War On The Selfie

The selfie phenomenon is a trend that's not really slowing down, in fact with the rise of the selfie stick and cameras with selfie screens, it seems to be something even manufacturers are now embracing. However, there's one photographer who has had enough of the selfie obsessed world we now live in and wants to put the art of portrait photography back in people's lives.

The #STOPTHESELFIE campaign is the brainchild of portrait photographer Courtney Charles who says: "Our culture has become so obsessed with selfies that most of our pictures are only about us, opposed to what we're doing. Can you imagine a photo album full of selfies?"

He's not saying there's not a place for selfies in the world as they can be fun but with museums and sports arenas banning selfie sticks and the Russian police even issuing guidelines on selfie safety, maybe the world does need to try out a different form of portrait photography from time-to-time. 

"It's disheartening that people don't invest in great portraits anymore, it's an art that's fading away," says Courtney.

Courtney says that people are starting to realise that they can take better photos of themselves when they're not so squashed up against the screen thanks to selfie sticks putting more distance between them and their smartphones but now they need to go one step further and realise that sometimes, asking someone near them to take the photo (as we used to do) is perfectly acceptable, too. 

You can learn more about the #STOPTHESELFIE campaign in the above video as well as on Courtney's Vimeo channel. Also, do let us know what you think about the selfie phenomenon in the comments below.