Being a Camera, Selfie Camera!

I don’t have to introduce myself because almost all of you possess me, cherish me, love me and hate me too. Hate in the sense that every time you take 20 Selfies while changing your position and mine too in each shot, you retain just one picture deleting all others, and then cursing me for being imperfect most of the time. How rude!

If I were a Punjabi I would respond like:

Dasso! Apni Shakal vekh Ke Gall Kar! (Hey! Mind your looks before assess others)

And in Sindhi I would utter a proverb:

Kaday Munh Mariam Jo, Kaday Allah Yaar! (Two people one gracious and other ugly cannot be compared)

Camera is an optical instrument for recording images which may be stored locally, transmitted to another location, or both. The images may be individual still photographs or sequences of images constituting videos or movies. From early 4^th century BC till 19^th century AD scientist remained berserk in inventing, shaping and refining an instrument that would capture memory through pictures.

Like human beings I also come in various shapes and sizes; from large and cumbersome to tiny and minuscule and from adorable to ordinary and ugly. But I feel far superior to human beings when it comes to racism and slur allegations because my signature color is black. Long back in 1960s and 1970s I was considered one of the most precious belongings one could have and usually those who owned me beamed with pride. By then I was still scarcely possessed by affluent people but was admired by all across the board; everyone would like to hold me in their hands, stroke me with their fingers, peep through the viewfinder and click the shutter button in spite of knowing that I was nonfunctional without film reel and won’t take pictures. That was the glorious era though in black and white mode and even not sleek and smart but, nevertheless, I was in great demand.

George Eastman pioneered manufacturing of modern day camera. His camera, which he called the “Kodak” was first offered for sale in 1888. It was a very simple box camera with a fixed-focus lens and single shutter speed, which along with its relatively low price appealed to the average consumer. By the end of the 19th century Eastman had expanded his lineup to several models including both box and folding cameras. Films also made possible capture of motion (cinematography) establishing the movie industry by end of 19th century.

I cannot forget those funny times when on picnics, family gatherings, mehndi /marriage or other functions people would prepare themselves long for the pictures to be taken (black & white) and would wait with excitement and impatience for results. Much to their heartbreaking disappointment the film reel sent for processing and development would reveal that due to some light or other problems pictures weren’t exposed. You just can’t imagine (if you are young) how much pain they would go through and the subsequent backlash I had to receive from those disgruntled people. Those were the times when I was used sparingly and on special events only. I could hardly take a few hundred pictures in any typical year unlike now; 100s pictures a day.

The first digital camera, which provided only 0.01 megapixels to capture images, was developed by Kodak engineer Steven Sasson in 1975. The images were then read from the cassette and viewed on a TV monitor. Later, cassette tapes were replaced by flash memory. Gradually in the 2000s and 2010s, digital cameras became dominant across consumer, television and movies.

With the state of the art modern digital cameras and in the presence of expansive lenses I feel more confident to give you a image you love the most; with little photoshop you can hide all of your weak facial spots and bring the strong ones in forefront.

It is sheer love when a professional photographer handles me with great care and affection, takes closed range and sharp images of nature, landscapes, animals, crawling insects, beautiful birds, flowers, dew on roses, rain drops on leaves, and most of all babies, toddlers and children. Similarly it makes me feel proud when you picture beautiful women and young girls. God has made them to be admired, loved, cared and revered.

My age as an “independent digital camera” remained short. The treacherous creature called human being took no time in fitting me into a cell phone. Hence, making it possible for almost everyone on the globe to use me, have fun with me, abuse me and even fetch me to the lowest level of ethics and morality.

A Selfie is a self-portrait casual photograph, typically taken with a camera phone held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Most selfies are taken with a camera held at arm's length or pointed at a mirror, rather than by using a self-timer.

This decade i.e. starting from 2011 to 2020 can fairly be called as “Selfie Era”. With the advent of camera phone and discovery of selfie-shots, I hardly have rest or peaceful moments. Emanating from showbiz celebrities, selfies are getting more popular in all walks of life be it sports, politics, education, workplaces or homes. Whether it is office, dining hall, kitchen, living room, swimming pool, bathroom, writing desk or a dressing table I remain active in making clicks incessantly. Did I tell you that ever since I’ve been made an integral part of cell phone what I hate the most is mirror? It’s the mirror that initiates an urge in the cell phone user, usually a girl, to engage me for taking pictures of her various postures including daring and bold shots often touching to seductive thresholds. Let me share a secret with you but never reveal it to anyone; I also turn on.

According to a study performed by Nicola Bruno and Marco Bertamini, selfies by non-professional photographers show a slight bias for showing the left cheek of the selfie-taker. This is similar to what has been observed for portraits by professional painters from many different historical periods and styles indicating that the left cheek bias may be rooted in asymmetries of brain lateralization that are well documented within cognitive neuroscience.

And what I despise the most is when you use me against my will; picture gory images of crime, blood, violence, murder, destruction, arson, bomb blasts and other manmade as well as natural disasters. Equally is scornful when I’m put to take derogatory, abusive and contemptuous porn pictures and videos.

I had never imagined that this perfidious entity called human would use me into lavatories too. Gosh! I mean what’s fun in taking snaps of your crooked facial expressions and oozing eye balls while you press your intestines, squeeze and squat your lower body to discharge …….!

Courtesy for the paragraphs in Italics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfie .