Three Selfies

I’ve always been confused by what constitutes a selfie.

If the definition of a selfie is a picture of oneself taken by oneself with the front facing camera on the cell phone (like the pictures James Franco shows in his New York Times think piece), then I’ve probably only ever taken like. Two selfies. I generally don’t like taking photos with the front facing camera. I find them hard to edit.

But, if a selfie is any picture of oneself taken for the purpose of posting on social media (whether taken by self timer or by another person), then I have taken a lot of selfies. I’m going to go with this slightly broader definition, in part because Franco’s description of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift’s instagrams sounds more like that. But mostly because I find it easier to go with.

A lot of times, the photos I take are based around which VSCO filter I can use on them. My favorite one is A6, so I tend to try to stick to pictures I think will look good with that.

This was taken at the Cloisters. I actually was reading Beowulf at the time, and since I had it on me, I figured I’d use it as a prop for the photo. Which sounds kind of icky and pseudo intellectual when I say it that way, but at the time I thought it was a good idea. I do really love reading (hence the English major), so this photo definitely encapsulates that particular trait. I even started a bookstagram to take pretty photos of the books I’m reading, though I’m admittedly super bad at keeping up with it. But that one particular facet of my identity is definitely on display in this picture and a lot of my other instagram posts. Also, as stupid as this may sound, I thought the book complimented my outfit to a degree—the fishnet tights kind of look like the chainmail on the cover, and my dress reminds me of a tapestry (which is kind of the entire reason I bought it). Actually, I think the reason I tend to prefer selfies taken with self timer or by another person rather than forward facing is because it gives me the chance to show off what I’m wearing. I like to think I have good taste in clothes, and I really like this particular outfit.

Laura Pappano talks about how the selfie engages with the practice of journaling, and I think this picture really falls in line with that. It’s kind of like a visual diary entry of what I did that day—I went to the Cloisters with my mom, looked at art, and finished reading Beowulf.

This one was taken with self-timer. Pappano discusses how the filter shows off “the taker’s personal, arty style”. I think this one is most deliberate in that—it’s the P8 filter on VSCO, which is specifically designed to look like a polaroid. I don’t usually use the P series of filters. But sometimes if I have a picture of me and my friends (like this one), I think it works. It gives kind of a summery, nostalgic feeling and I dig the vintage vibes. My whole aesthetic is vintage inspired, and I like to take photos and edit them in a way that emphasizes that.

This also falls in line with the “pics or it didn’t happen” ideology Pappano suggests. When I hang out with Steph and Vicky, we tend to take a LOT of photos. They don’t all get posted, but I think there is some subconscious need to be like “hey look! I’ve got friends!” That might be more on my end—when I was a kid, I was kind of an outcast and I only really started meeting people I connected with towards the end of high school. So there may very well be some psychological need to prove that I do, in fact, have a social life.

This shot was taken in the Planting Fields Arboretum, which is plenty photogenic on its own, so I think it’s interesting that I always end up with a lot of selfies when I go there.

This was taken after I went to a goth night in Greenpoint. I don’t usually like taking pictures at night, but I thought it fit when combined with the industrial look of the stairs and brick building. Also, the lighting was uncannily good (I try to avoid flash when I can).

The ripped fishnets-leather skirt-Docs thing, while also generally encapsulating my personal style, has a lot to do with the curation of and creation of the self. Of course I don’t post selfies where I’m wearing something I didn’t put effort into. My curated self has a strict, vintage/goth inspired/grungy aesthetic, so I’m going to stick with it.

Related to the above, I have quite a few pictures of myself where I’m either lighting a cigarette or smoking. Sometimes this is because the picture is a candid. Sometimes it genuinely is a prop of sorts—I think it’ll add something to the photo if I’m smoking in it. Usually its a sort of in the middle type thing, where I really want a cigarette and also hey, it’ll look cool if I take a picture of me smoking it right now.