Skip to main content

My 1976 Selfie



It was a hot summer day in 1976 that I took my first “selfie.” I was in a small dorm room located on a community college campus in East Texas. 

I was taking a summer photography class and had been lent a camera by the photography Instructor. It was a box with a mirror, and I had to hold it steady and long to have the light come into it and the picture engraved on the negative.

I stood in front of the mirror in my room and held the box close to my body as I looked up and waited for the image to be taken. I couldn’t move and didn’t want to breathe.  It’s not the same as today when you can put your cellular phone up and just snap. If you don’t get it right, you delete it and take another one.  No, this one was different. You didn’t know how the image would come out in the darkroom until you processed the film and put the paper into the water bath of chemicals to see the output that would magically appear! 

That summer, I took a lot of pictures, most of my nieces and nephews. I was amazed at the clarity and expressions I captured. I really liked my selfie. It showed me as the smart-ass I was in school.  I was a rebel of the seventies. I thought I knew everything, and no one could tell me otherwise. I captured my rebellious youth and independence. 

I really didn’t know as much as I thought looking back in hindsight. I only imagined most things that weren’t at all the way they indeed were. Regardless I captured my image that showed who I was in that moment in time like people do today, only more frequently due to technology.

I had someone tell me that this generation invented the selfie (maybe the name), but I have to differ since I have my own from 1976. Many others, photographers of the past, have theirs to prove the existence of a long-ago sensation of taking one’s own self-portrait. The difference is with the instrument, be it a cellular phone, camera, or paintbrush.  It is the concept of immortalizing oneself with an image from a moment in time. 

I actually like mine. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mazzy The Mermaid Princess by Carol Eliassen

Queen Eldora is banished by her husband the King from her immortal home to live among the human race as a mortal woman. A miracle occurs during the birth of her Granddaughter that sets her free and drives her to find out the true reason of her betrayal.   Along the way she begins to understand what motivates her and stays true to herself when it comes to love and forgiveness even while facing her greatest enemy. And so it begins:   The Birth of Mazzy The Mermaid Princess  by Author Carol Eliassen Chapter One: The Crossroads of Baku   Figure 2: Artwork by Artist Stephanie Broker   “Eternity begins and ends with the ocean’s tides” - Unknown Author      Something was different today. The tides of the Caspian Sea seemed to sway in perfect rhythm. I cannot fully understand it or describe it in perfect detail. Trust me it was different. It seemed that something perfect and magical was happening in t...

The Power of Prayer

"The wonderful thing about praying is that you leave a world of not being able to do something, and enter God's realm where everything is possible. He specializes in the impossible. Nothing is too great for His almighty power. Nothing is too small for His love." ~ Corrie Ten Boom

The Gospel in a Nutshell

For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. What does that mean? I'm not a theology professor or preacher, but I know that the Lord lives and that he was crucfied for my sins. How awful it must have been for him. Yet, he did it. He sacificed himself for ME. Yes, for ME, and for YOU, if you accept him as your Lord and Savior, he will be with you always. How do I do what he wants? It is simple, I must tell everyone I meet. If they accept, great. If they don't, that is their choice. Why? Because they have free will. God gave it to us. I love him so much that my life is nothing without him. I love him. I need him. I know him. I will always worship him. He has saved me more than once in this life. I know he will save me for the afterlife. I am HIS. I want all my family, friends and even enemies to know him the way I know him. Will that happen? Maybe, maybe not, they have their...