We all know the classic “selfie”. A picture taken of yourself, that is planned to be uploaded to social networks or as a profile picture. You can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera, in which case you can clearly tell that this person has taken said photo of themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.

According to Marketing lecturer, Dr Mariann Hardey,“The selfie is revolutionising how we gather autobiographical information about ourselves and our friends.”

It’s about continuously rewriting yourself. It’s an extension of our natural construction of self. It’s about presenting yourself in the best way … [similar to] when women put on make-up or men who body build to look a certain way: it’s an aspect of performance that’s about knowing yourself and being vulnerable.

Since the invention of the digital camera, the selfie has been taking over newsfeeds all over the world – but what we didn’t know, is that it’s been around longer than we thought. In the days of Polaroids and daguerreotypes, the selfie was experimented with but the results were never as crisp because it was hard to erase the bad and keep the good, like we do today with digital photo equipment.

Today you can mirror your camera so that you can actually watch yourself take a photo and if you don’t have those nifty iPhone features then you can set standard cameras to self timers or use the trial and error method. As a result of this, since 2004, the #selfie tag has been popping up on photo-sharing websites like Flickr and is taking over Instagram. According to the latest annual Ofcom communications report, 60% of United Kingdom’s mobile phone users now own a smartphone and a recent survey of more than 800 teenagers by the Pew Research Centre in the United States found that 91% posted photos of themselves online — up from 79% in 2006.

Michael Pritchard, the director general of the Royal Photographic Society:

The rise of digital cameras and the iPhone coincided with the fact that there are a lot more single people around [than before]. The number of single-occupancy households is rising, more people are divorcing and living single lives and people go on holiday by themselves more and don’t have anyone else to take the picture. That’s one reason I take selfies: because I do actually want to record where I am.

Mail & Guardian has given us a list of some of South Africa’s most obsessed “selfie” takers.

South Africa’s self-obsessed:

AKA
South African rapper AKA posts typical masculine selfies; not smiling, trying to look tough, with sunglasses. His photos are so close up that only his grill (mouth) is visible.

BG
Johannesburg Zoo’s honey badger, BG, has been tweeting photos since June. His 10,000 followers obviously need a dose of cuteness on their Twitter streams and BG delivers, multiple times a day.

Bonang Matheba
A brand ambassador for Revlon, Matheba shares her day-to-day life through selfies. Her recent photos show a variety of events concerning her Cosmopolitan cover. Matheba obviously wants to get her own brand on to as many phones as possible.

Dineo Moeketsi
Vuzu presenter and O-Access host, Moeketsi posts full-length and close-up shots of her outfit and make-up before every show. Apparently her followers can’t wait until it airs to find out.

Eusebius McKaiser
There are so many photos of commentator and radio presenter McKaiser on his Facebook page that he had to make the list, even if he posts conventionally shot photos of himself rather than shoot-it-yourself selfies.

Jen Su
TV news anchor Jen Su is all about the self – you’ll seldom see her in a shot with her children or partner.

Lee-Ann Liebenberg
Model Lee-Ann Liebenberg recently snapped a selfie post-workout, one of the many photos littering her social media account. Not sure who looks that good after a hard gym session, but then we can’t all be models.

Morgan Smith
Morgan Smith, wife of professional cricketer Graeme Smith, apparently needed to share the birth of her child with her 10,000 followers. Remember the days when the father wasn’t allowed in the delivery room?

For more, click here.

[Source: Mail & Guardian]