NY Times: You're Pointing Your Camera the Wrong Way

[Don Heisz]

For me, I don’t really see much difference between photos of someone standing in front of the Eiffel Tower shot be someone else or one generated by a selfie. Without discussing them with the photographer I assume that the intent of the image was the same, to document “I/we was/were here.”

I would say that, in a lot of instances, the selfie is not an "I/we was/were here" but an "I/we am/are here now."

 

[BrianShaw]

But more and more, photos are augmenting any written communication - and even spoken communication - between people, particularly younger people who have been enculturated through the use of smart phones.

A picture is worth a thousand words - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As visual artists/communicators, you'd think this would be better understood.

 

[VinceInMT]

I would say that, in a lot of instances, the selfie is not an "I/we was/were here" but an "I/we am/are here now."

Noted, another feature from the immediacy that the digital world provides.

 

[VinceInMT]

A picture is worth a thousand words - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As visual artists/communicators, you'd think this would be better understood.

Maybe this is why these picture-free discussion threads can go on and on but in the Gallery, not so much.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Maybe this is why these picture-free discussion threads can go on and on but in the Gallery, not so much.

Some professional critiquers can go on and on about a picture ascribing everything into it including how the artist was treated by his older sibling.

 

[faberryman]

The author of the article treats the choice of what to a photograph as a dichotomy, either you takes selfies or you take photographs of the world around you, and warns that taking selfies is not only " wrong" but may result in a serious personalty disorder. Instead, she encourages people to photograph outward. Of course I may be mistaken, but it seems to me that you could do both (or neither). In her waterfall example, you could take a selfie with the waterfall behind you, and then switch the camera setting to the camera on the back of the phone and take a photo of the waterfall itself. As one poster mentioned above, you really don't need to take a picture of the waterfall itself though because there are a million photographs of it online. It's not like it is a new discovery. You are probably not an explorer in the Amazon or anything. The selfie of you with the waterfall behind you, however, is unique, and I think that is probably what gives it some value. I might suggest that, in lieu of or after you have taken your selfie, if you would just put your goddamn phone down for five minutes, and take in the wonder and beauty of the waterfall, enjoying the spiritual experience of its existence, you might be better off in the both the short and long run. So that's a little counterpoint to the author's thesis.

I never take selfies, largely because I don't use the camera in my phone, and also possibly because I am not much to look at. Nobody wants, much less needs, to see my smiling face with a waterfall behind me. I do take photographs of metaphorical waterfalls, because I think most of the photographs of them online are not all that great, and because I have a different idea about how they should be portrayed. I also enjoy working in the darkroom for reasons which are incomprehensible.

 

[BrianShaw]

I contend that most, if not all, selfie takers are baring their souls much more than most, if not all, "real" photographers. Selfie takers seem to be frequently criticised and chastized about everything they choose to do. Yet they dare to do it. Takes guts!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

When I was a kid, family and friends would taunt us with their vacation pictures in photo albums or project slide shows. You know the type. Every other picture was a picture of his fat wife with the fleshy thighs or ones of himself with his boney knees displayed with his yellow and blue Bermuda shorts with the flowers on them. Yeach.

Or, there would be no people in the pictures at all. All you would see is half a dozen shots taken at different angles of the Great Pyramid, each one blurrier than the next. Then another half dozen shots of the Eiffel Tower. And so until the last batch showing the luggage carousel at the airport

So today, when I do my vacation slide shows on my 4K TV, I always include an even distribution of people and place pictures. Unfortunately, these turn out to be just as boring and uninteresting to them. They run home early in horror. They leave so quickly, I get to eat my dessert and theirs as well. Then I don't see them again in my house for at least two years as they feign sickness each time I ask them to come back.

Ingrates.

 

[MattKing]

So today, when I do my vacation slide shows on my 4K TV, I always include an even distribution of people and place pictures. Unfortunately, these turn out to be just as boring and uninteresting to them. They run home early in horror. They leave so quickly, I get to eat my dessert and theirs as well. Then I don't see them again in my house for at least two years as they feign sickness each time I ask them to come back.

Ironically, at my darkroom group meeting yesterday, we brought and projected slides. We do this from time to time. 35mm and 4x5 in this case, although in the past we have seen 110 slides and medium format slides.
A lot of us have a lot of slides which cover a lot of years.
Having just a few, from a number of different photographers, helps a lot!
There were even a couple of environmental self portraits - mine was from 1979!

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Ironically, at my darkroom group meeting yesterday, we brought and projected slides. We do this from time to time. 35mm and 4x5 in this case, although in the past we have seen 110 slides and medium format slides.
A lot of us have a lot of slides which cover a lot of years.
Having just a few, from a number of different photographers, helps a lot!
There were even a couple of environmental self portraits - mine was from 1979!

What's an environmental self-portrait? I'd like to see them. Post them here. No Bermuda shorts.

 

[Pieter12]

What's an environmental self-portrait? I'd like to see them. Post them here. No Bermuda shorts.

Maybe some of Francesca Woodman's or Vivian Meir's work would fit the category. Many photographers self-portraits show them at the camera in their studio or home, isn't that their environment?

 

[MattKing]

What's an environmental self-portrait? I'd like to see them. Post them here. No Bermuda shorts.

Standing in a busy public square in a European city that I was a 23 year old tourist in!
I was travelling with a friend who was also shooting slides. We took similar photographs of each other, using both of our cameras. So we each ended up with a slide of each of us.
No Bermuda shorts, but wide-leg jeans and a t-shirt that I haven't been slim enough to fit into for a very long time!
None of the slides I have from that era have been digitized - I don't know whether I want to put them into the scanning backlog queue.
I did have 4x5 internegs made of about half a dozen of the slides from that trip, and the resulting enlargements in mats and11 x 14 or 16 x 20 frames spent many years on a lot of different walls, until you could see signs of fading.
I could maybe find the internegs, but I don't have the capacity to scan them myself.

 

[Pieter12]

Standing in a busy public square in a European city that I was a 23 year old tourist in!
I was travelling with a friend who was also shooting slides. We took similar photographs of each other, using both of our cameras. So we each ended up with a slide of each of us.
No Bermuda shorts, but wide-leg jeans and a t-shirt that I haven't been slim enough to fit into for a very long time!
None of the slides I have from that era have been digitized - I don't know whether I want to put them into the scanning backlog queue.
I did have 4x5 internegs made of about half a dozen of the slides from that trip, and the resulting enlargements in mats and11 x 14 or 16 x 20 frames spent many years on a lot of different walls, until you could see signs of fading.
I could maybe find the internegs, but I don't have the capacity to scan them myself.

Sorry, those are not self-portraits.

 

[MattKing]

Sorry, those are not self-portraits.

Well, we each set up the photo of ourselves, and had our friend release the shutter on our own camera. So the closest description I could think of was "self-portraits".

 

[BrianShaw]

What's an environmental self-portrait? I'd like to see them. Post them here. No Bermuda shorts.

How about posting some of those fat wife with the fleshy thighs pics. I dare you.

 

[faberryman]

I contend that most, if not all, selfie takers are baring their souls much more than most, if not all, "real" photographers.

Maybe I have not seen a broad enough selection of selfies, but of the ones I have seen, I would not characterize any of them as "soul baring". Personality baring perhaps. With respect to contemporary "real" photographers, I can't even figure out what the photographs mean, much less whether they are soul baring or not. Perhaps this would be a good time for any experts on the pineal gland to jump in.

Selfie takers seem to be frequently criticised and chastized about everything they choose to do. Yet they dare to do it. Takes guts!

"Dare"? "Guts?" How much courage does it take to take a selfie? Is this The Greatest Generation? Where's Tom Brokaw when you need him?

 

[BrianShaw]

It’s not the taking… it’s the sharing that takes courage. Especially when the sharing is open for the public to see. That opens the sharer with an odd assortment of praise and random criticism it seems.

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

Standing in a busy public square in a European city that I was a 23 year old tourist in!
I was travelling with a friend who was also shooting slides. We took similar photographs of each other, using both of our cameras. So we each ended up with a slide of each of us.
No Bermuda shorts, but wide-leg jeans and a t-shirt that I haven't been slim enough to fit into for a very long time!
None of the slides I have from that era have been digitized - I don't know whether I want to put them into the scanning backlog queue.
I did have 4x5 internegs made of about half a dozen of the slides from that trip, and the resulting enlargements in mats and11 x 14 or 16 x 20 frames spent many years on a lot of different walls, until you could see signs of fading.
I could maybe find the internegs, but I don't have the capacity to scan them myself.

Bell bottoms! You're dating yourself.

 

[MTGseattle]

I agree with @BrianShaw to an extent. You will not see many images of myself on-line. My facebook profile pic is 10 years old. This is not due to a lack of courage however, it's due to a complete lack of interest in the on-line "social" space (As I add a comment to a thread in a "social" forum). There's a somewhat large gap between me taking a driving selfie with a sour expression while sitting stopped on the freeway in the morning vs me taking a selfie out in front of the new "hot" restaurant or whatever. Women have it way worse as far as opening themselves up to criticism.
I will continue to criticize and chastise any of the masses who get injured or get access to places cut off due to selfie hunting incidents. If anyone knows how to search out specific statistics, I'd love to hear the frequency of hikers injured at Angels landing in Zion NP in 1990-2000 vs 2010-2020. Each period being vastly different in cell phone type/availability/useage.

 

[faberryman]

It’s not the taking… it’s the sharing that takes courage. Especially when the sharing is open for the public to see. That opens the sharer with an odd assortment of praise and random criticism it seems.

Aren't there billions of them?

 

[Pieter12]

Bell bottoms! You're dating yourself.

Flared pants are making a comeback...

 

[BrianShaw]

Aren't there billions of them?

I’m not sure. I don’t have enough fingers to count very high. Could be, though. Sure seems so!

I only pay attention to one avid selfie publisher. Never sure if I’m impressed or depressed (I’m certainly intrigued no matter what). She certainly knows how to model and photograph nicely. And her travel/dining destinations are completely fascinating.

 

[Pieter12]

I contend that most, if not all, selfie takers are baring their souls much more than most, if not all, "real" photographers. Selfie takers seem to be frequently criticised and chastized about everything they choose to do. Yet they dare to do it. Takes guts!

Most selfie takers I have observed are very careful about the image they project. There is a certain "selfie face" and pose that they assume that is not necessarily their "soul." Young women especially, spend hours looking at others' photos and YouTube videos on make-up and posing. They are very self-conscious about selfies. Not that long ago, I watched a stylishly dressed, attractive young woman, carefully setting up and posing for full-length self-portraits with her smart phone on a spindly little stand about 6 feet away, rushing back and forth to check the results before striking a new pose. Maybe she was modeling for some enterprise of her own, maybe she just wanted to post nice photos and get enough followers to become an "influencer," a goal of many of her generation.

 

[MattKing]

Bell bottoms! You're dating yourself.

I think the "1979" and "23 year old tourist" already revealed that info

 

[VinceInMT]

There were even a couple of environmental self portraits - mine was from 1979!

I actually like that type portrait, especially if it shows some aspect of the person that would be unknown in a traditional pose.

While not much of a selfie-taker, I did do a series of “environmental self-portraits” a few years ago in a photography class. I forget what the actual assignment was but the series of 13 images each featured just my hands engaged in one of my many hobbies, interests, and passions. It was a fun challenge to set up each of the shots. They are viewable here:

http://www.codecooker.com/projects_visual_arts/index.php?f=photo-hip