Is Selfie Important to You When You Travel?

by Sharukh Bamboat

Unlike many of my other posts, this is an impulsive one because I thought I should talk about this with my readers. Travel is a part of lifestyle today. Professionals usually travel for business purposes or when they take a break from work. Bloggers like me travel for work and pleasure both. While some travel because they have loads of money in their bank account and they probably need to spend it somewhere. Anyways, whatever your reason is, chances are that you do travel at some point in time.

Experience and observation is a part of our travel journeys and therefore when we (Sarah and I) travel we are constantly experiencing and observing things and events around us. The camera has come a long way and has become an integral part of our lifestyle today. A digital camera is 42 years old today. In these 42 years, it has transformed from a boxy and bulky instrument into a tiny lens that sits at the back and front of our laptops and mobile devices. Back in 1975, when Kodak introduced this coffee-machine-type digital camera not many could own it, but four decades down the road 2.5 billion people have a digital camera.

As digital cameras integrated with our mobile devices a new trend of photography emerged from nowhere, we call this trend a selfie. This is basically a self-portrait photograph and we see millions of people today clicking selfies almost everywhere. Often when I and Sarah travel we see people clicking selfies and it sort of amazes us when we see people busy capturing the moment, rather than experiencing it. It is truly one of the important questions that I would like to ask my readers. Is selfie important to you when you travel?

Before I wrote this post, I read a lot about why people believe selfies are important. I want to know what the young generation feels about selfies and their never-ending obsession about it. Probably, because I am old-school and as a traveller I am more keen in exploring the nature around me, listening to the sound of the birds and woods, watching the clouds hover over the mountains rather than making a duck-like face (to look sexually attractive) and being busy in capturing the moment. Of course, at times we do click our own pictures for blog purposes. However, a majority of the pictures are about the things we experience and observe.

One of the most popular reasons why people take selfies is that they want to show – I Was There. Seriously? Have we come to a point where we have to be in the picture all the time to tell our audience that yes, we were here? As a travel blogger I am quite amazed because I hardly take selfies of me and Sarah, but still, we are able to project I-Was-There-Moment with our pictures. I believe many professional photographers do the same as well. They capture moments, not faces unless they are specific portraits.

Photographs have this innate ability to transport you mentally and help you visualize better. Also, I believe that experience is the most important part of any photography. It is only when you connect with your surroundings you get this urged to capture the essence of it. When we see a breathtaking landscape image, we see what the photographer is seeing and experience the moment. When you travel to take selfies you are more focused about your self-image while your experience takes a backseat. This ruins the essence of the photograph. You also lose the precious moments of your life appreciating the beauty of nature around you. When you travel it is important that you put yourself aside and experience the nature and the fleeting moments.

Many of the readers might feel I am an anti-selfie person, but I am certainly not. If you travel around and take selfies I don’t mind it. You are free to explore and travel around as you please. However, I would like to say this that the digital camera has enabled us to become our own Picasso. It has transformed our social media platforms into virtual museums where we can exhibit our artistic talent. We can use various image filters as our signature brushstrokes. However, the way we use these resources is entirely up to us.

So, what drives you to take pictures when you are travelling or when you are just toying with your camera?

A special thank you to Damyanti Biswas for inspiring me to write this post.

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14 comments

Mary Giese August 1, 2017 - 12:22

Sharukh, when I travel, I prefer to take photos of my surroundings rather than myself. I would rather see a beautiful sunset or green forest than my own mug. I’m not photogenic to begin with, so I try to stay out of the picture.

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Kate Powell August 1, 2017 - 17:23

You are sketch-0genic!

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Sharukh Bamboat August 6, 2017 - 10:49

Thank you, Kate.

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Sharukh Bamboat August 2, 2017 - 03:31

Thank you for your time and comment, Mary. It’s not about being photogenic that has got to do with taking selfies. Yes, a lot of us think that way but that’s a completely different story.

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Kate Powell August 1, 2017 - 17:22

Sketch the selfie and it is very different!

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Sharukh Bamboat August 6, 2017 - 10:48

Yes, but not all have the artistic talent that you have.

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dan antion August 2, 2017 - 00:41

I like to take photos of the places I’ve been. I am part of selfies my daughter takes of us, but that’s a different kind of memory for me. Sometimes, people will volunteer to take those photos of us – that works too. I have to say, I find it a little funny to hear you mention the “young generation” – I shudder to think what that makes me 😉

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Sharukh Bamboat August 6, 2017 - 10:58

When we visit or review places or restaurants we usually ask someone to take our pictures together. In India, I have hardly seen any 60 plus person taking selfies, I usually see these college teens and just out of graduation crowd doing so. My point here is not to degrade selfies, but to target the obsession about it. I see so many people climbing up forts and mountains for this one perfect selfie that they ignore the natural beauty and landscape around. Is natural landscape only here to enhance your selfie pictures? No. When I and Sarah walk in the woods, we explore leaves, plants, insects, reptiles, birds, the shape of the tree, branches, the chirping of birds and so much more. It is an experience that makes you feel like you are one with the universe. I am sure you know what I am trying to say here. Rather than being busy capturing the moment, live and feel it. That’s what I am trying to say.

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joey August 3, 2017 - 13:13

I’m not a selfie person, and maybe when I travel, I’m even less so. I tend to look for what’s interesting or attractive to me, which I think is fairly common practice. I can see myself in a mirror, and my social media followers already know what I look like. Travel is for newness, yeah? When I travel, I take many more photos of nature and architecture than I do of people.

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Sharukh Bamboat August 6, 2017 - 11:11

Well, for me travel is all about discovering like you mentioned. I am busier experiencing and living the moments, rather being bothered about how I look or capturing my own pictures.

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Jennifer J. Trego August 11, 2017 - 14:26

Hey Sharukh,
I think it’s not important to take selfies, I always to love to capture my surroundings when visit a new place.

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Sharukh Bamboat August 19, 2017 - 11:32

Same here. I believe experiencing the surrounding is more important than capturing the moment.

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Ozzy & Jo September 10, 2017 - 07:50

Well, all said and done we LOVE your selfie. Sarah and Sharukh – you guys rock together 🙂

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Sharukh Bamboat September 10, 2017 - 16:33

Thanks Ozzy & Jo.

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