Selfies? The democratization of art or the end of civilization as we know it?

The first 2 choices.

Its a form of public and net masturbation.

They're easy content creation by people who are now suddenly learning that their followers demand fresh content 24/7.

If I knew what you just said, I would disagree with you.

No seriously, you don't find it pathetic that someone even Has followers. Let alone now you've got this burden of creating "content" for them.

You know what I look like, pretty much the same as the last time I saw you.

I think it's a stupid word, especially when you take your picture with someone else and still call it a Selfie. The other nonsense that gets under my skin is photo bombing. A practice that is nothing short of rude, wastes other people's time but for some reason is now considered "fun behaviour". Hopefully, blowing your nose on other people's clothing won't become another fun activity for the creatively impaired.

Is having a professional make your portrait not those things too?

My vote goes to "democratization of art". Who is holding the camera doesn't make a big difference to me. I enjoy looking at portraits and, to me, a self portrait is usually more representative of the person and therefore adds an extra layer of interest.

Nice that an expert in the field has weighed in.

Well, they do have followers. I think people are realizing that they are one of the main sources of social media entertainment. It's certainly lowbrow entertainment. Some of it also stems from having a camera on nearly every phone. Taking a picture and uploading it is content creation that takes less than half a minute. Writing a blog post can take a good hour. Making an infographic can take a good half hour if you're skilled at image software, two or three times that if you're not.

Quick content for our instant gratification culture.

I think selfies are fine. People just make too much of it. I have a selfie somewhere that I took almost forty years ago, but I don't show it around.

Oh. I thought selfies were for people who didn't have a single friend or acquaintance that would push the button for them.

I pretty much agree with you on that, boomerang, though I could possibly get sick of all of the mass of it. I figure people will weary and get onto some other obsessions, but some of those left will get intrigued with photography and do more and more in exploring it.

This all reminds me of the guy, probably mentioned in some thread on a2k, maybe by me, do I remember? who was an artist to start with, and when he found out he had alzheimer's, proceeded to draw himself as time passed. Those were drawings, but selfies in a way, and significant to probably a lot of people who knew about it.

Its your fault. You're the master exhibitionist, putz.

Best answer.

Note the pronouns, glitter. That's what makes it a Selfie.

I'll add that my first exposures, heh, to the photographer Garry Winogrand put me off, so sloppy! He was, to me, the anti- Henri Cartier Bresson (or others I could go on about, like Marc Riboud), still is, but now I get him.

Selfies have some of that sloppy bravado, as do a lot of phone photos. Most are kind of dross (I know it's not an adjective, but it is for me) while maybe important to the person, but some, by the nature of the moment and spark art, could be golden.

I have little use for these fads.

Still, I suppose it ranks a lot above 'happy slapping'.

Given the two choices, I would probably lean more towards the democratization of art, simply because the other option seems somewhat excessive.

But calling Selfies the democratization of art seems erroneous in my eyes. The internet enables the democratization of art, and the Selfie is just one instance of that process.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/pictures-of-the-year/11308092/Pictures-of-the-year-2014-World-news-part-2.html?frame=2952788

This Is Why You Shouldn’t Take A #Selfie Around A Raging Fire
http://www.buzzfeed.com/abagg/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-take-a-selfie-around-a-raging-fire#.gsgGBROjY

http://www.collegehumor.com/post/7033571/selfie-obsessed-sorority-girls-get-ripped-by-baseball-announcers