Selfies

 Selfie 1

I too have succumbed to the lure of selfies. You know what I mean, those pictures of yourself taken with your iPhone - I have also used an iPad, but I prefer the smaller iPhone.
I do take self portraits, have certainly done so in the past. But selfies are different, they are snapshots, much like those photo booth pictures we used to take for fun with friends before camera phones were invented. I have loads of them, from my teenage years and later, pictures taken while fooling around with my sister, pictures taken with boyfriends, I even have one series with my ex husband, soon after we were married and probably a little tipsy.
You'd insert the right coins, get into the booth and wait for the flash, posing outrageously.
With selfies it is different and yet it is much the same thing, because they are spontaneous portraits. I still have'nt got the knack of taking them, though.
I do think of things such as light, background and so on. So maybe my selfies are not that spontaneous.
I spent a good two hours today trying to get some. The idea initially came because I wanted a picture of me with an accidental splash of blue in my hair - I went to have my lashes tinted, I always have them done because I don't like wearing mascara, since I swim a lot. Unfortunately the beautician spilt a little colouring on my hair, just a tiny bit and of course was very apologetic and wiped it off immediately. My hair being so light it immediately absorbed the colour and I ended up with a faintly bluish strand. I wanted a picture of it.

Selfie 2

 I managed to remove the blue through rubbing the hair strand with my favourite shampoo on a face cloth. But before doing so I began to take selfies and then after I finished fiddling with my hair I continued to snap away. I was trying to find the right spot and the right pose.
I still find it difficult to take pictures with a camera phone, I am so used to changing settings, not much choice there. But I can see the result immediately. I deleted many - background was not right, light too strong, I was not looking in the right direction, but then I stopped thinking too much about the whole process. The point is to be natural, it is a snap, that's all.
Next week I will start taking photos again with my camera. I am told that the iPad takes good pictures so I will experiment with that too.
I don't know why people keep on discussing selfies as a form of narcissism. Are self portraits necessarily narcissistic? I think selfies have made self portraiture accessible to everyone.
I will continue and use selfies to support my self portraits with my proper camera.