“Selfie” or self-portrait nowadays is very popular among people around the world. Smartphone these days comes with variety of special function that makes taking self-portrait becomes much easier.¦

However, think about portrait, there are something more than just take picture of yourself. To be a good portrait, it needs more consideration, more composition design, and more emotional and aesthetic care.

Before selfie becomes today’s trend. Many photographers had shoot themselves a portrait, self-portrait one, for instant, someone like Nobuyoshi Araki who present the“Grand Photomaniac Diary” (1900-1999), Jun Ahn with self-portrait at the window (2008) and Robert Mapplethorpe and his work “Self-Portrait” (1975). There are also some works from Helmut Newton in “Self-Portrait with Wife and Models, Vogue Studio Paris” (1981) or Danny Lyon in “Self-Portrait, New York City”. Each of images exposes more than just a selfie, a picture of self, but it also tells their identity with creativity which is the most important for every photographer.

Photographer’s creativity helps create personal unique style of photograph and Selfie could be defined in many different ways. Alec Soth showed his selfie in “Broken Manual” (2009) and it was different from other. He concealed his face with pexellation and gun range. He said that he wasn’t comfortable to capture people including himself. So, he named his “Unselfie”. It seems like self-portrait but it’s actually not.

There are a lot of selfies from photographers with full of creativity. See more images at: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2014/02/seeing-themselves-photographers-self-portraits.html#slide_ss_0=1

Image Courtesy of “the Anton Kern Gallery” / “Christophe Guye Galerie” /  “the Sean Kelly Gallery” / “the Helmut Newton Estate” / the Whitney Museum, New York and Edwynn Houk Gallery, Zurich”