In Praise of the Selfie

Selfies are probably one of the best types of photos we can make. Why? Because as photographers, we often take so many photos of others, but we rarely have any photos of ourselves!

Selfies are great because often we don’t have anything else to photograph. I felt this when living in East Lansing, Michigan, when there was practically nobody walking the streets.

Your the best subject matter. You’re always there. You don’t need to worry about offending anyone else, or worry about how to pose the other person. You can control yourself, 100%!

Also with selfies, you can have fun and be creative. Shoot your shadow, reflection, or your own face! The more you shoot yourself, the more comfortable you’ll be of your own self image. You’ll also be able to memento mori: remember that you’ll die, so track your progress in aging through your photos, like Lee Friedlander and his selfies, you see him from a young man to an older man.

But isn’t shooting selfies vain, bad, self-centered and evil? Of course not. If others judge you for shooting selfies, perhaps they’re not comfortable with their own self image, or have some sort of other insecurities.