The Selfie

[Ashley]

The word "selfie" has been added to the OED and they often get sneered at (selfies, although maybe the OED too) but thought it would be an interesting thing to discuss.

 

I remember a while ago someone moaning about selfies on Facebook and I responded with something like the following:

 

We live in an age where our image is captured hundreds, if not thousands, of times a week and we have no control over it. We have passport photos where we must look like a sullen criminal and ID cards that never look great, as well as being tagged in photos online that we'd rather nobody else see, but the selfie allows us to reclaim some of this power. We're able to represent ourselves in a manner of our choosing and I think that is why its becoming so popular. Yes, there's vanity in there, but there's also self-empowerment.

 

 

So yeah, selfies? Yay, nay?

[Cube]

It's like photos of food. If people want to take photos of themselves or of food, then what's the problem? It's not harming anyone.

[Daft]

I selfie because my beard is too glorious not to share with the world. Also, I need constant validation because post-modernity whispers in my ear every night that I am lost.

[Shorty]

It's funny that this is "in" now just because it has a name, when in reality it became popular around the same time digital cameras appeared in every household, along with the mirror "Myspace" pic.

 

I don't think I've taken a "selfie" since I set up my Facebook in 2007.

 

Edit: Although evidently I'm hugely guilty of couple-selfies (couplies?)

Edited November 19, 2013 by Shorty

[Charlie]

Word of note: it was added to Online dictionary rather than main one. It's being considered by the main Oxford dictionary.

 

Personally, I generally don't take them myself but its great if people do. People obviously have fun taking them and they're different to standard photos.

[bob]

Selfies are ok if there is something else in the photo, or something that distinguishes it from other selfies, otherwise your Facebook is just filled with identical photos.

 

Selfies are fine for when there is none else to take the photo.

 

I have no problem with the word either. It might as well have a name, and that is a good enough word for it.

[Ashley]

It's funny that this is "in" now just because it has a name, when in reality it became popular around the same time digital cameras appeared in every household, along with the mirror "Myspace" pic.

 

I don't think I've taken a "selfie" since I set up my Facebook in 2007.

 

Is the photo that Nikki tagged you both in this morning not a selfie?

[Shorty]

I suppose, if we take it as a selfie being simply "a picture containing the person taking it". But that's kinda weird, I think you have to read between the lines for what makes it a selfie. The only thing separating that from a photo taken by a passer by is about a metre in space and my arm blocking some of the picture.

 

It wasn't about "represent[ing] ourselves in a manner of our choosing", it was about not wanting to hand my phone to a stranger :p

 

Surely the one thing all selfies have in common is that the picture was taken with the intention of going on the internet, after much deliberation over whether that's how you want to be seen. The picture I took was "I'm on holiday, here we are on a boat!"

Edited November 19, 2013 by Shorty

[Jonnas]

I don't think defending the selfie should even be needed. I have yet to hear a valid argument as to why the selfie is a bad thing in the first place.

 

Or is it simply that many simply aren't very good photography? Because bad photography has been a thing for quite a while, now.

[Emma]

They give people control over how they appear. It's like makeup. It's how we want to be perceived. I'm not sure whether they make us feel good or bad about how we look. Maybe a bit of both.

 

I look so much better when I take a photo of myself!

EVIDENCE:

 

@Shorty 's photo isn't a selfie. It's a cutesy couple photo, something totally different :P

[Ashley]

@Shorty 's photo isn't a selfie. It's a cutesy couple photo, something totally different :P

 

Yeah you're right. They're worse

[Dog-amoto]

They give people control over how they appear. It's like makeup. It's how we want to be perceived. I'm not sure whether they make us feel good or bad about how we look. Maybe a bit of both.

 

I look so much better when I take a photo of myself!

EVIDENCE:

 

@Shorty 's photo isn't a selfie. It's a cutesy couple photo, something totally different :P

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

Selfies are ok if there is something else in the photo, or something that distinguishes it from other selfies, otherwise your Facebook is just filled with identical photos.

Is it OK if the Shampoo is a different brand in the 74th shot you've taken before a night out in the bathroom mirror?

 

I heard this on the news at work and wasn't surprised as modern day lingo made popular for about six months like twerking can get in the dictionary, I don't see why selfie couldn't.

[Oxigen_Waste]

We're able to represent ourselves in a manner of our choosing

 

And this encapsulates why I hate them. Because they're the ultimate form of misrepresentation. Any moment in which the subject was aware his image was being captured is a moment in which he was projecting his perceived best self, instead of being his real self. And I, for one, absolutely hate that element of artificiality.

 

Hell, I guess I hate almost all non-artistic photos because of this same reason. People are fucking morons when it comes to being photographed. Nobody acts normal. Everyone goes into "photo mode" and turns into a smiling zombie. I especially hate that habit some people have of always pulling the same artificial smile whenever a camera's involved which ultimately results in them looking exactly the same in every single photo they're in. Fuck off with that.

 

I have a friend who's very sneaky about his pics and always manages to capture people at their most unaware which results in the best photos, and his photos remind me how great casual photography can be, but almost never is. The best part is we never even realize he's photographing us until it's too late. I love parties where this guy attends, everyone loves his photos and so the whole ritual of people constantly snapping pics of each other all but disappears (it'd be completely gone if it weren't for that damned instagram.

 

But sure, go ahead and take as many as you want. I don't like them but I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with them existing. ^^

[Fierce_LiNk]

I have a friend who's very sneaky about his pics and always manages to capture people at their most unaware which results in the best photos, and his photos remind me how great casual photography can be, but almost never is. The best part is we never even realize he's photographing us until it's too late. I love parties where this guy attends, everyone loves his photos and so the whole ritual of people constantly snapping pics of each other all but disappears (it'd be completely gone if it weren't for that damned instagram.

 

I wish I knew somebody who was like this and could basically follow me everywhere. I don't really like the whole "pose for the camera" sheeet. Especially those awkward few moments whilst you smile at the camera waiting for the picture to be taken, where it sometimes takes a few seconds longer than it should, so your face hurts by the end of it.

 

I haven't got a problem with selfies, usually. However, it's the shit that comes with it. Duck-faces, people pulling retarded poses (I'm in an animeeeeee, desuuuu) and taking selfies in stupid places, like that recent one about selfies at/on the way to funerals.

[MoogleViper]

I thought @Goafer did that really well at the meat. Got some great, un-posed pictures of people when they (read:me) weren't realising he was taking them.

[Cube]

[MoogleViper]

I always wondered how that bald black guy managed to take the picture.

[Jamba]

I'm not a fan of them mostly because 90% of them are just awful photography and I've disliked them from back in the mySpace days when you apparently had to hold the camera above you, either to show off your emo glower or you on-show cleavage. But hey, my definition of a selfie is probably if it looks bad, not because it's just you taking a pic of yourself.

[ReZourceman]

Hate the things, wouldn't be caught dead taking one.

[Ashley]

And this encapsulates why I hate them. Because they're the ultimate form of misrepresentation. Any moment in which the subject was aware his image was being captured is a moment in which he was projecting his perceived best self, instead of being his real self. And I, for one, absolutely hate that element of artificiality.

 

Hell, I guess I hate almost all non-artistic photos because of this same reason. People are fucking morons when it comes to being photographed. Nobody acts normal. Everyone goes into "photo mode" and turns into a smiling zombie. I especially hate that habit some people have of always pulling the same artificial smile whenever a camera's involved which ultimately results in them looking exactly the same in every single photo they're in. Fuck off with that.

 

I have a friend who's very sneaky about his pics and always manages to capture people at their most unaware which results in the best photos, and his photos remind me how great casual photography can be, but almost never is. The best part is we never even realize he's photographing us until it's too late. I love parties where this guy attends, everyone loves his photos and so the whole ritual of people constantly snapping pics of each other all but disappears (it'd be completely gone if it weren't for that damned instagram.

 

But sure, go ahead and take as many as you want. I don't like them but I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with them existing. ^^

 

Okay!

 

 

But you raise a good point. It's in part why my mother asked me to photograph her wedding (the other, and probably bigger reason, was the cost). I knew the family and could ease everyone in/be part of the crowd anyway and take more natural photos, as opposed to someone that didn't.

 

Something I didn't mention was how we're now asked for more photos of ourselves than ever before. Fifteen years ago the only people that would need to approve a photo of themselves would have been actors, authors etc. Now if you sign up to a social network you're asked to have a photograph of yourself ready for the world to see (obviously you can choose not to). Our daily habits have changed to point where we need photos of ourselves, whereas most people before, outside of wedding photos, would have had a few family snaps kept in an album somewhere, seldom seen. It's...weird.

[EEVILMURRAY]

But you raise a good point. It's in part why my mother asked me to photograph her wedding (the other, and probably bigger reason, was the cost). I knew the family and could ease everyone in/be part of the crowd anyway and take more natural photos, as opposed to someone that didn't.

A wedding album full of "selfies"... Imagine it!

[Rummy]

I was recently told I have a stern face, and I think this is probably true as I only manage to look rather mongish in selfies. I don't tend to take them unless there's some good reason/purpose(ive partook in me+friend selfies admittedly), and whilst I have grown tired of seeing the 'classic' toilet selfies, bestie selfies, couple selfies(which I actually don't mind too much cos I can be all d'awwww), and various other selfies on facebook - they really don't affect me much. I find the idea of how much effort goes into a photograph now amusing, though. I've seen friends(girls, ususally) try selfies like 10 times over, or even with a person taking the photo do a similar amount of takes, in order to get the 'good' photo that isn't really representative of their terribly mongy photo faces. I can think of at least two good looking girl-friends of mine who just manage to consistently fail in photos.

[ReZourceman]

A wedding album full of "selfies"... Imagine it!

 

[Goafer]

I haven't got a problem with selfies, usually. However, it's the shit that comes with it. Duck-faces, people pulling retarded poses (I'm in an animeeeeee, desuuuu) and taking selfies in stupid places, like that recent one about selfies at/on the way to funerals.

 

Pretty much agree with this. Duck faces, poses, ReZ's face; they're all self indulgent crap that I really can't stand seeing. Luckily I have this brilliant method of avoiding it: don't add twats to my Facebook friends. It's not foolproof, but it's good enough.

 

Instagram on the other hand...