bob, nothing will.


  1. Though two-wheeled cycles dominate. Try as I might, I failed to find a stock photo of somebody riding a unicycle while wearing a VR headset. I smell opportunity.