Public Address | Cafe | Notes & Queries: The Rejected Selfie https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/ en-us Copyright (c) 2026 Public Address Islander https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290340#post290340 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290340#post290340 toyed with the idea of a gravatar for use here, and got as far as making up a low-resolution self-portrait, which after sitting around for 4 years finally got used about 2 months ago when I joined Facebook … a move I regret already.

linger, know what you mean here:…

]]> Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:22:07 +1200 linger https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290336#post290336 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290336#post290336 I have for many years resisted having any physical (photographic) presence on teh Interwebz. I regard the self-image as an unwelcome distraction from the intended message.
Unavoidably, photos do leak out from conferences; but even there, I’m usually hidden under a hat, and/or facing away from the camera. In one…

]]> Wed, 24 Jul 2013 17:33:04 +1200 George Darroch https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290315#post290315 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290315#post290315 Thank you for this David, it's entirely wonderful. A few notes and thoughts, in somewhat unstructured form:

Staging the self seems to come directly after the first experiment. Staging is learned, a combination of tradition and desire. Whether self-portraiture is always aspirational is a moot point, but aspirations go in…

]]> Wed, 24 Jul 2013 13:22:49 +1200 "chris" https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290291#post290291 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290291#post290291 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 22:49:08 +1200 Geoff Lealand https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290276#post290276 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290276#post290276 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 17:11:20 +1200 william blake https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290273#post290273 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290273#post290273 Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:51:14 +1200 Bart Janssen https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290263#post290263 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290263#post290263 Yep, to both Islander and Dave.

To derail, as usual.

If you want something about yourself that really is a product of the modern world, it is the sound of your own voice. It is pretty much impossible to hear your own voice as others hear it without technology, because…

]]> Mon, 22 Jul 2013 11:12:44 +1200 Geoff Lealand https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290244#post290244 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290244#post290244 Sun, 21 Jul 2013 15:30:56 +1200 Moz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290230#post290230 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290230#post290230 For some reason the image that came to my mind when I saw David's selfie title was a man in socks. Ever since the olden days on the newsgroups I can't help but associate the two.

When I tried internet dating I discovered just how few photos of me I…

]]> Sun, 21 Jul 2013 00:44:33 +1200 Moz https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290229#post290229 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290229#post290229 "put trash in its place" graphic

... but all I see is a misplaced apostrophe.

]]> Sun, 21 Jul 2013 00:38:21 +1200 Hebe https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290191#post290191 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290191#post290191 I’ve drawn a lot of family. I truly regret that I’ve not drawn more friends. But it seems such an intrusion

That is how I feel about photography: unless the subject understands in a deppr way what is being shown, I am reluctant to even take the pictures, let alone…

]]> Sat, 20 Jul 2013 11:33:27 +1200 Kumara Republic https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290181#post290181 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290181#post290181 The Rolling Stone image is a great one, because of the response to it. The response sort of requires that we loathe the magazine for publishing it instead of publishing an image of him as a crazed mullah. Note the surreptitiously released images with the laser-red in the middle of… ]]> Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:25:00 +1200 Islander https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290180#post290180 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290180#post290180 Self-portraits I never think of doing. I know what I look like – it’s just not the same as my camera or mirror says.

Really interesting...I've drawn myself since I was a kid (because I was the only one in the family who'd stay still long enough!)***

But I only…

]]> Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:22:37 +1200 Hebe https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290179#post290179 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290179#post290179 Maori didnt have mirrors(in the understanding of such things now) – but we- sure as shit- had reflection devices.

Y'know I had never thought of that before. Obvious innit. Mirrors aren't hugely important to me except when I have to civilise myself, so I always find my reflection a bit…

]]> Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:08:34 +1200 Islander https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290178#post290178 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290178#post290178 ’s possible that Lacan over-emphasises the importance of the Mirror Phase, but self-recognition in a mirror is a well-documented milestone in child development.

And in a being having *self* awareness- (hence the importance of beings like cetaceans & our cuzzies Pan pan. et al knowing themselves in mirrors- bonobos, just incidentally,…

]]> Sat, 20 Jul 2013 00:07:25 +1200 Lilith __ https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290177#post290177 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290177#post290177 Lacan’s essay “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I as Revealed in Psychoanalytic Experience”. I don’t know of a decent study of mirrors and human being, though I’d like to find one. I do think they are, as Lacan’s title suggests, “formative”.

It’s possible that Lacan…

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 23:57:53 +1200 Islander https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290168#post290168 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290168#post290168 It is always fascinating watching animals deal with mirrors…

chimps, orangs, bottlenose dolphins – and probably orca- recognise their reflection in a mirror (the old stick -a- mark on while unconsious trick... )and elephants certainly recognise both self & reflected pictures.

Actually, mirrors involving water are exceedingly portable...a small shallow bowl…

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 21:46:03 +1200 David Herkt https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290165#post290165 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290165#post290165 Fri, 19 Jul 2013 21:21:20 +1200 Islander https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290164#post290164 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290164#post290164 Mirrors have been around for more than human history, if possibly a prestige item for much of that. For that matter the legend of Narcissus suggests people knew what there reflection looked like.

Yep indeedy. Maori didnt have mirrors(in the understanding of such things now) – but we- sure as…

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 20:50:51 +1200 David Hood https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290161#post290161 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290161#post290161 I've got to take issue with "It seems impossible for us to conceive the fact that for most of human history, the vast majority of people had no idea what they looked like."
Mirrors have been around for more than human history, if possibly a prestige item for much of…

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:49:12 +1200 Russell Brown https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290160#post290160 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290160#post290160 Yes.

The Rolling Stone image is a great one, because of the response to it. The response sort of requires that we loathe the magazine for publishing it instead of publishing an image of him as a crazed mullah.

When I saw the title of your post, I thought it…

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:46:46 +1200 David Herkt https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290158#post290158 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290158#post290158 Where is the 'like' button when I want it, Robyn.

Yes.

The Rolling Stone image is a great one, because of the response to it. The response sort of requires that we loathe the magazine for publishing it instead of publishing an image of him as a crazed mullah. Note…

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:34:53 +1200 Robyn Gallagher https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290156#post290156 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290156#post290156 RollingStone magazine put an extremely controversial selfie on its latest cover.

My take on it – if I can write about myself, why shouldn't I be able to take photos of myself?

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:08:57 +1200 Public Address https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290155#post290155 https://publicaddress.net/system/cafe/notes-queries-the-rejected-selfie/?p=290155#post290155 Discussion from blog post.

]]> Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:08:57 +1200