I found Notes To Self by Derek Conrad Murray quite an interesting read due to the amount of angles he presents and the pure amount of information shown. In some places I found it to drag on a little, perhaps due to my lack of interest in that specific area etc.
“There is perhaps a distinction to be made between the popular notion of the selfie: the visual expression of vanity that is ubiquitous on social media sites like Facebook – and the more artistically motivated photographic self-portrait. As a visual form they can be totally indistinguishable, but the intentions that drive their production and social function vary greatly” This idea of ‘is a selfie different from a self-portrait’ is something that interested me. I agree that for the most part they can be indistinguishable (apart from digital quality differences and the fact that your arm might be leading up to the camera) however its more the audience and presentation in how they are different. Selfies are basically throw-a-way images, treated almost like a text message in some cases (snapchat). Throughout our online presence on social media we scroll past so many selfies per day it just seems to be over-populated, we don’t think about them anymore. Its just the norm, like being given a name at birth. Whereas self portraits have thought and meaning behind the image its self, connotations, a much longer process/technique to produce. It’s quite an interesting text and would consider researching this more, and seeing how this article will be relevant in 5-10 years time when photography has evolved even more due to social media and technology evolution.
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