The Selfie Stick - The Darkest Point in Humanity

The selfie stick at work. Steups.
Photo credit: The Telegraph

Let's just get right down to it. The selfie stick. It is possibly one of the most polarising contraptions out there right now. You either love it, or hate it. So what is it?

I love Urban Dictionary!

Selfie Stick 
- An extendable stick you can put your phone on so you can take a selfie from farther away.
- An elongated rod, usually made out of plastic or steel, with a camera on one end and a dense moron on the other

Others have also referred to the selfie stick as the Staff of Narcissus and my favourite was British journalist, Grace Dent who described them as "one of the darkest points in humanity".

Yet to some, the selfie stick is a moment in history - a greater discovery than the coffee bean, electricity or air-conditioning. Yep. Being able to enhance one's selfies for Facebook, Twitter and Instagram is the reason they sleep better at night.

I did some more research into this phenomenon and there are three basic kinds of Narcissistick...sorry...selfie stick.

• The sticks that are Bluetooth-enabled, which pair with your iPhone or Android phone and let you press a button on the handle to take a photo. 
• The sticks that plug into your smartphone’s headphone jack, which also let you take a photo with the press of a button on the handle. 
• Sticks that come without any remote triggering function; some of these are sold as a package deal with a keychain-sized Bluetooth remote. (source: QZ.com)

Now I love me a selfie and if one morning I think I look extra cute, better believe I am taking a freakin' selfie. Not on my soapbox when it comes to selfies - selfies can be great. But, what is this selfie stick business? I have a problem with this - people walking around with a stick to take selfies? C'mon man.

Now from a travelling perspective, and as a solo traveller, I completely understand how challenging it can be to document some of your moments on a life-changing global discovery. You stand in front of that monument you reaaaaaaally want to get a photo of - with you in it - and then do the tourist 'bait and release ' where you size up the other tourists or locals passing by and decide who looks friendly enough, or at the very least, the least surly, so you can ask them to take that photo for you.

Nowadays, with smartphones with flip cameras and so on, the vacation selfie has sometimes replaced the charity photo from fellow tourists. I have still not jumped on the vacation selfie train completely. I still like the old fashioned tourist beg because they are often much better photos, if you are a seasoned campaigner and know how to choose your volunteer photographer, and I still like having 1-minute meet and greets with strangers who may be just like me, or not. That's part of the beauty of travelling, for me.

But I will admit, I am not a lover of the selfie stick. Though I get how it could benefit me as a solo traveller in particular, I feel an overwhelming distaste for it. I am so glad many museums and other such places have seen fit to ban their use. It is already hard battling with overzealous tourists trying to take selfies in front of everything, including that painting you want to take a closer look at. Add a 3-foot stick to the mix, and a few hundred...thousand tourists to that, and it is a nightmare.

This would drive me crazy!

Not to mention, people seem to be whipping out these things any and everywhere. There has to be some risk of physical harm as people walk around with these things threatening to poke you in the eye or in the guts. Not to mention the plain old inconvenience of it.

There was the guy in Rio de Janeiro waiting to go up the Sugarloaf Mountain cable car. His gigantic selfie stick kept getting caught in the vinyl ceiling of the waiting area and then inconvenienced other passengers inside the already-cramped cable car. - TreeHugger.com

But of course it speaks to a deeper malaise -the ever pervasive need to be viewed, to be 'liked', to create this world where everything about us and around us is perfect. Where every single thing is a photo opportunity and a chance to get 100 likes on Instagram and get more likes than the photo taken before or your friend's photo. Where you end up becoming more focused on the photo's potential on your social media than on the actual moment.

I’ll never forget the woman at a spectacular northeastern beach who never took her eyes off her extended cell phone, carefully wading into the warm turquoise ocean while holding her selfie stick at the perfect angle. She posed, smiled, angled her head, posed again. Not once did she put down her stick to actually swim in the water - Treehugger.com

Co-sign!
Photo credit: The Telegraph

If this is your thing though, more power to you. I won't wade up to a woman like this and tell her don't do it. That is her business. I will possibly snicker and roll my eyes and blog about it, but it is her right to look like an idiot.

Where I do have a problem is if that selfie stick is going to challenge ME! - if it is going to block my view of my experience, be totally invasive during my moment, or just simply physically be a nuisance.

So kudos to some of my favourite places like the National Gallery and the Chateau de Versailles for banning the selfie stick to ensure everyone can enjoy the treasures which these venues offer to visitors.

Sadly I am hearing that selfie drones may soon be inflicted upon us. At that point I think I may just retreat into self-imposed exile from the world.

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Wordless Wednesday: Summer Cherry Love

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Impossibility... and Camera Emotions

It's been a long weekend, folks. I headed to campus on Friday, for an event that was clearly a waste of my time, and decided to make the most of the spring weather and take some London photos. Sadly, my bottle of water was not closed properly, and on the bus, the woman behind me said, Miss, your bag is leaking. Besides the fact that my bag was now a soggy, wet mess, my camera was also fully bathed in water.  I tried it up to yesterday and nada. My camera was gone.  But hope springs eternal.

The good news is that I have a replacement camera. My friend decided to give me his old one, which he was happy to get rid of, and I am now camera-happy once more. Friends are great!

The weekend was pretty good though. I had the most relaxing time - between meeting new friends, and having the best time over great Caribbean food, to spending a day yesterday cooking, watching movies and simply lying in bed, talking, then sleeping - it was a good weekend.

The bad news is, it is now Monday and I am almost 1200 words over the word count of my dissertation proposal.  I for Impossible!! Editing 1200 words out of an already abridged document will be a major challenge but one that will have to wait. I am going to take a shower and head to the mall - my eyebrows need to be threaded and no 1200 words can stop that from happening.

I also decided to pull out platforms this weekend and face the spring sun with style. Sure I looked good, but walking the length and breadth of London, chasing trains and buses in platforms is not fun. By the time I got to my last train, I pulled my ever trusty flat and comfy flip flops out of my bag and hobbled the rest of the way home. lol.. Will it stop me from bringing back another pair when I go home in a couple of weeks? Probably not. lol.

Photo challenge today - I do admit I am in a bit of a rush, but these are said platforms - both beauty and beast - and they fit in nicely with today's theme of lines. And these are my very first shots with "new" camera so will be testing it out over the course of the week. I will try to get some more shots later but 1200 words and neat eyebrows are priorities today.

SITS Photo Challenge - Lines and Repetition I

SITS Photo Challenge - Lines and Repetition II

And do you want a line of repetition? Here is my neighbourhood.

SITS Photo Challenge - Lines and Repetition III

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Exhaustion + Excitement Equal...

SITS Photo Challenge, Day III - Lighting

Exhausted. It's a rough week. I am struggling. Yet, I am bubbly today because I just spent an hour sitting on the lawn in the backyard with a glass of water, in a tank top, jeans and flip flops - no scarf, no jacket. Flip flops!!! The ecstasy!

The sun, high in the sky, did what a sun is supposed to do - give off heat. Friends, it is WARM in London today. Honest to goodness, Caribbean definition of WARM. I forgot how tired and annoyed I was with this mood board I am supposed to make, and just sat there - in the sun, never-see-come-see, baking my brown shoulders and chest and arms and face. I could have died from joy. So while E is for exhausted, it is also for excitement, enthusiasm and enjoyment - all in abundance in my world on this warm, bright,beautiful, sunny day.

And to prove it to you, my photo challenge today was about lighting and I think Pablo showed what he can do with some natural light indoors, but today it is all about the magical illumination in my backyard. I think the neighbours have absolutely given up on me now, cause I was laying on a towel in the grass, smiling, and then taking photos of a football. Yep. I won't be surprised if I see the NHS yellow ambulance pull up to get me later - to take me to the nuthouse. Envy. Another "e" word. Envious of my simple joy.

SITS Photo Challenge, Day III - Lighting
Football porn

And I had some water with me.

SITS Photo Challenge, Day III - Lighting
Bring out the lime wedges. The sun is here!

I used the photos I like the most in my collage.

SITS Photo Challenge, Day III - Lighting
I love photo collages

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SITS Girls Photo Challenge - Pablo

I am deep into the books so going out to take photos was not an option. But, Pablo is the star today - both of my A to Z Challenge and my Photo Challenge. His sunny disposition is battling against the grey of the London outdoors. Poor thing, he is optimistic, and has been looking outside all afternoon - waiting for the sun.

SITSGirls Photo Challenge - Pablo

SITS Girls Photo Challenge - Pablo II

SITS Photo Challenge - Pablo III

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