Selfie
A selfie is a photo of yourself that is also taking by yourself. It can be any part of your body and all you have to do is take the picture (or direct someone else taking the picture) to create a selfie.
The selfie is a trend with everyone around the internet. But taking a selfie isn't a new thing. When photography was first invented, one of the most interesting ways to explore this new medium was to take pictures of yourself. Self portraiture has always been a huge part of art and photography is just another way to make them.
An Alien Guide to Selfies
Vivian Maier
We watched a film about a woman called Vivian Maier all about her life and career as a photographer. She took thousands of really interesting photos but in her life no one really knew that she was doing all of this. She was a nanny and she constantly took the kids on walks and took pictures of people and weird things that she found on these trips. A man found her negatives after she died and started to reveal all of her work to the world. I found it quite interesting how she took so many photographs but never shared them with anyone.
These are some of my favourite self-portraits that she took: |
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A Curated Exhibition
We were given a task to make some interesting selfies that went away from the cliche. Selfies are a great way of making art by yourself and putting the artist into the art they make so it was quite cool to make some selfies that were different.
I made quite a few selfies that were reflections to kind of mock a classic mirror selfie and I like the way they turned out because they all had one specific thing about the photo that made it different.
There are a couple that are of a tiny bit of my face or a my silhouette or something like that and these are cool because you have to really concentrate to finger out what is actually happening in the photo.
Also there are two that in the photo there is something blocking a bit of my face and this plays on the way that when people think of a selfie they would usually think of the face being the main focus and nothing blocking out the main focus.
There are a couple that are of a tiny bit of my face or a my silhouette or something like that and these are cool because you have to really concentrate to finger out what is actually happening in the photo.
Also there are two that in the photo there is something blocking a bit of my face and this plays on the way that when people think of a selfie they would usually think of the face being the main focus and nothing blocking out the main focus.
The Mirror Selfie
A really popular way of taking selfies is the mirror selfie. It's widely used all over the internet by teens and young adults. I would say that a mirror selfie is typical and cliche and most of the time they are all really similar and quite boring. These are some examples of some typical mirror selfies posted on social media.
Quite often people take mirror selfies to show off their outfit that they are wearing that day or to show off their body but amongst all the cliche selfies some people actual make interesting and different mirror selfies. |
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Helene Meldahl
Helene Meldahl is an artist that plays around with just standard mirror selfies and she makes them really interesting by drawing on the mirror with colourful cartoon types drawing that align with the pose that she was making. She shows the world her photography through an instagram page called mirrorsme.
These are some of my favourite photos that she made.
Shadow Selfies
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Shadow selfies are also very popular all over social media. I'm not quite sure why people are so interested in these selfies because they are all quite boring and they don't really appeal to me.
I think the only reason people take selfies of there shadow is maybe because they are too shy to show there face or they just don't want a photo of what they look like but still of something about them. |
These were the only interesting shadow selfies that I could find.
I like this photo because the main focus of the photo is the woman running (her shadow) but it's cool because she is in the air so it looks like she is kind of floating. The thing i would improve about this photo is the weird background.
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This one is interesting because it's like he leaning on his shadow but to make it better i think I would have it so the person is lying on the ground and then flip the photo to make people really question how the photo was made and to kind of confuse them.
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My Selfie Book
Self-portrait Comparison
Friendlander's photograph is a reflection self-portrait. However it is quite different to most other reflection 'selfies as you can only see the outline of his body and some tiny detailing on his clothes. In the middle-ground there are two cars, one is driving past and the other one is parked with a man standing in front of it watching Friendlander taking the photo the photo. In the background is a reflection of a long building with lots of windows. Also, in the centre of the photo there is a reflection of him in a mirror in the back of the shop. Woodman's photograph is completely different. It's set in an empty room by a doorway looking through into another room. In the second room there are two main foci. The first is Woodman wrapped up in huge piece of paper with only her feet showing and and the second is another person hiding behind a block with their hand showing. Josephson's photo is more similar to to Friendlander's than Woodman's. In his photo the first thing my eyes were drawn to was his arm holing a card frame, cutting out a woman's hand, from the rest of her body, who is sitting in car that takes up most of the space in the photo. You can also see his shadow on the side of the car which is similar to Friendlander's silhouette reflection.
In Friendlander's self-portrait the edges of the photo are like a frame sort of outlining the window he is taking the picture in. There is also a little white square in the middle of the photo (where he is standing) with his tiny silhouette reflected in a mirror in the back of the shop. He seems interested in seeing the body of a person without seeing too much of what they look like as you can't see much of the man in the background either. The frames in his picture are really subtle. On the other hand, in the other two photographs it is very obvious that they thought long and hard about the frames in their photos. In Woodman's photo, the biggest thing is the doorway. The room is really empty and the only thing to focus on in the subjects being framed by the doorway. Also, on first glance it's hard to tell if it is a doorway or a mirror but you can't see a camera anywhere so it can't be a mirror. There is also a radiator by the side of the doorway and what puzzles me is why she chose to keep it there. In Josephson's photo there is a very obvious frame, the card view finder framing a hand. It's very strange that he chose to do this and I'm not quite sure why he wanted to single out thta specific thing.
What I find interesting about all three photos, is that in all three of them you can't see the artist's face. They are all self-portraits, but they are far away from the cliche 'selfies' we see all over the internet. I really like the way that they have completely ignored that most selfies have the person's face in them. Josephson's photo is even further away from the conventional selfie in the way that he is trying to make the viewers focus on another person that isn't him. Although he is framing a different person's hand he is still in the photo twice with his arm and and his shadow. The photo I find the least mysterious is Friendlander's as I have seen self-portraits similar to his but I am interested in why he chose to keep the man in the middle ground. Something that other people might find interesting about his photo is the way that the whole photo is a reflection in the mirror in the back of the shop, but to me this isn't that interesting. Woodman's is very unconventional because you can barely see her. There is no way of knowing who the people are in the photo and can only go by what she has chosen to share about the photo. I think this is really cool and leaves a huge mystery behind her work.
The photo I enjoy the most is Woodman's. I really like the whole mystery behind it and the way she made the photo so simplistic by there not being much in the photo but so complicated in the meaning behind it. Her photo has inspired me to make a self-portrait with me in it but not very much of me. I am also inspired by the emptiness of the photo but it still interesting. Also, I like that she is sort of hiding herself from the camera in all her photos.
In Friendlander's self-portrait the edges of the photo are like a frame sort of outlining the window he is taking the picture in. There is also a little white square in the middle of the photo (where he is standing) with his tiny silhouette reflected in a mirror in the back of the shop. He seems interested in seeing the body of a person without seeing too much of what they look like as you can't see much of the man in the background either. The frames in his picture are really subtle. On the other hand, in the other two photographs it is very obvious that they thought long and hard about the frames in their photos. In Woodman's photo, the biggest thing is the doorway. The room is really empty and the only thing to focus on in the subjects being framed by the doorway. Also, on first glance it's hard to tell if it is a doorway or a mirror but you can't see a camera anywhere so it can't be a mirror. There is also a radiator by the side of the doorway and what puzzles me is why she chose to keep it there. In Josephson's photo there is a very obvious frame, the card view finder framing a hand. It's very strange that he chose to do this and I'm not quite sure why he wanted to single out thta specific thing.
What I find interesting about all three photos, is that in all three of them you can't see the artist's face. They are all self-portraits, but they are far away from the cliche 'selfies' we see all over the internet. I really like the way that they have completely ignored that most selfies have the person's face in them. Josephson's photo is even further away from the conventional selfie in the way that he is trying to make the viewers focus on another person that isn't him. Although he is framing a different person's hand he is still in the photo twice with his arm and and his shadow. The photo I find the least mysterious is Friendlander's as I have seen self-portraits similar to his but I am interested in why he chose to keep the man in the middle ground. Something that other people might find interesting about his photo is the way that the whole photo is a reflection in the mirror in the back of the shop, but to me this isn't that interesting. Woodman's is very unconventional because you can barely see her. There is no way of knowing who the people are in the photo and can only go by what she has chosen to share about the photo. I think this is really cool and leaves a huge mystery behind her work.
The photo I enjoy the most is Woodman's. I really like the whole mystery behind it and the way she made the photo so simplistic by there not being much in the photo but so complicated in the meaning behind it. Her photo has inspired me to make a self-portrait with me in it but not very much of me. I am also inspired by the emptiness of the photo but it still interesting. Also, I like that she is sort of hiding herself from the camera in all her photos.
My Response to Francesca Woodman
I did some more research into Francesca Woodman's self portraiture and I also took inspiration from some of her other work. The photos I like are the ones where she is hiding herself and disguising herself while still being the main focus of the photo (mostly the only subject in the photo). These are some of my favourite photographs from her work:
These are the photos I took in response to her work: