Selfies - Part 1

Selfies have been around ever since the camera has been invented, before and after that numerous self-portraits have been painted. But not until recently have selfies emerged as a mass phenomenon, a way of transporting self-centered, mostly meaningless messages in social media. The word "selfie" as a vocable, derived from "self-portrait", emerged in 2002 and has established itself almost world wide, as if it had always been around. We use the word on a daily basis and selfie pictures have become the fastest growing form of photographs.

Of course I´ve done my own share of selfies over the course of time. I remember having taken at least a half dozen self-portraits with a camera before I switched to digital photography. Back then most pictures were taken with a tripod, only in one or two cases did I actually point the camera at myself. I also clearly remember that the circumstance of taking pictures of yourself was considered a strange thing to do, an act of narcissism that was not taken up well by most in the photo community. But then again, the subject wasn´t really dealt with seriously because it was a niche topic, one that wasn´t worth starting a discussion over. And today? 

Here are some of my own selfies. Unfortunately I haven´t found the time to digitalize any of my older pre-digital self-portraits yet.

Selfie with my daughter, Denmark 2004

Ouidah Beach, Benin 2005

                    Ararat Base Camp, Turkey 2009                                            Hiking in Cappadocia, Turkey 2009

Thermal selfie with Leeza, Lina & Lenni, Air & Space Museum, Washington D.C. 2010

Piz Palü selfie with Elodie & Uli (+ Giovanni and companion), Persgletscher, Switzerland 2011

Accidental selfie through rear view mirror (while trying to take a

picture of my daughter sitting behind me) Denmark 2014

"Artistic" selfie at c/o Berlin, Berlin 2014

Selfie with Stolpersteine for families Goldberg & Rappaport, Hamburg 2015

More from the Photography Gallery.