THE ART OF THE #SELFIE

I often wonder how a perfectly respectable camera dodging introvert like me could have raised one of the all time great selfie posting maniacs to ever have graced Facebook.

My daughter, Chloe, a self-confessed selfie posting maniac

It may just be a sign of the times since Twitter did coin 2014 as the year of the selfie. According to WIRED, there are 79 million photos on Instagram alone that contain the #selfie. Other reports suggest the demographic taking all these shots are the millennials, thereby underscoring the notion that this age-group is obsessed with themselves.

My daughter, (a millennial), has all the right moves when it comes to taking selfies. They have been perfected over countless hours of adjusting her device to the exact angle required to best showcase the classic duck lips shot.

Or there is her trademark “naturally surprised” selfie that reveals even though she has been caught totally unaware, she still manages to look perfectly marvelous at all times.

Speaking of looking marvelous, wouldn’t Fernando Lamas have loved the selfie? 

I look marvelous

There is no question he would have had all the gear – filter, apps, and selfie stick. I can even picture him advertising the aforementioned accoutrement with the following slogan: “Walk #selfie and carry a big stick!”

The price of these sticks can range anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars.

However, before you go spending money on making yourself look good, keep in mind that not everyone is as big a fan of you as you are.

The Louvre and various sporting arenas have banned selfie sticks out of fear of unintentional poking. After all, nothing can come between a good selfie and a fabulous backdrop! Especially not someone else's eyeball. 

I must admit I have been in one group selfie with some of my oldest and dearest friends. It was the first time for all of us, (at least that’s what we told each other). To our credit, we did feel a healthy generational embarrassment associated with putting the camera on ourselves to take a picture of ourselves in a public place that was not even a famous public place (we were simply out for dinner).

We did draw some attention from the other diners, but only due to the fact that we couldn’t stop laughing at how each shot we took became progressively more hideous.

We have known each other since high school, so there were no holds barred when it came to picking each shot apart:

“Wow, I knew your eyes were really close together, but now it looks like you have just one…”

“When did that mole erupt on that side of your face?"

“Why are we all still friends?”

Had I known there was so much work involved in taking these seemingly random shots, I would have asked my daughter for some serious selfie boot camp training. 

I'm sure she would have been happy to oblige since she would have been calling all the shots, taking all the shots, and in all the shots.

The group selfie that didn't break the internet.
BFF's (until they see this post); front, Jocelyn, Patricia, Shannon, Anita

Recommended Listening: It's Hard to Be Humble by Mac Davis

Recommended Reading: Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

Recommended Viewing: Sunset Boulevard