Why do people enjoying taking selfies?

May 21st, 2011
I’m just curious what your motivation is. I’m not very comfortable with it because I’m too self-conscious, but it appears there are many on here who obviously enjoy it and are very creative about it. So, what draws you to selfies?
May 21st, 2011
ability to completely control the subject, as its yourself.
I feel comfortable doing weirder and wacky stuff myself rather then making someone else do it.
Umm...... cuz its funny seeing the results :)

that is all i can think of :) i used to hate being in photos, one of my fav things to do now, so its just developed.
May 21st, 2011
I dont really take that many selfies to be honest, although I have this month as its a challenge and it does make you think about the whole process not only of taking self portraits but of taking portraits in general.
May 21st, 2011
I was pretty uncomfortable with it too, but for my first real selfie of this project, I was completely nude. After that, there's not much to be afraid of, haha. I got a lot of positive feedback so I figure, what the hell?
May 21st, 2011
I completely agree with Nathan @marshy15.
I think for me, it's the ability to control the subject that I like the most.

I am not a very confident person, but I learned through taking self portraits that I could very easily convey strong feelings that I was trying to get across.
So, even though it's not the easiest thing in the world for me to do, I've learned to enjoy them.
May 21st, 2011
I take a lot of selfies. Sometimes I'm the only model I have. Sometimes I just have a pretty crazy idea and know how to execute it perfectly. There aren't that many pictures of me since I'm usually behind the camera so this is way to get in front of it. I don't know there are lots of different reasons, I guess.
May 21st, 2011
basically as Nathan put it :)
May 21st, 2011
I am a photographer for a reason...I prefer to be BEHIND the camera. I am too camera-shy to be infront of it. I hate having my picture taken. I am too self conscious, which is why I have a picture of my dog as my profile pic. He is much much cuter than me!
May 21st, 2011
May is a month of SELFIES , thats why theres a lot of "THEM" .... including me ... ♥

"ability to completely control the subject, as its yourself."
~nathan
May 21st, 2011
@lisjam1 great question. i also feel very awkward in front of the camera, which is something I am trying to work on a little. I can't expect other people to the comfortable with me taking photos if I'm not myself. i attempted a "self" shoot this evening, with pretty awful results.
May 21st, 2011
I would prefer to take anything but a selfie!
May 21st, 2011
I used to always hate being in pictures. Then during all of this big internet craze we are living through, it seemed that you need to have some pix of yourself. I used to try to take them and always hated them. Then in early spring i tried again...better camera, more knowledge, light from outside...it turned out OK. Then the selfie challenge came along and now I finally don't even care anymore...I mean I'm not going to be nude or anything, but I have come a long way getting over my shyness, plus the learning how to do it so it comes out well. I have deep set eyes and dark circles, but outside light, from the right angle works so well. It was weird at first though. People kept saying Oh you're so brave, which made me feel more self conscious. I thought wow, I must really be hideous if I am brave to show myself. But that's not what they meant, They meant I was brave and they were not. I felt better once I figured that out. It's all good. I think that this site is a safe place to become comfortable behind AND in front of the camera. Sorry that this is so long. :-)
May 21st, 2011
Interesting how people feel as though they have more control for selfies. I think I just suck at them because I feel as though I have LESS control over the camera and 90% of the time it doesn't go as I hoped. I much prefer being behind the camera!
May 21st, 2011
Same here as @snowangel
I feel like I get better results when I have someone else model!
May 21st, 2011
I was super uncomfortable with it!!!! This month I took on a selfie challenge and have promised to do a selfie every single day for the month of May. It is CRAZY! I am having a really hard time coming up with ideas.. but I must say - I am much more comfortable with the idea of having myself be the subject. I just had to look past all my flaws and start looking at myself the same way I look at the other people I photograph. It has been a great experience so far. Maybe it is something you'd be interested to try??
May 21st, 2011
I like taking selfies because YOU get to be the subject! And YOU get to interpret the photo any way you want, compared to taking a picture of something else or an inanimate object. It's just kinda fun! :)
May 21st, 2011
@eliserose781 @worldshaker @gavincci :D:D
when i first got into self-portraits this is what i wrote in my caption...

"there really is something about self portraits that encourages you to show your emotions. the isolation and loneliness of being both the subject and the photographer allow you to be who you are and show unrestrainably how your feeling."

i think that truly sums up why i take self-portraits.
May 21st, 2011
@marshy15
that's beautiful!! and very very true :)
May 21st, 2011
I LOVE SELFIES!!! and am vain.. haha just a little.. =p
May 21st, 2011
personally i think everyone doing them is awesome !! i just dont have the confidence !
May 21st, 2011
When the challenge came up, I thought at first: NEVER! There were only few pictures of me I liked and I didn't think it could get better. Miraculously (?) it did: When I was just goofing around in front of the camera and genuinely enjoying myself, it showed on my pictures and I really liked it, especially because of all the positive feedback I got. Plus I can basically do anything I want, as Nathan said :).
May 21st, 2011
learning to love taking pix of myself - usually hate them - so you prob see like an eye or two eyes etc - but its been a learning curve and completely out of my comfort zone so thats good!!!!
May 21st, 2011
I never liked selfies either and was very camera-shy. That's the reason I joined the May challenge - to get out of my comfort zone and try different things. It worked out very well, it stirred my creative juices and I have improved greatly on my photoshop skills.

But I will be glad when the challenge is over: 31 selfies in a month IS a bit much...
May 21st, 2011
I don't enjoy it. I hate it.

But it's something I ought to practise.
May 21st, 2011
I don't like them either--my mom modeled and my uncle was a photographer for Universal Studios so I spent my childhood with a camera shoved in my face 24/7. HATED it. However, my daughters complain they don't have any photos of mom so I agreed to one a month.
May 21st, 2011
I can't imagine doing a whole month of them either. Arg, my worst nightmare. My hat is off to anyone that took up THAT challenge. (:
May 21st, 2011
I am not a fan of them these days,other people doing this is exciting and fun to see but for me no,its not even a confidence thing its just boring to me but to see others is awesome so I will stick to that for awhile.
May 21st, 2011
It's a way to include myself into my project. I am aiming for one a month. If I don't the only pictures people will have are those taken by my daughter who has the oddest knack of capturing the most bizzare pictures. People will see my as a kook. ;-) Seriously, though, I'm not photogenic and getting a decent shot that isn't a formal picture is all I'm trying to get. It's a challenge for me.
May 21st, 2011
@lisjam1 I'm not confident about myself at all- I started doing the May challenge because I'm really not.
If I spent a month taking pictures of just my face I'd be bored to death by day 3. I'm finding I'm learning more about taking photo's through it. I'm usually a 'OMG quick take a picture' person and hate it when my 'subject' does that frozen thing, I am finding though, that setting up the shot can be fun too. Am also finding I'm a lot more creative than I thought I was- mostly because I only take spontaneous shots.

So doing the month of selfies for a month has so far taught me - how to use the self timer. How to set up for a shot....I don't have a tripod, so it's taking real ingenuity to get the camera where it needs to be, and that set photos don't have to be frozen.......and that I'm not what I think I am.

Up until this challenge, I would have to say that I haven't seen a picture of me that didn't make me want to cry in over 4 years. I'm learning it's not what I look like that's been the problem but the angle the photo's have been taken at.......not that I can change that but at least with me being able to take selfies, my kids'll have something of me as I have started refusing to have my picture taken as it's made me feel so bad.
May 21st, 2011
When I have no inspiration or motivation to do anything proper :p
May 21st, 2011
I have found that this challenge has really brought out some great inspiration. Trying to make it different each day is hard when it's the same subject everyday. I love a challenge.
May 21st, 2011
@voodoochild Very well put! I also get a lot out of participating in the challenge even though it's starting to wear me out a bit.
May 21st, 2011
All the Selfies Ive seen are fab but I dont go infront of the camera only behind it :(
May 21st, 2011
@marshy15 Nathan's first comment pretty much explains it all. Once you get over being self-conscious, it's convenient and just a lot of fun!
May 23rd, 2011
My reasons are a mixed bag of many of the above answers: I have no friends here and my husband refuses to be in photographs so I'm the only available model, I like being able to control the shot and express exactly what I'm going for, and for the first time in my life I'm starting to think I'm not as horribly unphotogenic as I've always suspected so I'm eager to take more shots of myself. Why, with a good camera and good lighting I can look almost pretty. It's genuinely been a good ego booster for me and seeing everyone else's selfies has helped me realize that even though I might not be conventionally attractive we all have our good features. I'm incredibly shy and self-conscious in real life but somehow I'm able to get over that for my selfies. To a degree. You will never, ever see a shot of me, say, dancing. I gotta draw the line somewhere!
May 23rd, 2011
I appreciate all of the replies! The reasons given were not really what I expected, but they all make so much sense. Now I’m thinking I might be missing out if I don’t experiment more with selfiies.
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