LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — On National Selfie Day, the cultural phenomenon takes center stage. Selfies populated the internet and some groups even organized their own selfie celebrations.
At the YMCA on High Street, a high-quality selfie machine captured photos of Y members coming and going from workout classes.
“It's a way to have a brief moment in history where you can look back like, ‘I remember that day, that was a fun day, got a great workout in at the Y that day,’ so take a selfie wherever you want!” said YMCA regional operations director Brent Wallace.
From the YMCA to the newsroom of LEX 18, people snapped selfies, some with their kids, some with their collectable bobbleheads, others simply with a smile.
“Selfies feel like a kind or genre of picture that is based on showing off ‘the now.’” said UK’s Dr. Joshua Abboud.
The director of both the Bachelor of Liberal Studies and Composition, Abboud has given a lot of thought to the selfie in courses on social media.
He considers the selfie a genre of portraiture.
“We're doing this interview by Zoom, it's like we are talking selfies right now, so this is becoming more and more an aspect of how our world works,” said Abboud.
Despite filters and cropping, Abboud said there’s an authenticity and immediacy to selfies – a snapshot of how we look on a particular day, a reinvention of ourselves, and how we want others to view us.
“Of course there's some self-absorbed aspects to it, but is it really that bad to be able to look at yourself and say, 'In this moment, I wanna remember who I was?'”
In this digital age, Abboud doesn’t think selfies are going anywhere, and on National Selfie Day, LEX 18 called on its residential pop culture enthusiast, Sierra Newton.
“In middle school when I first got Instagram, I would take a picture of myself every single day,” said Sierra.
While she’s grown out of the daily selfie habit, Newton can still be described as the selfie queen and offers some tips.
“First of all, confidence, you have to be confident and start with a smile,” said Newton. “Also, looking for good angles, sometimes someone else's angle is not gonna be your angle, so take the time to find those, and lastly, good lighting. You don't want too many shadows on your face because you want to highlight your face.”
So go forth, snap a selfie, and have a happy National Selfie Day!
