Long Before Selfies, There Were Self-Portraits

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Centuries before we even knew of the word “selfie”, there were self-portraits painted by some of the most famous and talented artists ever to walk this earth. Van Gogh did it, so did Frida Kahlo and Picasso but personally, I feel that the best self-portraits were by the incomparable Rembrandt van Rijn who painted more than 90 portraits of himself from the 1620s till the year of his death, 1669 so the portraits show his youth till old age.

There’s little doubt that we are obsessed with selfies, most of us anyway because I see people taking selfies everywhere especially when there’re festive decorations at shopping malls but I’ve also seen people taking selfies at fashion shows, with the models in the background and that’s something I have yet to wrap my head around because I just can’t understand people who’d rather take selfies during a fashion show than watch the models strutting down the runway.

give

So I have this marvelous set of products from Benefit, Aveda and MAC worth over RM300 to give away to one (1) person and if you’d like to participate, please share your thoughts on our selfie culture – do you love checking out blogs, Facebook & other social media for selfies, do you take a lot of selfies and share this on social media or do you think we are too obsessed with selfies and there are more important things in life?

Terms and conditions of this Giveaway:-

1. Giveaway exclusively for those who have ‘liked’ Juniper’s Journal’s Facebook page & with Malaysian addresses only.

2. Giveaway ends Sunday 11th October 2015.                     .

3. Winner will be contacted via email once result is announced in this same post. Please respond within twenty four (24) hours otherwise another winner will be selected.

Winner of this Giveaway:-

Goh Xin Yu

12 COMMENTS

  1. Selfie which is a new term rose up is actually quite strange for me. This had gone viral especially on the social website. I been surrounded by bunch of friends who like to take selfies too, of course after taking selfies, some of them will share on social website while others will keep for own memory safekeeping.
    For me, it doesn’t mean that taking selfies is the only way of showing self confidence but is one of the way. Myself not really fond of selfie, but I do like to join my friends for wefie! Selfie will only be done if I’m on solo traveling. I found that while taking selfie, lots of technique and aspect need to be taken of, of course with a selfie sticks we can done this way easier! If you plan to invest abit in good camera for selfie as well as sports action, I will recommend a GoPro, even selfies dummies as me can take real good selfie with GoPro! With this or selfie stick, we are able to capture the precious moment during our journey with its magnificent scenery due to the wide angle len.

  2. I despise the selfie culture.People are indeed too obsessed with selfies.It is like a way for desperately seeking approval from people. However,there are definitely exceptions. We need to have a sense of control and limitations to things.We need to remember too much of anything is not a good thing 🙂

  3. I don’t mind selfies once in a while but yes there are so many people who only take selfies all day long.
    I would never read a blog or other social media for selfies specially blogs….that’s something I would like to read cuz I have interest in certain subjects.
    There are so many people going crazy with selfies on my Facebook and some are quite nasty wouldn’t want to see them but unfortunately it shows on my time line. Sigh!!
    I am not against selfies but not up for selfies in toilets or with a car crash behind me…

  4. Oh I think people are definitely obssessed with selfies these days.
    I read it somewhere “if smartphones were ponds, a large portion of population would have already drowned”.

    I think beyond a point it’s just narcissist disorder. I mean who takes pictures of themselves at funerals. I thought people go there to mourn!!

    I think everyone has that one friend on social media who keeps putting selfies every few minutes, I actually unfollowed a friend because I was fed up of seeing that pout/duck lips all day long. Don’t know how many times she would change the profile picture in a day. It only shows that you are an attention seeker.

    Now isint all this some kind of mental disorder ?

    I would say if you are at work you rather have something better than pouting at office!!

    Time is one precious thing why would one waste it on taking selfies all the time.

  5. I don’t mind selfie because it can be useful especially when you’re traveling alone. However, there are so many people who are over obsessed with selfies that they will post tonnes of their selfies on social media. This is totally a social disorder that they need the constant reassurance from others, which can usually be judged from the number of likes she gains from her selfie. Sometime thse people are lack of confidence with their inner-qualities and personality, thus they need to seek attentions from others in this way.

  6. I’ve had enough with people on my friends list who’re so obsessed with posting up multiple selfies EVERY SINGLE DAY. I don’t care how pretty or handsome they are, but it’s too much. I don’t think their looks will change within a day, changing your profile picture or posting up selfie once a month is good enough to let people know that you’ve become prettier/more handsome or slimmer/fatter. I’m really not against of selfie, coz I myself do take selfies once in a while, for my own private collection or sharing on social media. What is worse is that there are people who put up their smiley selfies or their emo selfies or even their long pretty legs sitting by the poolside, together with so-called inspirational quotes, be it from themselves or quoted from somebody else. Oh please, what kind of relevance does your duck face has with “Fear kills more dream than failure ever will” ???? *rolled eyes* I had to unfollow and hide these people from my newsfeed because unfriend-ing is too obvious, unless i could barely remember the person’s name. In my opinion, I find such people are attention-seeking and narcissistic. It may also be sign of loneliness. The number of “likes” gives them approval, satisfaction and confidence. Selfie OCD/addiction is definitely not healthy and not normal, there are reports that some people have gone to the extent of going through plastic surgeries in order to take the perfect selfies. What has this world come to? Sigh.

  7. I believe this selfie culture can be very irritating to some people. Most of the time i will just check out the social media for the different poses that the younger generation like to do. This is especially common when you have FOOD and MALAYSIAN on the same field view. We can never get away with taking food pictures. Some can be interesting enough to want to get to know where such good food is hidden all these years, but now it has come to the rnd of annoyance for most people. This is specially when there are older folks at the table as well. They do not take kindly to such practices.

    However, I know that these culture will be a fad and soon it will fade with those dreaded selfie sticks.Hope that this culture will die soon though as I think there are better practices and culture we can cultivate rather than doing such silly things. Virtual storage space for all these selfies will just slowly clogged up all those memory cards for better memorable moments in life.

  8. I don’t really approve of selfie culture I think I have better stuff to do in life. I am not really interested in what people are eating or how they look all the time. as the technology is advancing we are forgetting all the small things that one should do for self development. I have seen mothers taking selfies continuously at eateries instead of listening to the child…I think its a crazy trend.

  9. Well selfies are the trend today and I do believe too much of selfies means there is something wrong with the person. I definately have better things to do in life than taking selfies all the time and then wasting more time posting them then people commenting on them and I replying back. Time is too precious to waste on all this…

  10. I just hope that this selfie, whatever fie please die as fast as possible because I am sick of looking at photos of these people looking for attention in the world or showing how much their LIFE is better than mine. I just do not get what the heck of taking the photos of their face with their new skincare products or new shoes? Are they modelling the new shoes to make it sell better or they showing that they can afford to buy those expensive or eat at expensive restaurant or have a new handsome boyfriend?

    These people just have to show 24/7 hours of their personal life which I am not interested to know about. Not to mentioned that I am not interested to see their face which is definitely edited heavily because they look nothing like their real face!

    I think because of these selfies culture that people are becoming more superficial, materialistic and go for surgery just to look good.

    I mean what is wrong with embracing our natural look, features and being humble. Everyone is showing show off what they have that I feel that there is no longer those humbleness and communicating with ‘heart’ . it is all about just being the one coming up with the best ‘selfies’ that I find ridiculous.

    Many told me that I look better in real person because in photo I look fat. I guess it is just because I am not photogenic. I don’t take being photogenic as a compliment because I will say it is save for a people who doesn’t look good in real person.

    Are you going to marry a person who selfies all the time or a person who wants to spend their time to care for you?

  11. The selfie epidemic has taken over. It’s spreading like wildfire. From Facebook profile pictures to billboard posters, there’s no escaping! Every corner we turn, you can bet your bottom dollar on it, a selfie is being taken. There’s no getting away from those compulsive camera clicks!

    A photo album, my child! A book of photos which generally comes out when we had a sherry too many, and wished to reminisce our yesteryear! Whilst the photo album’s collect dust, technology has taken over, and so today’s selfie is born. And boy has it taken the world by storm! Can you imagine a time when there were no…

    Fast forward to modern times, and there is no escaping the fact that the world has gone selfie-crazy!

    One of the top reasons for taking a selfie is to remember a happy moment. Other reasons include capturing a funny moment, or snapping a new outfit.

    It’s becoming a normality to see people stopping on heavily populated footpaths to capture that all important selfie. Ten broken toes later, we are still smiling because we managed to capture that crucial selfie. And guess what? It got over 100 likes!

    A psychological point of view, It feels good to take a nice snapshot of ourselves, doesn’t it? We twist over to our better side, run some filters through and post it up on Facebook for all to see….Oh, and not forgetting, wait for the bombardment of likes and comments. Harmless fun, right?

    Seeking ‘likes’ and approval is only human nature. Whilst some people argue that selfies are turning us into a nation of narcissists, psychologist have said that in moderation, selfies are feel-good and creative way to collect and share parts of their lives, emotions and personalities.

  12. Young people who become obsessed with the popular trends of today’s social media, could lose self-confidence, and the negative impact of this could have an effect on their lives. Generally, this only becomes problematic when someone becomes fixated or over-compares themselves to others.

    While some people are happy to receive a few likes, others hope to achieve as many as possible. If this isn’t achieved this can have a detrimental effect on their confidence. They may decide to take the selfie down, and retake another. 

    Sometimes, I also will selfie and post on Facebook. No matter selfie or wefie, but I don’t over obsessed and addict with it.

    To me, social sites have some great benefits and become a primary source of news for me.

    @ I enjoy making new friends and sharing content with them.
    @ I enjoys posting photos of my own life, especially when I encounter a tasty meal or catch my cat doing something cute.
    @ I confess that I enjoy feel-good quotes and infographics.
    @ I know I am giving up a great deal of privacy, yet I continue to post, like, tweet and share.
    @ It’s a daily obsession. I’m connected at my computer and on my mobile devices. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t updating my status or commenting on someone else’s.

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