PHOTOGRAHY, SELFIES AND SOCIAL MEDIA
‘Photography can be defined as the art, science, application and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electromagnetically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of light-sensitive material such as photographic film’. In general one can say that it’s the act of capturing a moment of life to keep or for future reference. Photographs helps us to recall or keep certain moments in life for future reference or study; an example is pictures taken during the first and second world war, the journey to the moon, the first picture of the earth, the destruction of the world trade center, pictures of past presidents of the United States of America, images from some of the riots and revolution that led to the abolishing of the slave trade, such images/pictures helps the current generation to have a clear understanding and clear evidence on how such events took place but not just ordinary stories that are being told. Photographs taken in Africa shows and narrate the lifestyle of the people in that region in which the picture was taken, some shows a hungry child, some shows people dancing their cultural dance, some portraying the cloths and artifacts of such people in a way that one can explain and have a real experience without the need to travel to the place.
Selfies; are kinds of photographs that are been taken by an individual capturing a moment in his or her life portraying his/herself in it, with the aid of a smart phone or a web camera. Selfies helps individuals to express their current situations(good or bad), current location or incidents, such images are then posted on social media, either edited or left as it is. Cindy Sherman has posted several images of herself heavily edited in a different way, with her face distorted. Some of her pictures; tho edited shows her life moment either on vacation, about to eat or even on the hospital bed .
In a nutshell photography, selfies and social media helps individuals across the globe to share life moments with each other or the word in general for them to see the different kinds of culture and individuals out there.
