We explain what a selfie is, what types exist and what the selfie stick is used for. Also, the history of the selfie and which ones are the most famous.
What is a selfie?
The selfie or selfie (from the English selfie or selfy) is a self-portrait photograph, that is, taken by the same person who appears in it. The term generally refers to photographs of this type taken with digital cameras or cameras integrated into the cell phone, and it is a practice that has been massively adopted in times of social networks, although its invention, strictly speaking, dates back to the beginnings of photography.
The word selfie is an anglicism, that is, a loan from English that replaces “self-portrait” or, rather, “selfie”. It emerged and became widespread at the beginning of the 21st century, thanks to the incorporation of cameras in cell phones. The first recorded use of this word on the Internet dates back to 2002, in a forum called ABC Online; and in 2013 the prestigious Oxford English dictionaries chose the term as the “English word of the year”. You must read about Hashtag (#) once.
Like all anglicisms, selfie is written in italics in Spanish, and can be used both in singular and plural (selfies), or using the Spanish version selfi and selfis.
History of the selfie
The photographic self-portrait is almost as old as photography itself. In fact, at the time of the daguerreotype in the 19th century, the American Robert Cornelius (1809-1893) took a self-portrait in 1839, on the back of which he wrote: “The first light photograph ever taken. 1839.”
However, it was not until the invention of the portable Kodak Brownie box camera in 1900 that photographic self-portraits became popular, usually using a mirror or some reflective surface, as in the case of the portrait of the (then) adolescent Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova (1901-1918), Grand Duchess of Russia executed during the Bolshevik Revolution.
The first group self-portrait came soon after, in 1920, and was taken in New York by the American photographer Joseph Byron (1847-1923), together with four of his colleagues. In this last case, the distortion of the lens on the image is noticeable, taken by holding the camera between two people, since it was quite heavy.
With or without a mirror, the photographic self-portrait continued to become popular throughout the 20th century, long before the Internet, social networks and the word “selfie”. In this sense, the work of the Venezuelan photographer Vasco Szinetar (1948-) stands out, a renowned portraitist and author of a wide collection of self-portraits with artists and writers in front of the mirror, developed over several decades.
Finally, the arrival of the Internet and cell phone cameras allowed the popularization of the selfie and its separation from the professional photography field. With the arrival of social networks in the 2000s, everyone wanted to take selfies and share them with their contacts, emulating the gesture of famous film and television stars such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, whose 2006 selfie was often and wrongly announced as the first of its kind in history. Maybe you should definitely read about Smartphone once.
First selfies
Some of the first selfies in history are the following:
- Robert Cornelius selfie (1839)
- Anastasia Romanov selfie (1914)
- The first group selfie (1920)
- Joseph Byron selfie (around 1920)
- Frank Sinatra selfie (1938)
- George Harrison selfie in front of the Taj Mahal (1966)
- Vasco Szinetar selfie with Jorge Luis Borges (around 1980)
- Paris Hilton and Britney Spears selfie (2006)
Types of selfies
Some sites have proposed a classification of selfies based on their style and content. These types of selfies are:
- Selfie: This is the ordinary self-portrait, either in front of the mirror or turning the camera towards us. It became much easier to take since cell phones have a front camera (or selfie camera).
- Usie: Its name comes from the English pronoun us (“us”), and it is the group selfie.
- OOTD: It is a type of selfie, generally full body, in which emphasis is placed on the clothes that are worn. Its acronym corresponds to Outfit Of The Day (“clothing of the day”). It is typical of social networks and influencers who advertise different clothing brands.
- Helfie: Its name comes from the combination of selfie with the English word hair (“hair”), so it is a selfie in which prominence is given to the hairstyle or hair.
- Morningselfie: Its name in English translates to “morning selfie” and consists of taking a self-portrait while still in bed and without getting ready.
The selfie stick
A selfie stick is a type of accessory for cell phones that consists of an extendable stick, to which the cell phone is connected and which allows you to exceed the maximum distance of an outstretched arm to take a selfie.
This makes it easier to frame the photo and allows you to capture a larger portion of the surrounding landscape, which is why it is a very popular implement among social media and self-portrait addicts.
