The First Selfie?

By Jack Brummet, Photo Ed.


The Oxford Dictionaries recently announced their word of the year for 2013 is “selfie”, which they define as “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.” 

The picture considered by many to be the first photographic portrait ever taken was a “selfie”. The image was taken in 1839 by an amateur chemist and photography enthusiast named Robert Cornelius. Cornelius set his camera up at the back of the family store in Philadelphia and took the image by removing the lens cap and then running into frame where he sat for a minute before covering up the lens again. 

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