DIY Selfie Guide

What an Australian boy more or less in passing termed a ‘selfie’ in a social media post in 2002, become a worldwide phenomenon in 2013 and is now omnipresent: a self-portrait made with a mobile telephone or webcam. By now millions of people photograph themselves every day, with or without a friend in the picture, with or without a special location in the background. Vast numbers of selfies get shared with friends and acquaintances, or with total strangers on social media. The selfie has become the ultimate and very contemporary expression of the ego in the modern world. Willem Popelier analysed tens of thousands of selfies, thousands of tips and dozens of research articles on selfies. He looked at selfies of unknown people that have gone viral, at famous self- portraits in history, and selfies that were shared millions of times on social media. Out of all this research Popelier came to 66 criteria for the ultimate selfie. These 66 criteria are accompanied by 66 re-enactments of Popelier, mimicking some of the most famous and infamous selfies on earth. These were made by Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian and Bradley Cooper, among many, many others, including the very first self portrait ever taken with a camera in 1839. Go and take your own selfie based on rules applied by the stars. You can shine just like them. All you need is a camera, yourself, and a hashtag.