The Selfie Fad: Toxic Or A Quest For Self Portrait Identity?
Glenn Guy at his Moments Of Transition exhibition at Quadrant Gallery, Melbourne.
The popularity of the selfie has grown dramatically over recent years. My own experience creating self portrait photos, and the research I’ve undertaken into the selfie phenomena, convinces me that photographing yourself is an important process for the photographer to go through.
The selfie has become the ubiquitous form of self expression for amateur photographers. Selfies often portray the photographer in poses that are bolder and more confronting than tradition self portraits, providing more ways by which they can explore their identity and the image they wish to project.
There’s no doubt that the selfie is an important and revealing process of self discovery that showcases how the camera can be used to present yourself, in one or more guises, to the world.
I believe that building a collection of self portraits is important for all serious photographers. Here’s a few reasons why I believe that to be the case.
Selfies force you to take action, often involving a degree of physicality, and I’ve found that a great way to shrug off a creative malaise is through movement.
Selfies are a great way to document your own travels, both local and abroad.
Selfies allow you to build, over time, a large body of work that tells the story of your life in a visually interesting and unique way. This collection of images will document many of the significant experiences in your life; your relationships with family, friends and colleagues; the environments in which you’ve lived, worked and played; and the moments of bliss, melancholy and despair that become a part of your journey through life.
1839 was the year that an amateur chemist and aspiring photographer, , is said to have made the first ever selfie. That was back in the days of film based photography.
It’s staggering to consider just how far this trend has developed and, since the inception of the selfie on smartphones, how widely and enthusiastically it’s been adopted across our world.
Self portrait of Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, in Beijing, China.
Identity, Representation And The Masks We Wear
I made the above self portrait by photographing my reflection on the shinny door of a lift in a boutique hotel in Beijing, China. It's was just a bit of fun in the early stages of familiarizing myself with my then new Leica M9 camera.
It’s a unique and quite unusual 35 mm film-based camera. Just look at what I had to do to my nose to ensure I had the best possible viewing experience through the camera's rangefinder for focusing and composition.
The image was made with a Leica 35 mm f/2 Summicron-M series lens at 1/15 second with an aperture of f/5.6 at ISO 800.
It was night time and I had returned to the hotel after a winter's evening exploring the surrounding neighborhood.
Of course because I’m photographing a reflection, formed on the surface of the highly polished lift doors, everything you see is rendered backwards. While I don’t know what the meaning of the Chinese characters are in the background, I do like how, when reversed, they appear a little like the term O.K.
As it was night time, the only lighting available came from a weird mix of artificial light sources around the lift which produced the yellow/orange color caste normally associated with incandescent (i.e., tungsten) lighting.
I was okay with that color as, while the photo was made indoors, the yellowish color caste suggests it was made at night and, in this case, that helps tell the story behind the making of this particular selfie.
The reason for making the photo was to explore reflections and the notion of representation.
After all, how much of the person we present to the world is a true representation of who we really are?
Reflections are, by their very nature, a distortion of reality. As a case in point, just think for a moment about how you look reflected in the mirror. We’ve become accustomed to seeing these two dimensional, reversed views of ourselves.
But that’s just not the way we appear to the people we interact with in our daily lives.
Whether flattering or not, viewing yourself in a mirror provides, quite literally, only a reflection of yourself. As such, a reflection is by no means an accurate representation of what you actually look like, and it’s a very long way separated from who you really are.
Going beyond mere physical appearances, the question as to how much of our inner self is actually evident through our outward appearance has been a topic of discussion and significant endeavor for artists over the centuries.
And it’s this area of representation in which photography, including the selfie, has become so interesting and so powerful.
To be able to control the image you present to your audience, whether it be a manufactured reality or a more accurate representation of your true character and inner self, provides great opportunities for the selfie in our contemporary world.
About To Travel?
Selfies: Facts and Figures That Will Shock You
The statistics around selfies are really interesting. Here’s some important facts that my research has revealed.
According to Rise Above Research, a consulting firm that provides market research for the digital imaging industry, a staggering 1.5 trillion photos were taken during 2022.
That’s incredible! Want more, add the following statistics, also from Rise Above Research, into the mix.
92 million selfies are taken every day
That’s four percent of the 2.3 billon photos taken, on average, daily
The average person making a selfie is 24 years old
Women create 50% more selfies than men
While 52 percent of adults have never taken a selfie, 4% do so daily
More than 50% of millennials and 95% of Gen Z have published a selfie, on at least one occasion
The average person spends 7 minutes a day, that’s 54 hours per year, taking selfies
People smile in 60% of the selfies they create
How many selfies are taken every day?
According to Photutorial, 92 million selfies will be taken daily in 2022. This number coincides with the fact that 2.3 billion photos are taken every day, 4% of which are selfies.
Worldwide, on average, women take 1.5 times as many selfies as men. In Eastern Europe, women take 4.6 times as many selfies as men, but only 1.3 times as many in Asia.
The 0.5 (pronounced point five) selfie is a self portrait favored by many Gen Z.
This kind of image showcases the kind of distortion you might expect to achieve from an ultra-wide angle lens, evident in the exaggerated length of limbs and shrunken bodies caused by holding the camera up close when taking the selfie.
Selfie Ratio: Men and Women
As stated in the bullet list above, women, on average, take 50% more selfies than men. However, after the age of 40, this situation is reversed as the amount of selfies taken by women reduces year after year.
Might that suggest an increased concern among women, over the age of 40, with the way they look?
Perhaps! But it’s also possible these women are simply too busy with work and/or family responsibilities and, as a consequence, may start to view the creation of selfies, more and more, as a frivolous activity for which they may no longer have the time.
How Many Selfies Does The Average Teenager Take In A Year?
It’s interesting that the average teenager takes between 5 and 8 selfies per day. That’s around 2,500 to 4,000 per year. No wonder that number declines sharply with busy 40 year old plus mums.
How Many Selfies Are Stored On The Average Persons Phone?
The average person has 177 selfies stored on their phone. That figure can be more accurately defined as 200 selfies for women and 155 for men.
Actually, the amount of selfies I’ve made isn’t all that great. That’s probably because, unlike most people, I prefer to use my camera, currently a Sony A1 Mirrorless camera, rather than my mobile phone to create my photos, including any self portraits I make.
That’s largely because my photography has always been driven by image quality and, for many years, the final outcome of my best images was as large physical prints.
No doubt when I upgrade my very old Apple X iPhone I’II be pleasantly surprised with the quality of the new phone.
However, to have the kind of control I want for the creation of selfies, I’II need either a selfie stick and, on occasions, an attachment by which my iPhone can be securely mounted onto my tripod.
Nonetheless, making selfies is fun and I’ve enjoyed the process immensely. After undertaking all the research for this article, and assembling the self portraits which illustrate it, I’ve started to think about selfies in a much more positive way than I have in the past.
I’m now committed to making more self portraits into the future. That means buying a new mobile phone, most likely the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and a few accessories to help me make better use of my iPhone to create more carefully controlled selfies.
I also plan to relaunch my long neglected YouTube channel during 2024. It’s inevitable that I’II end up appearing in lots of videos on that channel. So, while not strictly selfies, I’II end up creating a significant amount of content documenting my life in photography and the travels I undertake.
While not the same as making selfies, these videos will serve another important goal for us photographers: creating a time capsule of our thoughts and opinions for posterity.
Best Selfie camera phones
Trying to determine what’s the best selfie camera phone is a perfectly natural question to ask when researching the purchase of a new mobile phone. Here’s the kind of questions you’ll need to determine.
What lens focal lengths does the phone offer and how suitable will they be for most of the wide angle (e.g., landscape), and telephone (portrait, sport and wildlife) images you’re likely to make?
What’s the low light performance of the camera and how often are you likely to want to make photos are these conditions?
Can you find a suitable camera within your budget?
As far as what kind of camera is best used to create the selfies, this is what my research has uncovered.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max scored an impressive 149 points in the DXOMark selfie test, ranking it as the best selfie camera currently on the market.
The phone has a 12MP f/1.9 lens, autofocus, and 4K video recording at up to 60fps.
The iPhone 15 has managed to capture good details in photos and videos in good lighting conditions.
The Google Pixel 8 Pro is also a great option, particularly when it comes to the quality of the camera’s front facing camera. You know, the one you’ll point towards yourself when you’re making a selfie.
Other phones worth considering when researching the best camera for making selfies including the following:
Samsung Galaxy Flip 4
Apple iPhone 14 Pro
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
What Are The Most Popular Selfies
Following an analysis of 2.5 million selfies on Instagram, researchers have discovered that more than half fell into what’s referred to as the appearance category. This term refers to the kind of photos that highlight the person’s make-up, clothes, facial features and body.
Here’s a list of the statistics, broken down in more detail how people form identities online, a team at Georgia Institute of Technology used computer vision and network analysis techniques to examine prominent categories found in 2.5 million selfies on Instagram.
Appearance: 51.7%
Social: 14.3%
Ethnicity: 12.7%
Travel: 7.1%
Health & Fitness: 5.2%
Hobbies: 2.8%
Gender & Sexuality: 2.4%
Teen + Young Adult:1.14%
Celebrity & Entertainment Industry: 0.72%
Alternative Culture: 0.68%
Food: 0.43%
Religion: 0.19%
Drugs: 0.14%
Work: 0.06%
Japanophile: 0.03%
While examining selfies in the appearance category, the team also found that the most popular poses were pictures made in the driver's seat. These poses are referred to as carfies.
Selfies have been categorised as self-promotion, self-disclosure and understatement.
Self-promotion, as the name suggests, is all about showcasing who you are and want you’ve achieved
Self-disclosure selfies involves sharing a private moment with a larger audience in the hope of gaining sympathy
Understatement is where someone portrays themselves modestly and what they’ve achieved as relatively unimportant
It should be no surprise, therefore, that those who scored highly in the self-promotion or self-disclosure category were usually the most positive about the idea of taking selfies compared to those in the understatement category.
After serving 2,000 women, a study from Newby Hands of www.feelunique.com revealed that young women are the most prolific selfie makers, spending a five hours a week perfecting their craft.
The survey found that those women aged between 16 and 25 created 3 selfies per day, taking an average of 16 minutes to produce each one.
'selfie-esteem' - linking their own body confidence with the amount of 'likes' they receive on a selfie via social media.
The survey concluded that a desire to boost self esteem underpins the production of many selfies. In fact 22 per cent of those participating in this survey described how the ego boost they experienced after getting likes was the main reason for creating their selfies.
The survey also discovered that young women make use of provocatively posed selfies to attract the attention of a potential love interest and as a way to make an ex-partner regret terminating their relationship.
Glenn Guy, the owner and primary content producer of the Travel Photography Guru website and blog on an early expedition to Pangong Tso (i.e., Pangong Lake) in Ladakh in northern India.
Why Do You Make Selfies?
Perhaps it’s an appropriate time to pause and consider why you make selfies and how you go about doing so.
How do you choose to represent yourself in the selfies that you create?
Do you particularly enjoy photographing yourself with friends and loved ones?
Are the selfies you create made, mostly, to reflect your relationships, social life, holidays, outdoor activities and other adventures?
Selfie Related Deaths: Shocking Statistics
The impact of selfies and social media on mental health is a topic of ongoing debate. On one hand, sharing selfies can boost self-esteem and promote a positive self-image.
However, excessive focus on one’s physical appearance and constant comparison with the way other people look can lead to feelings of inadequacy, anxiety and depression.
What I’ve just described is called the selfie effect. Studies have shown that continually comparing your own real-life circumstances with the seemingly unlimited supply of carefully crafted selfies published on line can have a noticeably adverse effect on your mood and psychological health.
What’s more, the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) is the main reason many people expose themselves to potentially dangerous situations while taking selfies.
Indeed, it’s said that 43 people die taking selfies every year.
Between October 2011 and November 2017, at least 259 people died in 137 incidents while taking selfies globally.
Half of the 259 people that died between 2011 and 2017 taking selfies came from India. Russia, the USA and Pakistan are next in line.
Over 33,000 people were injured during 2014 while using a cell phone while driving.
4% of all drivers have taken selfies while driving.
2017 was the deadliest year for selfie related fatalities, with at least 107 deaths, and many more people hurt or seriously injured.
More people die while taking selfies than by sharks
While everyone fears sharks, no one thinks about the dangers of taking selfies. Yet selfies are responsible for 5 times as many deaths as sharks.
27% of selfie related deaths are due to drowning.
Interestingly, researchers looked at more than 3,000 Twitter selfies hoping to categorize selfies as either dangerous or safe. The ultimate goal was to make the practice of taking selfies safer for everyone.
Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, working on the set of the Australian short film Yellow Brick Dreams. Photo by Matt Tonkin.
Why Photograph Yourself Holding Your Camera?
It's common for a photographer, working commercially, to portray themselves with a camera and expensive lens attached on websites, social media and more traditional forms of self promotion.
However, if I was a potential customer wanting to hire you, I'd assume you'd have really good camera equipment. It's a given! So why the need to show it?
Perhaps it's the unfortunate association photography has with equipment, rather than with creativity.
Perhaps, when the camera is held in front of the face, that it’s being used by the photographer as a kind of shield or mask by which to hide themselves, at least in part, from the world.
Martin Bailey: A Self Portrait That’s An Exception To The Rule
There’s a great photo of photographer Martin Bailey on the About page of his website. Martin's an excellent wildlife photographer and a great guy.
Like me, Martin was also a Master at The Arcanum, a now defunct online photography community and centre of education on the former Google Plus platform.
The photo I'm referring to is an extremely well made studio photograph featuring Martin with some really nice Canon gear.
Now, to my mind, this image is a bit of an exception. It's very well crafted, which I can appreciate, and the lens in question is a thing of beauty.
Of course these comments only illustrate the fact that judgement is a very subjective concept.
The inclusion in the photo of a rather specialized telephoto lens identifies Martin as a serious wildlife photographer and, as such, is appropriate and specific compared to the more generic here's Wally with his camera photo common to most photography websites.
Self portrait of Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, outside Hallgrimskirkja Luthern church in Reykjavík, Iceland.
Yes, It's Okay To Show Your Camera In A Self Portrait
Of course there's no rule (or if there is, no one told me) that says Thou Shalt Never Photograph Thyself Holding Thy Camera.
It's a free world, relatively speaking, and you can do whatever you like as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. Right?
What's more, just as it's fine to photograph a carpenter holding or swinging a hammer, it's fine to show a photographer, on location, doing what they do.
But instead of the usual representation of the photographer proudly displaying the camera they use, how about experimenting with more unique ways of showcasing what it is you do or, perhaps, why it is you do it.
That’s what I’ve tried to do in this picture where, as a travel photographer, I’ve depicted myself holding my then Canon 5D Mark II camera, reflected in a mirrored surface in front of the wonderful Hallgrimskirkja Luthern church in Reykjavik, Iceland.
If you’re using equipment that’s unique (like a large format, film-based camera) and/or specific to the kind of photography you pursue, then it's okay to include your camera in the photo, but try not to always make it a dominant or competing element within the frame.
After all, self portrait photos are, almost without exception, supposed to be about you, not your equipment.
If you work as a professional photographer then what is the reason you have entered into your business?
If the answer is to provide your family with a better life then, perhaps, you could include a photo of you having fun with your family as an alternative to depicting yourself hiding behind your camera.
Self portrait photos should, after all, reinforce in your own mind why photography, and what or whom you love, is such a significant part of your life.
It’s good to understand why you’re involved in photography. Is it, primarily, a creative pursuit or as a vehicle to derive income and, thereby, serve the needs of the one’s you love. For some lucky folk it can be both.
Ultimately, whether you’re an amateur or professional photographer, I believe it’s important to understand whether you really want to be identified with your equipment or with the reasons why it is that you create photos?
Self portrait of Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, in the village of Nordragota in the Faroe Islands.
The Selfie Explores Self Portrait Identity
Since the advent of social media, particularly Instagram, it’s become increasingly popular for people to photograph themselves.
I think it's fine to make photos of yourself, whether or not your camera is included in the picture at the time. What matters most is that you have photos of yourself and that they're interesting images.
“If I Look Into The Mirror What Will I See?”
The photo of me reflected in a mirror in the streets of Nordragota, a small village in the Faroe Islands is, I hope, visually investing.
I'm holding the camera, not so much because it forms part of my identity, but simply because I was travelling on my own so I had to to be able to make the photo.
But the camera probably fills up less than one percent of the frame so, clearly, its presence is only incidental to the image in question.
While the photo might be a little goofy, I knew I didn’t want it to look that way because it was yet another photo of a photographer holding onto their camera.
Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, with a local retailer and Col Pearson, a participant in a photography tour Glenn co-ran at a market in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photographer Unknown.
Please, Do Something For Yourself
Can I ask you to make a point, every now and again, to move away from behind your camera and allow someone else to make your photo.
Strictly speaking it’s not a selfie, but it’s a visual document of where you were, what you were doing and when you were there.
It’s important, for all manner of reasons, to have great photos of yourself. Here’s just a few:
For posterity and for your loved ones
For your own, online presence, particularly if you’re running a business
As a record of your life’s journey
“It’s unfortunate that so many photographers, passionate about their craft, don’t have all that many photos of themselves.”
Selfie of Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, on the Mt Aspiring Road near Wanaka, New Zealand.
A Good Selfie: The More You Look, The More You'll See
Here’s a fun image of me photographing a landscape from within a hire car while exploring the South Island of New Zealand. It’s a bit cheeky as it’s generally considered lazy making landscape photos from inside a car.
Yet, while not my usually practice, I’ve made some really interesting pictures this way, including an image made while sheltering form near Hurricane winds and heavy rain on Viðoy, the northern most island in the Faroe Islands.
In the case of this image made, with the window rolled down in my hire car, it's may not be considered a self portrait as the camera has obscured most of my face. However, placed in context with other self portraits made on my travels, I think it fits in just fine.
What the photo is intended to be is be a fun example of how to be creative. The photo shows me, my camera, part of the car in which I'm exploring the South Island of New Zealand and the wonderful landscape near the town of Wanaka.
The photo also explores the notion of a travel photographer and the important concept in composition referred to as a frame within a frame.
You'll notice how I'm framed in the window of the car which is, in turn, framed by the car's side rear view mirror and, finally, by the outside edges of the photo.
It’s just another example of how important composition is in the making of my own photos.
Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, during a midnight cruise on Jökulsárlón Lagoon, Iceland.
Do Think Carefully About The Photos You Share Online
As far as your own internet identity (e.g., website, blog, Facebook, etc) is concerned it might be worthwhile examining how you choose to portray yourself?
Photography, like any other passion, can bring its fair share of hardship and joy, frustration and elation.
Your photographs, as much as the words you choose to use, can describe your experience in a very authentic and powerful way.
What's your connection with photography?
What is there about photography that you find attractive or compelling?
How does the practice of making photos fire your imagination and creativity?
If it's a love of the natural world that drives you to want to be a better photographer, perhaps a photo of you in a beautiful outdoor location, like this image of me made during a midnight cruise on the incredible Jökulsárlón Glacial Lagoon in Iceland, would be a better option than a friend’s mobile phone photo showing you downing a beer.
Glenn Guy, the Travel Photography Guru, with a metal photographer figurine purchased in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo by Garima Dewan.
I hope this post provides you with food for thought. One way to resolve the issue for yourself is to go about making some self portraits for yourself. Whether you employ your phone or a mirrorless or DSLR camera is up to you. What matters is that you take a thoughtful and creative approach when making selfies, and that you do so on a regular basis into the future.
You’ll be amazed just how quickly a body of work can be formed. And the best of those images could become an important and treasured archive for the rest of your journey through life.
And let’s not forget, the best photos become important historical documents. We make photos in the now, but it’s through prosterity that they can be best appreciated.
