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The History of the Selfie
1 Whether people are taking them to send to friends or to post on social media, one of the most popular pastimes is taking selfies. The propagation of taking selfies these days is extreme. Sometimes people take selfies with friends, with pets, at sporting events, or just doing something silly and fun. Regardless of the activity being recorded, selfies have become quite prolific. Everyone is taking selfless these days. There are now selfie sticks to make taking pictures with camera phones much easier. Surprisingly, taking a selfie, or the newest type of self-portrait, is nothing new.
2 A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, or photographed by the artist him or herself. Art historians believe that the first self-portrait was done by the famous Dutch Renaissance painter Jan van Eyck in 1433. It was during the Renaissance that portraits became more popular as many people became wealthy. Self-portraits also became popular at that time. Many other great painters, including Rembrandt Van Rijn and Frida Kahlo, painted self-portraits.
3 Until the 1990s, cameras used film. By the 1980s, many film cameras had a timing mechanism that enabled people to take pictures of themselves—but the process was a little bit complicated. First, the camera had to be placed on a tripod. Then, after setting the timer for a short period of, say, 20 seconds, the photographer could hurry out in front of the camera before the picture was snapped. In this way, people could take an early kind of selfie, or they could join a group of people for a group photo.
4 Sometimes the artist did not just do a plain self-portrait in which he or she was the main subject. Many artists over the years put their visages in paintings or drawings of something else. For instance, they might be one of a crowd in a historical or mythical scene. Norman Rockwell was a famous painter who painted illustrations for the cover of the popular magazine the "Saturday Evening Post" for 47 years, beginning in 1916. Twice—in 1938 and again in 1960—Rockwell painted portraits of himself at work for the cover of the magazine. On several other occasions, Norman Rockwell included himself in paintings depicting groups of people. These group portraits, which included Rockwell, were used as cover art for the "Saturday Evening Post" on several occasions.
5 Creating a self-portrait photograph became much easier with the invention of digital cameras in the 1990s. Digital cameras record images using computer storage rather than onto film. The cameras that are in today's camera phones are digital cameras. Until digital cameras arrived, the film in most cameras had to be developed using chemicals in a laboratory. This usually meant that you had to drop your film off at a camera store and pick up the developed pictures a few days later. That meant that if you took a picture of yourself, you had to wait to find out how the picture turned out.
6 The only exception to this type of film development was the Polaroid camera and film system. In 1947, the Polaroid Corporation began producing special "instant" cameras that used film in self-contained packets that would develop into a picture within one minute. Still, many people preferred the older style film cameras because Polaroid film was more expensive than regular film, and older types of film, particularly 35-millimeter film, produced the highest quality pictures. Some people still feel that 35-millimeter film delivers pictures that are superior in quality to what a digital camera can produce. Nevertheless, the quality of digital photos continues to improve as the makers of digital cameras continue to make advancements. Because of digital technology, selfies are much easier to produce today using a camera phone—you can see the picture right away and then take another one if you don't like the way the first one turned out. A popular cell phone platform determined that their users take a whopping 93 million selfies per day!
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Select the correct answer.
Which evidence best supports the idea that selfies and self-portraits are the same thing?
A.
A self-portrait is a representation of an artist that is drawn, painted, or photographed by the artist him or herself.
B.
Creating a self-portrait photograph became much easier with the invention of digital cameras in the 1990s.
C.
Sometimes the artist did not just do a plain self-portrait in which he or she was the main subject.
D.
There are now selfie sticks to make taking pictures with camera phones much easier.
Explanation:
Answer A
Prolly wrong
