SELF PORTRAITS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Is there a difference between self-portraits we may take of ourselves on a day-to-day basis and those more contrived by artist’s and professional photographers?

To begin with, the pictures we take of ourselves are mere photographs. It is us just posing, generally doing crazy stuff, in parties, with wild make-up. Those self-portraits by artists are entirely different because they can be crazy and all but when it comes to expressing an artistic idea. They have a purpose concerning art; ours are expressing something as well but in most cases, it has nothing to do with art whatsoever. Our self-portraits have no photographic technique; it is just someone trying to make a crazy picture.

2.  If you haven’t seen the idea of taking photos of yourself as self-portraiture, for what reason do you record your life and times through the taking of self-portraits or, why do you think people in general feel so compelled to take photos of themselves?

I don’t take many pictures of myself at all. The pictures I have in Fb have been taken by somebody else in parties and that kind of stuff. I don’t like posing for the camera, it makes me uncomfortable.

People want to take photos of themselves because they want to show off something they have just bought, because they think too highly of themselves,  because they are egocentric, or simply because they have nothing to do with their time but to waste it taking silly photos.

3. One of the sections in the painting article dealt with the self-portrait as self-study.  Could this also be extended to the self-portraits we see in social media?  Are people really studying themselves or, is it still the narcissistic love of our own image?

I think it is just an expression of how much they like seeing themselves, exposed to everyone they know so that they can be “admired” as astonishing, beautiful creatures they are. I’m just kidding! But let’s face it, people want to be loved and admired and through these pictures they manage to make people watch them because humans are by nature curious and critics of everything and everyone.