Introduction:
A selfie to me is a self-portrait made with a camera which is usually a phone. I think that the point of a selfie is to capture a moment and to remember it. I only take selfies ocassionally depending on things like lighting, outfit and also something quite personal to me which is my skin and wether I am breaking out. If I do end up posting a selfie on Instagram it is usually because I like how I look in it and I wouldn't be embarrassed for lots of people I know to see it. I don't take selfies and post them to impress anyone or to show off about how much I may like how I look in it and I have never really been judged in a bad way for my selfies. I think that selfies have become so popular because of social media stars influencing fans and also the fact that people can show a different side to themselves and take control of how others see them. I think there is a downside to selfies because people can get hate and shamed for how they look. I think that there may be rules or conventions for taking selfies such as looking nice or if you are going to look silly/funny at least make it look cute, I think these rules have come from the fact that people don't want to be hated on for how they look and to make themselves believe that they are beautiful based on how many likes and comments they get.
There are many different types of selfies such as:
- The mirror-selfie which uses a mirror to capture an image of yourself
- A group selfie which is a selfie with lots of people
- The polaroid selfie
- Selfie-stick selfie
- The average selfie which just has one person as the subject.
There are many different types of selfies such as:
- The mirror-selfie which uses a mirror to capture an image of yourself
- A group selfie which is a selfie with lots of people
- The polaroid selfie
- Selfie-stick selfie
- The average selfie which just has one person as the subject.
Vivian Maier exhibition:
Our task was to create an exhibition using self-portraits by Vivian Maier. Through this exhibition we learned more about who she was and we tried to find out why she never shared her pictures while she was still alive.
The way we set out our pictures was that they are going on a journey from the top left going in a spiral (going clockwise) to the middle with the mirror selfie in a car side-mirror. The journey is going in order of how close she is to the camera (proximity). The journey ends with the shadow picture (which is the furthest away) above the description. We decided to name our exhibition A Journey Around Vivian Maier.
The skills involved in being a curator are being decisive about how you want to lay the pictures out and the order will be and also being collaborative when working with other curators. The thing that I found most challenging about it was trying to figure out how to split jobs and how to get ideas out of others in the group. I think that our exhibition was quite successful. At first I wasn't sure if it was going to go well because I hadn't really talked to the people in my group before and by the end of the double lesson we hadn't done the title and we weren't sure what we were going to say. But during the presentation everything came together and I think we did quite well at explaining what we did. I think that if I was going to do it again I would try to be bit more organised and get the layout sorted out quicker. I think that I would also try to be more confident with putting my ideas across. I think that I may have done the layout differently and not put them so close to the floor, I also think that I would try to line the pictures better and be careful about the groups when they are being stuck down.
Kenneth Josephson shadow selfie:
Frame shadow pictures:
This task was to go outside and try to take shadow selfies that are similar to the picture taken by Kenneth Josephson.
WWW:
The pictures we took were quite good and I think we did a good job at trying to replicate the picture by Kenneth Josephson.
EBI:
I think that it would have been even better if I managed to get the shadow of the view-finder in all of the pictures that we took.
Obscured selfies:
We looked at a series of photographs called Abstract Photographs by Akihiko Miyoshi where he uses the camera or different objects to cover his face. He usually uses a shutter release cable to take his photos.
This picture is a mirror selfie. In this picture it looks like he has used coloured tape on maybe a piece of glass to cover his face. The tape is out of focus (it's blurry) and the background is in focus.
Our attempts:
WWW:
We came up with many ways of covering our faces with the different bits of tape/circles/sticky notes. We were very creative in how we did it and we did quite well.
EBI:
We could have tried to find other ways of holding the acetate and we could have played around with the proximity to the camera and find a way of holding the paper so that light does not reflect of it.
Experimenting with selfies:
WWW:
Our experiments went pretty well and we managed to take quite a few imaginative selfies including reflection, feet, shadow and we tried some closed-eyes selfies.
EBI:
We could have tried to come up with our own kind of selfie and try some different angles.
Las Meninas
This painting is by Diego Velasquez and is called Las Meninas, it was painted in 1656 and the median is oil paint on a canvas.
Thoughts and observations
When I first saw this picture I was confused as to who was painting the picture, I wasn't sure who the two people reflected in the mirror were, I also didn't know why the two maids in the middle are both looking at the little girl in the dress (who is looking straight at us).
After we learned more about what the picture was my thoughts changed, I found out that the two people in the mirror are actually the king and queen of Spain, the little girl in the middle of the painting is the princess of Spain and the artist who painted the picture is the man at the back on the left who is holding the paint brush and palette.
After we learned more about what the picture was my thoughts changed, I found out that the two people in the mirror are actually the king and queen of Spain, the little girl in the middle of the painting is the princess of Spain and the artist who painted the picture is the man at the back on the left who is holding the paint brush and palette.
3 things everyone should know about Diego Velasquez' 'Las Meninas':
- Velasquez is included in the painting, he is the man standing near the back holding the paint brush and palette.
- 'Menina' means 'lady-in-waiting' or 'maid of honour'
- The man standing in the door-way is the queen's chamberlain
Selfie book:
Our project (to complete as homework) was to create a book of selfies that we have taken at home, we had to try to include as many different types of selfies that we have looked at in class.
We had to make our own front cover, I also decided to include some information at the back of the book about what the word ‘selfie’ means and what types of selfies are included in the book.
Las Meninas
The end product was an exhibition of our edits of the Las Meninas painting and some of the selfies we took for our project (the selfie book). I think that the exhibition looks really good with the combination of selfies and edits, it was interesting to look at everyone else's work and see what everyone else has been doing.
Experimenting with selfies
We experimented with reflection and feet selfies. I think we could have experimented with feet selfies a bit more and different angles.