INKTOBER 52 2024 Week #21: SELFIE

“I’ve drawn several PMD selfies at this point. I find them fun and amusing. Sometimes I think the actual human tendency towards selfies since the smart phone revolution is out of control, at least when it separates the selfie-taker from whatever moment they are in the middle of experiencing. Like everything else, there’s a spectrum to them, I guess. There is the off-putting vanity aspect, but it can also be a light-hearted way to document special moments. Over the years, my wife and I have taken our 3 sons on a lot of adventures and hikes. At some point early on, I started the tradition of the ‘summit selfie’. It’s exactly what it sounds like: once we reach the summit of whatever peak we are climbing (sometimes multiples if it’s a ridge trail), we cluster together with some amazing view as the backdrop and I snap a selfie. I looked back at a few in preparation for this prompt, and it was really neat to remember some of those adventures when the kids were younger. This particular backdrop for PMD and the Multi-Purpose Novelty Squid was more recent, from a trip to Acadia National Park.

There’s probably an interesting comparison to draw between selfies and self-portraiture, as well. Renaissance painter Rembrandt (ah, to be famous enough to go by one name…) created about 100 paintings and drawings documenting his life. You can look through them and watch him mature and age. Maybe if he were alive today, he’d be taking selfies? He’d probably still be compelled to paint and draw, though, if my own experience as an artist is anything to go by. Perhaps, like me, he’d simply use selfies as photo reference, rather than trying to work exclusively from a mirror? Of course, if he were alive today, he’d be, like, 400 years old and maybe tired of painting himself.”

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