Selfie

It was simply called self-portrait back then.  But because of the social media frenzy, the term selfie was born and became the common term for self-portrait. The word was so popular that it was even picked by Oxford English Dictionary as the "word of the year" in 2013.  

Most photographers are guilty of taking a selfie. Lots of photographers took photos of themselves mostly in front of a mirror holding their gadgets.  This is because we don't normally ask our peers to take our photos during travels or photo activities. 

I think the art of taking self-portrait is one of the oldest forms of photography.  If you search the web, you can see selfies of famous photographers. But those weren't shared right away. Instead, they were treasured and kept in places out of reach to public.   

Self-portrait or selfies has a different definition in this generation. Some of you I think are already tired of selfies flooding your social media accounts. As per the Oxford English Dictionary, 

Selfie - a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media. 

These words - smartphone, social media, share are the culprits of the said phenomenon. But we can't really blame social media about the sudden abuse of selfies. There's no escaping from it anymore, just like this post. Though I hope everyone will find time to make at least an interesting or creative selfie. Expect self-portraits taken with drones to be the next big thing. 

Click

click
the lens panics
breaks the mirrors
of generations
over a cup of coffee 
and cigarettes

click
a chorus of shutters

paints stories
 carelessly records 
the blues and grays 
 of this lifetime

click
a wicked sound
freezes time
permanently
in published and hard-bound
encyclopedias

/totomai

for Poetry Pantry 228

The above photos are collection of my self-portraits from 2004. How about you, care to share a selfie?

/totomai
2014/11/22