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Sunday 3 December 2017

Selfie

A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, which is typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. Selfies are often shared on social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Some people use a "selfie stick" to hold the camera.

"Selfie" typically refers to casual self-portrait photos taken with the camera held at arm's length, as opposed to those taken by using a self-timer or remote.


Rembrandt van Rijn, the 17th century master of the pre- camera selfie, painted at least 64 self-portraits.

One of the first self-portraits was taken in 1839 by Robert Cornelius, an American photographer. Because the process was slow he was able to uncover the lens, run into the shot for a minute or more, and then replace the lens cap.

Photographic self-portrait by Robert Cornelius, 1839

The first known use of the word selfie in any paper or electronic medium appeared in an Australian internet forum on September 13, 2002. Australian student Nathan Hope posted a picture of his split lip after a drunken party stating. “Sorry about the focus, it was a selfie,”

The Sony Ericsson Z1010 mobile phone, released in late 2003, introduced the concept of a front-facing camera. The Z1010's front-facing camera had a sensor for selfies and video calls

The term "selfie" was first used officially by photographer Jim Krause in 2005. He wrote in his book Photo Idea Index "A 'selfie' is one of those images that is taken by aiming the camera at yourself. The guesswork that goes into taking selfies often results in serendipitous photographic surprises."

Initially popular with young people, selfies gained wider in the early 2010s. By the end of 2012, Time magazine considered selfie one of the "top 10 buzzwords" of that year.

After the Curiosity rover landed on Mars in 2012, it took its first space selfie, which was posted on its Facebook account the following day.

In 2011, a crested black macaque snatched a wildlife photographer's camera, and took a photo of herself grinning. The selfie established a legal precedent when in 2016, a federal judge ruled that the monkey cannot own the copyright to the images.

"Monkey selfie" of a macaque who had picked up a camera.

"Selfie" was officially accepted for use in the word game Scrabble in August 2014.

The most selfies taken in three minutes is 184, achieved by Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar in Mumbai, India on February 22, 2023. Kumar became the new title holder during the promotions of his upcoming movie Selfiee. Kumar surpassed the previous record of 168 selfies by American James Smith aboard the Carnival Dream cruise ship on January 22, 2018.

Socialite Paris Hilton claimed to have invented the selfie with Britney Spears on November 19, 2006. Eleven years later, she announced on Twitter that they were the originators of the past-time. "11 years ago today, Me and Britney invented the selfie!” she wrote alongside some photos of her and the pop star posing together. People quickly shut her down with various examples of others who got there before her.

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