My parents told me I don’t take enough “selfies” while traveling, meaning I should take more photos of amazing places with my dumb mug in front of it.
I don’t tend to take photos with myself in them very often and have never fully understood why a some people insist on having themselves featured in all of their holiday photos. In most cases people take photos of all these amazing places and (in my opinion) ruin the photo or picturesque scenery by smacking their mug right in the middle of the photo, usually partially blocking the sight/monument/scenery that they are trying to capture. Their presence in the photo doesn’t add anything, and takes away good photo real estate.
I guess people just like to show off to people that they have been to that place instead of capturing its beauty and awesomeness. Either that or they need an endless supply of Facebook profile pictures. People don’t actually get these holiday snaps printed and hung on their wall do they? Hanging photos of yourself in your own home is just plain creepy.
When taking photos I occasionally get asked if I would like my photo taken in front of whatever it is I am photographing. My usual reply to this is “no thanks, I know what I look like”. Sure maybe what you look like changes over time (my face beard for example), but due to everyone else snapping photos you are sure to turn up in a tonne of other people photos anyway which will still manage to find their way back to you via Facebook, email etc.
I think I just like to try and capture a scene exactly how I see it through my own eyes. When I see a photo of myself in front of a scene wether it has been taken by someone else or on a tripod with a timer it just doesn’t hold as much meaning to me… maybe i’m just weird… nah… everyone else is obviously weird.
So today I half drunkenly set up a “selfie” inside a tomb on top of a hill while reading a book about the Vikings here in Olympos. Its in black and white because its so freaking meaningful and is intended to induce feelings and shit (really to record current beard progress, hide my sunburn and make my parents happy).
