Selfie Origin: Evolution of Camera

Blogpost 3: Selfie Origin: Evolution of Camera

Have you ever wondered how "selfie" came out to the media? By just taking our self photograph, we can be trending worldwide by using, hashtag(#) selfie? It has also been introduced as a new word in the Oxford dictionary.

According to Self-portraits and social media: The rise of the 'selfie',by BBC news magazine, Selfie-ism is everywhere. The word "selfie" has been bandied about so much in the past six months it's currently being monitored for inclusion in the Oxford Dictionary Online. The first self-portrait photograph is thought to have been taken by camera pioneer Robert Cornelius in 1839, but whether or not it's a true "selfie" is debatable. But if we imagine, how can you self photograph yourself way back then? Especially that the camera they are using is not like what he have now. The camera back then uses stand to take a picture. "It's likely he may have had a friend or assistant to make the actual exposure," says Dr Michael Pritchard, historian and director general of the Royal Photographic Society. The first camera that uses timer that flashes 5 to 10 seconds was developed in 1800s. 

 Then in 1970s, the Polaroid camera became famous. In a Polaroid camera, once you take a shot of it, it automatically prints the picture whether you like your picture or not. If you imagine it, you will know that it is so hard to take a selfie back then using the polaroid camera. What if you have a fail shot? It will still be printed, and it will be so wasteful. 

Having selfie or the self photograph shot is not new. In fact, one of the most famous televison series in 1990s, Mr. Bean starring Rowan Atkinson shows being vain by taking a self photography shot using his Polaroid camera. When he did not like his picture, he just throw it out. 

And the first colored digital camera was invented by Sony according to http://www.digicamhistory.com/1980_1983.html. Of course, it is so boring to have a black and white picture. So the colored digital camera was invented. But the hard part of this is that you won't be able to see your photographs. After you take a shot, you still need to develop it so that you would have a hard copy of your photo. Then time goes by, technologies upgrading, they invented a camera that is really high-tech. When you take a shot, you can now see it in the screen of the camera and you can delete if you do not like the picture. This became famous in the year 2000s. So that is why people are taking so many pictures. But the real fact is, we delete more photos than save it. Then the DSLR camera was became famous now. One of the most high definition camera that has ever been made. Then the most famous today especially to teenagers  is the cellphone camera, and not just that, as time goes by, the cellphone camera are also improving too rather than a camera. Some teenagers nowadays don't want a cellphone without a good camera. It is still hard to self photograph then until the cellphone camera upgrades to have a front camera in the phone so that you will be able to see your face when you are taking a picture. 

The evolution of the camera for me is the root of Selfie. When technologies improve, many people also thinks of something about what to do with these technologies. When cameras developed, the mind of the people also developed. They think of an alternative way on what to do with these technologies. So that is why people think of having a self-photograph shot on a camera. Because some are conscious on what their face look like, some wants to share experiences, some thinks they look gorgeous on their shot. Whatever it is, without a doubt, not just technologies that are improving from time to time, but also the human minds.