The Self Portrait Phenomenon

Since the dawn of photographic technology, portraiture has been a widely used technique that remains popular. Even more so today, self portraits are being created at an alarming rate amongst social website users and digital photographers. There has been an increase in the amount of self portraits posted on websites such as Myspace and Facebook that are seemingly becoming less aesthetically pleasing. The digital camera has stripped away the process of photographic portraiture and has simplified the art which previously would have required back, key, and fill lighting to achieve a desirable effect. Today, anyone with a camera phone can take a ghastly image of themselves and post it as their default picture on Facebook.

One argument surrounding the self portrait phenomenon is the notion that photography is becoming increasingly popular with those who would not normally have been interested in the art form. Another argument with reference to self portraiture is that photographers are now becoming less interested in their artistic representations of other people and more interested in their own vanity. In other words, the photographer has now become the center of his/her frame. The Self Portrait Phenomenon…you heard it here first.