Art of selfies

Are you selfie obsessed Does your day not end without taking at least one selfie an hour Are you someone who likes to try different angles and lighting for your selfies Then, this one is for you! Learn the art of taking the best selfie and making it a piece of art at a day-long workshop by photographer Parthiv Shah titled ‘Self Portrait to Selfie: Redefining Image Making’ on be held on July 16 at India Habitat Centre.

Under the aegis of Habitat Photosphere, the one-year-long photography festival initiated by India Habitat Centre, this workshop aims to make today’s generation understand how to make a normal photograph a piece of art. Parthiv shares, “The idea is to make people understand how we can take selfies that go beyond a personal picture — it should throw light on a unique, little known aspect of our personality, and only then we can raise it to the level of art.”

He continues, “We will also talk about how to take better selfies, how to contextualise the image, so that people read a story in the image. It’s about making selfies — which are now the hot trend — a part of mainstream photographic discourse.”

The workshop will include interactive sessions on the history of portrait are present-day idea of photography. Parthiv will also teach the participants camera handling and various capturing angles and their significance. “Through slideshows and some exercises, I will discuss self-portraits starting from the Renaissance period to modern times with images of people taken by photographers like Raghu Rai, myself and others. Another aspect that we will be discussing is how much and what should be made public. Should a selfie be natural or staged etc,” points out Parthiv and adds, “To make a selfie a piece of art, we must be selective about taking selfies and posting them on social media. I do not like the fact that many a time people’s private life becomes fully public.”

Ask him why as a professional photographer he still thinks selfies can be a piece of art and he says, “Over the past decade, the phenomenon has emerged as one of the top trends in an image crazed world, being appropriated by the common masses, celebrities and politicians alike. The ‘Age of Selfie’ as it has come to be known, might be the result of unprecedented changes in technology and the rise of social media; but it owes tremendously to the old-age genre of self-portrait.”

He adds, “The long history of self-portraiture seems to have begun during the middle ages with painting. For some, it was meant to symbolise the primacy of authorship, for others it represented a case of self-consciousness and personal scrutiny, perhaps also a way to document their lives. From the prolific work of 15th century painters like Rembrandt to the almost neurotic efforts by modernists like Van Gogh and Edvard Munch, the practice soon made its way into the busy annals of the photographic world.”

The accessibility of capturing devices and sharing technologies have also opened up new avenues in the segment of photography shares Parthiv and adds that the workshop will discuss how questions of identity and self-fashioning have been transformed by the modern ways of ‘image-making’. “Participants will also gain insight into the normalised distinctions of public and private narratives and newer cultures of memory-making in contemporary society,” he concludes.