SELF PORTRAITS AND SOCIAL MEDIA

1. Is there a difference between self-portraits we may take of ourselves on a day-to-day basis and those more contrived by artist’s and professional photographers?
Yes there is, because if there weren’t, we would all be professionals, besides, not everybody’s got the sensitivity to send a message through a picture, and some artists do, which is why they’re who they are!

2. If you haven’t seen the idea of taking photos of yourself as self-portraiture, for what reason do you record your life and times through the taking of self-portraits or, why do you think people in general feel so compelled to take photos of themselves?
Because photos capture moments in our lives that maybe we wouldn’t remember if it weren’t because of them. I record my life because I want to remember everything when I’m old, and they’re not exactly just pictures of myself but of nice things I like and want to remember, or my friends and important people.
I think people who take thousands of photos of themselves just want to have lots of profile pictures on Facebook.

3. One of the sections in the painting article dealt with the self-portrait as self-study. Could this also be extended to the self-portraits we see in social media? Are people really studying themselves or, is it still the narcissistic love of our own image?
I think it really depends on the person because even though everything nowadays is much less artsy and much easier and quicker than it used to be, there’s still lots of people who do nice things, AND people who’re just narcissistic. I think it was much more expensive to be narcissistic when portraits were always paintings. So only some people could afford it.