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February 13, 2015

one word: SELFIES

What started out as nothing more than an inconvenient thing to do when no one was around {or you were too afraid to ask someone} to take a picture of you with your best friend, has evolved to one of the most annoying things ever:  the SELFIE.

Let me be clear, I know a selfie is technically a picture you take of yourself, but for the purposes of this post I'm generalizing it to any picture of just you - whether you took it or not.

As I scroll through my Instagram feed and see people post these amazing pictures of just themselves, that were obviously taken by someone else, I often wonder how that picture came to be.  I mean, the picture of you perfectly posed outside the airport holding your purse that's as big as Massachusetts and as expensive as my car, was that planned?  Did someone ask you, "Can I take your picture so you can post it for all your friends to see?"  Or, did you ask someone to take your picture?

How do these pictures come to be?

Luckily, I got a partial answer a few weeks ago while waiting to eat at a restaurant.  A nice girl walked in with her {I guess?} husband and daughter.  She was dressed well and looked really pretty.  And that's all I really thought about her until I heard, "Will you take my picture over by this table?"  I looked up, and sure enough this guy was taking her picture next to this random table.

I get if you're at the Statue of Liberty or the Eiffel Tower or the Great Wall of China that you'd want a picture taken of yourself.  But, just at a restaurant, on a seemingly normal day?  And, why not include the people you're with in the picture?

And then there are the people who upload literally hundreds {true story, I can prove it} of actual selfies to Facebook.  I get a picture here and a picture there, especially if it's a picture celebrating or documenting some special event or location.  But, hundreds of pictures of you.  In your car.  With your lips puckered.  All while flashing a peace sign.  I'm pretty sure some hippie just rolled over in his/her grave.

In all fairness, I don't like to get my picture taken, so it's difficult for me to imagine myself asking someone to take a picture of just me.  Frolicking.  In a field.  With the sunset in the background.  And my hair blowing in the wind.  And then posting it online where my friends will obviously tell me how cute my hair is, ask where I got my shoes, or to say how jealous they are of me because I'm so pretty.

Because, let's face it, you don't post a selfie of yourself unless you think you look good in it.  You just don't.

Unless you're me.

Courtesy of ISC Photography

What are your thoughts on selfies?

1 comment:

  1. I think selfies can be okay, but are WAY overdone. And the posed photos for Instagram/Pinterest/Blogs? Bug me. But I think that's mostly because I'm too shy to do them myself.

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