Me, myself and my selfie

I came across this pretty interesting article by TIME magazine, where they rated the Selfiest city in the world – aka the city with the most number of selfie shots – based on Instagram geolocation tags. Along with Ellen’s epic selfie pic at the Oscars of late, it got me thinking about taking selfies while travelling.

Taking postcard-worthy landscapes or HONY-type street portraits of other people on your travels make for great keepsakes, but sometimes you just have to include yourself in that picture. Whether it’s for social media bragging rights, proof that you’ve been to a certain place, or you’re just having a good hair day and want to remember it, the selfie is the easiest way to capture that moment.

My Dad used to say when he made us post for photos, that you can just buy a postcard if you want that perfect shot, you still need to actually commemorate your presence by being in the photo. I used to think it was a little cheesy but looking back on my old photographs, I definitely agree wholeheartedly now.

Yes I’ve been to Prague’s Charles Bridge, check!

The one troublesome thing about travelling on your own is that when you do want to get that shot with your face in it, you either have to trust other people to take your picture well (which is hit or miss), or learn to become a selfie expert – I know people who have perfected the angles and tricks so well that they really only need one shot to get it done.

Let’s face it, selfies are self indulgent, but they are fun to take and kinda cool when you manage to nail a good angle that catches your face at a flattering angle while getting in great detail/context in the background. A lot of my selfie photos actually bring back memories of both the trip and how I took that selfie. You don’t even have to be travelling solo to take a selfie – taking selfie shots with friends or new acquaintances can be a pretty fun bonding experience as well.

Entertaining myself in the Maldives while waiting for the boat to pick us up with a scuba surface selfie! The blissful look was post-whale shark-sighting euphoria

So here I am, indulging myself on my own blog, with some of my favourite selfies from my past trips and the memories they hold for me.

(how many times have I said the word selfie in this entire post so far? man that word is starting to lose all meaning now~~)

I took this in the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich 2012 while wandering around on my own. I kinda love this because it captures both the ornate frame and the crazy decadent and lush decor of the room all at once! Obviously I added to that by looking all thoughtful :P

This was all Y’s idea and execution on our Osaka trip in 2012 – I love how it captures the sheer height of the Umeda Sky Building! This was taken with my little dinky digital camera in just 1 try!

Took this while on a walking tour in Boyne Valley while in Dublin. I was just playing around with angles, but surprisingly I think it somehow turned out pretty cool. Also, despite my crazy windswept hair, I look pretty damn happy and it makes me smile to remember that! (Also, that’s Dublin’s landscape in a nutshell – gloomy weather and absolutely green grass)

Another ‘selfie’ shot I like to take is using shadows – that’s me and my friend R way back in 2007 on the beach of Chipiona, Spain

Do you smile in your selfies? Sometimes I feel a little bit ridiculous smiling to myself. I took this in Hue, Vietnam in 2011 which was my second solo trip. I realize that I have quite a lot more selfie shots in this trip than in my first trip to Seoul. I have pretty small eyes, so sometimes I try to actively widen my eyes, which I suspect I was doing here :P

It helps when your camera is wide angle – it means you get a lot more background for selfies and not just your face only. I definitely prefer wide angle over selfie sticks. This is lovely Lanyu in Taiwan, and I also love this because I look skinny haha

Since getting the Casio Exilim FR100 which works as a bluetooth remote – my selfie game has definitely gone up – I took this on a solo trip in Colombia all by myself.

Selfie level up – if you have a remote and a tripod, try a jumpshot next – here’s my guide on taking the perfect jumpshot

And while I love the occasional selfie shot, just a reminder that you can admire your 10 galleries of selfie shots to your heart’s content in private, and that you really, really, really don’t need to upload all those 10 galleries to your public feed on social media. Moderation is key, selfie kings – the harsh truth is no one loves your face as much as you do, so stick to a few select shots of yourself.

Share your favourite travelling selfie photo and memory here, I promise not to judge!