Michael Curtis Photography - "Selfie Promotion!"

I really can no longer put this off given the growing interest in my photography. So, I am taking the opportunity to piggyback the launch of my blog on last week’s announcement that the esteemed Oxford Dictionary had bestowed the prestigious ‘Word of the Year’ honor upon the photography related term ‘Selfie’ and debatably the most embarrassing phenomenon of the digital age.

“19 November 2013, Oxford, UK:

selfie noun, informal
(also selfy; plural selfies)

a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website

Today Oxford Dictionaries announces selfie as their international Word of the Year 2013. The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a word or expression that has attracted a great deal of interest during the year to date. Language research conducted by Oxford Dictionaries editors reveals that the frequency of the word selfie in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year.

Selfie can actually be traced back to 2002 when it was used in an Australian online forum.  The word gained momentum throughout the English-speaking world in 2013 as it evolved from a social media buzzword to mainstream shorthand for a self-portrait photograph. “

The Michael Curtis Photography Blog Selfie. This inaugural blog post is not really about me (maybe a little) but more about the great people who have allowed me to photograph their life events (weddings, baptisms, graduations, sporting events) as well as capturing moments in their life through high school senior pictures and family portraits. It is truly an honor to work with my clients and create images that preserve their memories and emotions for themselves and the enjoyment of generations to come. There will be more posts showing images of the people who have hired me to artfully photograph them in a manner that a camera-phone selfie cannot.

Now I’m not out to bash the ‘selfie’ shooter – especially since most of us have likely taken an arm-length self portrait at one time. It must be pointed out that professional photography differs from the ‘Selfie’ snapshots in the quality nature of the image and the likelihood that it will be printed and given as a gift or used to create wall art that will stand the test of time. I’m not denying we are in the digital age, hence the online galleries and even this blog but the fact remains that there is something special, tactile and long-lasting with printed photos, wall art and photo albums.

I feel compelled to include my Selfie though not technically a legit Selfie since it was shot with my camera on a tripod since the lens I had on my camera that the time could not focus in the short ‘arms-length’ distance. 

I hope you will check in from time to time and view current work of Michael Curtis Photography. How's that for a little "shameless-self-promotion' or more aptly 'selfie promotion?'