Tagged: Photography

The growing emergence of self-portraits – “selfies” – shows no signs of stopping its domination of the social media sphere. By 2012, 86% of the U.S. population had a cell phone. Moreover, research indicates that six out of every ten women use their mobile devices to take self-portraits, most of which end up on Facebook. Narcissism, egotism and vanity are commonly associated with these snapshots – but our guest, Dr. Pamela Rutledge, argues that “selfies” are important, and expand on a rich history of self-portraiture. Pamela is the director of the Media Psychology Research Center.

Photographer Keliy Anderson-Staley works with tintype photography, a medium that came out ten years after the daguerreotype. Just like the photographers of the 1850’s, she uses similar chemical recipes, period brass lenses, and wooden view cameras. 

In 2005, the International Center of Photography opened an exhibit called “Young America”. The exhibit largely featured a collection of ghostly daguerreotypes - antique images made through the pioneer process that paved the way for modern photography. The exhibit opened to rave reviews - but within weeks many of the historic images began disappearing before the curators very eyes, aging decades in a matter of days.