Open Mike: Culture is Ever-Changing (Self Portraits)

["Open Mike" is the often off-topic Editorial Page of TOP, in which Yr. Hmbl. Ed. is sometimes forced to come up to 2025, despite the fact that, for him, not only was 2001 in the future, but 1984 was too. He actually loves being a geezer, but for that whole "death getting closer" deal. Otherwise, being an old guy is da bomb (<—very dated expression that Ed. imagines is still hip.) "Open Mike" appears on Sundays, when Ed. remembers.]

Luke (who was the self-described "lab drudge" at the original Imaging-Resource website for a dozen years, when it was the main competition for the original DPReview) wrote a fascinating comment here a day or two ago. He mentioned a number of new terms that have become current since I personally kinda stopped paying so much attention*. This is fun stuff, so let me just go down the list briefly:

Reverse selfie: If most of the pictures you take are selfies, featuring yourself mugging for the camera in a variety of settings and with a variety of people, pets, food, swag, etc., then the opposite might become a whole new category; a reverse selfie is, as Luke wrote, when you "aim the camera AWAY from yourself." What a concept—a picture in which my I doth not appear? 

I remember when most photographs—the overwhelming majority—were actually all reverse selfies! So much that we didn't even have the term "selfie." Imagine. (I'm being arch**.) We used the more formal term "self-portrait" then, and it was a perfectly honorable genre, albeit probably not something that most people would make a whole project out of, let alone a whole career. At least, until Cindy Sherman came along and owned it. (She still owns it, smartphone selfies aside.) The peripatetic Lee Friedlander, who I've called the most important American photographer (or shall we say the quintessential, to avoid the value judgement) of the second half of the 20th century, did a whole book called Self Portrait. Lee's self-portraits, however, don't convey classical little-n narcissism and self-love (Ye, formerly known as Kanye, and who now wants to be known as Ye Ye, has a line in one of his raps about how "people be snapping my angles"), but rather the strangeness of inhabiting a body and the extent to which our observing consciousness is alienated from it.  

(The 1970 original of Self Portrait is unobtanium, and the 1998 Second Edition is getting expensive. I'd recommend the updated version, from Yale, which has a great many more photographs. Strangely, no other self-portrait projects are coming to mind for me here.)

I had to do a self-portrait as a school assignment at the Corcoran, and I wish I could put my hands on it to show you. It was not very good. Not very creative, either. And not my thing—definitely. Like a lot of photographers of my era, I don't like having my picture taken. I'm all into the reverse selfies and what they can tell me about the look of the world when the camera is pointed outward.

Actually, reverse selfies contain a lot about the photographer even thought he or she is not in the picture. You'd never look at a Michael Kenna and think it was a Helmut Newton, or a Helmut Newton and think it was an Ernst Haas. But no hate to those whose thing is exploring the look of themselves; it's a perfectly legitimate thing and I'd look at it as soon as I'd look at any other thing. I'd love to see some curated, deliberate, consciously-made bodies of work of smartphone selfies by persons of artistic temperament and skill. 

I once tried to recreate this Lee Friedlander self-portrait using myself. I thought it would be easy. It was not easy. I did not get close. I also mailed him a letter and offered to trade prints, one of mine for one of this. I have not heard back yet, but he has only had about 32 years to consider my offer. I think I ought to give him a few more years.

Handheld tripod: A.k.a. a selfie stick. (I heard once of a little kid calling it a "selfish stick," which maybe isn't too far off base.) While not unknown in days of old, when it would more likely be called a handgrip tripod or just a grip, the term divorces "tripod" from its meaning as a three-legged stand that sits on the ground, and hangs on to its meaning as something attached to a camera that puts the camera at a location in space where you want it to be. My only question would be, why the newer term when "selfie stick" already serves the need? But that kind of rational consideration is not always how culture works.

Lens filter: A filter made of glass, usually colored, that actually physically screws or clips on to the lens. Because as everyone knows, a filter is a digital preset that you apply to a file to give it a predetermined look or to create a particular effect. If you used the word "filter" to describe a glass screw-on filter, people might misunderstand. Hence lens filter.

2D printing: This one really floored me! Am I behind the times. But it is instantly obvious what it means and why it exists. Since AI is not copyrighted (having no conscious human creator), I believe I can reproduce this here. Just the first sentence would be enough, but it's all pretty amazing:

AI Overview
2D printing is the process of creating two-dimensional images or text on a flat surface, typically paper. It involves using a printer to deposit ink or other materials onto a substrate, resulting in a flat, visual representation. Common examples include printing documents, photos, or artwork on paper using inkjet or laser printers.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

Two-Dimensional: 2D printing creates images or text that exist only on a plane, lacking depth or volume.

Flat Surface: The process typically involves printing on a flat surface like paper, but can also include other materials like fabric or film.

Ink or Material Deposition: Printers use various methods to deposit ink or other materials, such as inkjet sprays, laser toner, or other specialized processes.

Examples: 2D printing is used for a vast array of applications, including:

• Documents: Printing reports, letters, and other textual information.
• Artwork: Creating prints of paintings, drawings, and photographs.
• Labels and Packaging: Printing product information, barcodes, and designs.
• Signage: Producing posters, banners, and other signage materials.
• Publications: Printing books, magazines, and newspapers.

Relationship to 3D Printing: 2D printing is fundamentally different from 3D printing, which creates three-dimensional objects by layering materials.

I love that it doesn't even bother mentioning under "other specialized processes" that you can create a 2D print on light-sensitive paper by projection. Perhaps because that's so 1870s. And I especially love that last bit—having to specify that 2D printing is different from 3D printing. I've written many times about the amorphous interrelationships and ambiguities involved in all the "print" words, noun "verse" verb, print, printer, printmaker, printing, printmaking. This new thing adds to the happy melée in a way that, perhaps opposite from what you might expect, delights me.

So there, that's your dispatch*** from the former future on a halcyon Sunday in June. How come nobody's written a book called 2084 or 2054?

Mike

*In the 1970s, in the suburb of Bayside, Wisconsin, there was a guy in his 50s who tried way too hard to act like he was in his 20s. He dressed like a Bee Gee, down to the gold chains and white bell bottoms, and drove a white Corvette Stingray T-top. I actually heard him say "hey hey hey" to one of the girls from my high school, which was as much a cliché as a dog peeing on a fire hydrant. I decided then and there that I would not grow up to pretend too hard that I was younger than I was. It's a mark of respect to young people for older people to go ahead and act their age. In my very humble opinion.
**Adjective, meaning 2: "Marked by a deliberate and often forced playfulness, irony, or impudence." (Merriam-Webster.)
***Younger readers are going, "What." And older readers are going, "Wow."

Original contents copyright 2025 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

David Dyer-Bennet: "Well, a self-portrait at least used to be a formal portrait that you took of yourself, whereas a selfie these days is usually a snapshot you took of yourself. So not identical ideas. I've taken my own passport photo at least once, and I took my own college yearbook photo, I guess those have to be counted as self-portraits. But I seem to do it only when a photo is necessary, not just for fun."

Comments

[Ed Hawco]

Way back in the early ‘90s, before the word “selfie” even existed, I started to work on a series of sarcastic self portraits in which I would recreate classic paintings with myself as the model. I don’t remember exactly what the point was, but there was some aspect of “taking the piss” involved. (It might also have been me taking a shot at many of my fellow art school students who were compelled to do VERY SERIOUS nude self portraits.)

The project never got off the ground, as the test shots of me recreating Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ “La Grande Odalisque” (1814) with me sitting awkwardly on my ratty sofa holding a vacuum cleaner were so undeniably stupid that I nipped it in the bud. I am pleased to announce that I will not be showing a sample image. For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grande_Odalisque

[Oldsweng]

I've been photographing since I was 10 (over 60 years ago) and I've made about three "selfies" and they were for a specific purpose. All were made in last 10 years. I've sat for three portraits in my life. One at four years after taking my first flight in a small plane, one high school graduate photo and in just the last couple months I sat for a tintype. My favorite is the tintype because it captured me as I see myself.

[Albert Smith]

I can distinctly remember first reading in "Outdoor Photography" magazine back when physical magazines were the norm about some photographer that came up with a cool new thing. He carried a Nikon film SLR with a 20mm lens mounted and get this... he aimed the camera at himself while standing in front of famous world landmarks.

This was in the late '80s or early '90s and the word selfie didn't exist, much less the pocketable camera phone. But the magazine gave this guy credit for this way of documenting your travels and he got several pages with half a dozen photos in the magazine usually filled with world class shooter's work. I bet he wishes he could have patented this thing that now comprises most of today's photography.

[Jeff]

Andrez Kertesz took some wonderful self-portraits over many years, and some of my favorite “reverse selfies.” Vivian Maier seemed to enjoy the creative process as well; no sticks needed.

[Dean Johnston]

Hi.

I take self-portraits quite often. They may not be particularly good, but I take them consciously and with care. And thus, ‘self-portrait’ is also what I call them.

Why? I like taking portraits, but subjects are not always available. Sometimes I see light falling in a certain place in a certain way, and I have no one else to position in it. Sometimes I just want to photograph something, but there’s just nothing else going on. Sometimes I just want to experiment.

But often, more often than not probably, it’s just some unarticulated curiosity about how I’m feeling.

I really like self portraits too, in of themselves. I enjoy looking at them. I have about maybe 20 saved in a note app on my phone, that I like to look at. Many from the National Portrait Gallery collection, but others too.

Recently I’ve really enjoyed Leonard Cohen’s series of Polaroids, one of which is on the cover of Various Positions.

But my current fave if from 1970, by Marie-Laure de Decker. The ‘bathroom’ one. Her darker one, the “autoportrait” from 1968, with the camera in shadow, is coming in second.

Peace,
Dean

[Chris Kern]

Mike: If most of the pictures you take are selfies . . . then the opposite might become a whole new category; a reverse selfie is . . . when you "aim the camera AWAY from yourself." What a concept—a picture in which [I do] not appear?

But typically your family or friends are the subjects of these images, all smirking into the lens with exactly the same expressions they self-consciously have adopted in every other photo you have ever snapped of them except for the change in background. I’ve been calling them “smirks,” but I wonder now whether “reverse selfies” might actually be a more descriptive term.

[johnbabineau]

I took a photo of an interesting wall in Barcelona that had a sign saying:
“All Selfies are a Cry for Help.”
Never heard of such a thing, but it is a thing. Search.

[abdessamed gtumsila]

Funny and thoughtful! I loved the idea of “reverse selfies” as it shows how much photography and culture have changed over time. I always enjoy reading these Sunday reflections.

[Luke]

Re gold chains and white Corvette: The latest Corvette is downright amazing in so many ways, and I'm sure I would enjoy driving one, but the "gold chain" stigma is too much. Corvette owners seem to spend way more time washing their cars, or just yakking about them, than driving them.

And my Polestar-tuned station wagon (with a canoe on top!) can almost keep up.

[Dave]

That "handheld tripod" term is strange. "Selfie stick" rolls off the tongue much more easily and is generally known. The two "d"s in handheld just make it seem like the term is much longer than the extra syllable would indicate.

2D printing: like the line from Archer, in which a character refers to NYC as New York, New York. Archer tells him New York is sufficient. Just call it printing if it's on a flat surface. (Maybe someone thought there had to be a placeholder term to refer to non-3D printing.)

Don't get me started on "Reverse selfie"! :>)

[Herman Krieger]

Pictorial bio-


https://hermankrieger.com/bio.htm

[John Krumm]

For me, the self portraits and even selfies are far and few between. I do have the occasional mirror snap, like this one:

[Kent Wiley]

There is “Bladerunner 2049”. Does that count?

[Gordon R. Brown]

Selfie sticks are also called wands of narcissism.

[Gordon R. Brown]

I'd like to read Luke's comment from a day or two ago, but I don't know where to find it. Please tell your readers where it can be found.

[Gary]

I think you would find Stephen Leslie's, YouTube series 'Show and Tell' very interesting.
He has produced a number of episodes about well known photographers or genres of photography in a very unique and humorous style.
His latest is about Walker Evans and actually finishes the video with a montage of Evans's own self portraits

[Alan Whiting]

Mike, I've come to the conclusion that selfies are a matter of technical ease, rather than any greater self-centeredness in the smartphone generations. The standard 35mm film camera with a normal lens would focus no closer than about 3.5 feet, which is too far for a selfie. A closer focus would require a longer back-focus, and thus a bigger camera, or a special lens; they existed but were not common. When it became possible to hold a camera at arm's length and get a picture, selfies happened. Pictures of onself and/or others at famous places were always common. I note that my ancient fixed-lens Brownie has a good focus from about 8-40 feet, which gets Aunt Eloise and the kids in front of the Dodge Rambler nice and clear, but Mount Rushmore in the background is a little fuzzy.

[aaron c greenman]

Reverse Selfie: www.reverseselfie.com