Photography is defined as the art or practice of taking and processing photographs wherein people usually use themselves as the subject. People from this generation need not use expensive cameras nor film to capture a memorable experience such as being with friends, capturing a good meal, a beautiful scenery, or even a self portraits (Selfie). All we need is a smartphone and an app to edit the photographs taken by us. Nowadays, people use social media, most especially Instagram and snapchat, to share something that is memorable to them. Some post pictures of themselves to gain more likes/views or to send their followers a message saying that “hey, it’s okay to have flaws/it’s ok not to be perfect”, some want to show off their natural beauty, some want to have fun by editing their photos by adding filters to hide their imperfections and the lists goes on and on.
As I was reading the article about Cindy Sherman, it was not clear to me why she edits her self photographs like that and shares them on social media. But I thought it was unique. To add to that, it also occurred to me that Cindy’s way of making her “selfies” interesting is by editing them so that people won’t be ashamed of sharing their imperfections in a self portrait. That we can all feel free to share whatever we want to share to express our current feelings or emotions without being judged by other people.
