T-shirt tales? Because every t-shirt tells a story, don't it.
And I have so very many of them. Shirts. And stories. ---- Whaaaaat??
Historically, for photos of me taken on my own camera, I've used either human tripods ("stand here, hold my camera, aim to see the top of my head down to my waist...") or built-in timers -- usually 10 seconds, which often isn't sufficient time to get into the perfect sexy position.
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| 1975 Photo-by-human-tripod: Hey, we're all dressed up, please take our photo! Oh by all means make us as tiny as possible, surrounded by meaningless messy darkness, please. (Before I learned to be more specific...) |
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| 2008 at the Monterey Bay Aquarium: Get the camera set up, push the 10-second timer, and get back into position to lean casually against the railing... didn't quite make it. |
With my first small digital camera in December, 2003, it became easier to hold it in one hand at arm's length, aim it at myself, and click, hoping to get what I wanted, although I preferred setting it somewhere and using the timer. At least with digital I could immediately see whether I had achieved the ideal artwork (unlike small film cameras).
But if I wanted more than my head and shoulders, and some of the background, too, and decent quality, it would have to be the DSLR. Which also has a 3-second or 10-second built-in timer. And then a rush to get into position and look casual. Heh. Ha.
Finally after enough frustration, in 2010, before leaving on a long driving vacation, I bought a remote shutter release. Allows me to set up the camera, compose the shot, get into position, compose myself, and simply press the button in my hand. Love it. But I don't often carry my DSLR or a tripod around.
When an iPhone came into my life not quite 2 years ago, suddenly I could hold it at arm's length and see myself to compose the shot. Nifty indeed, although it's designed for a one-person head shot, really. Hard to get more than that. And, although it has a timer, it's hard to just set it down somewhere and move away from it like I could with the regular pocket digital cameras.
If I want more than just my face, there's always the Mirror Selfie strategy.
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| 2019 Mirror Selfie. How about if the camera is *here*? What about over *here*? Or maybe over *here*?!?! |
Fact is, I like having photos of myself doing things and going places. (As a kid, I often resented people taking my photo. But I liked seeing them as long as I didn't look too terribly ugly.) So I have taken photos of myself (sometimes with friends or dogs) for a long time.
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| 2012: Nice Canon digital pocket camera--could actually get more than just my own face when held at arm's length. By then I understood how to [usually] get my composition when staring at the camera lens. Can't get this wide a shot with the iPhone in selfie mode. |
The act of taking your own photo has been around as long as cameras, but holding it up in front of you and snapping yourself was still a novelty in 1995.Surprising to note that the term "selfie" itself didn't appear in any paper or electronic medium until 2002, although the person who used it said that it was commonly used slang by then.
Since then, I've taken only one selfie (that I've found so far) with me in this shirt (setting the camera on a nearby table). Crazy, right? In 2016 with a friend at In'N'Out Burger. Not at the fascinating place where later in the day we spent three hours taking photos. Nope. Doh. But, well, here it is.
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