Wellity well. How's this for a swift shock to the system this post-Easter Tuesday? Prince Harry, the hip n' happening young heir to the throne who the royal family roll out to prove that they're still on top of all things Snapchat and Bebo, this weekend distanced himself from the trend of the century; the selfie.
Yesterday, old fiery red, Mr Prince Harry Windsor himself visited a war memorial in Canberra, Australia and when he came across a bunch of 'young people' trying to orchestrate a 'selfie'. Harry told them that selfies 'are bad', that 'they need to get out more' and 'seriously just take a normal photograph'. Which seems a little uncalled for after these young people chose to spend their Easter Monday not mainlining episodes of Bloodline while lying in a melted chocolate filth of their own making (it was fucking great, thanks for asking) and instead, took time out of their holiday to catch a glimpse of a member of the Royal Family on a boring old official visit.
Anyways, since our future (maybe, probably not) king is so resolutely anti-selfie, perhaps it's time we all gave up the ghost and got back to taking pictures the old normal way. Which was, er, like, how again?
Here's a few photographic techniques our forefathers employed.
The Old Faithful
At one point in time, if a picture was taken that didn't feature 'you', then sure it was annoying but you didn't say so out loud. Instead what happened was that you took a picture of your mates from behind the camera, and then later on, they'd take a picture of you so you'd both end up on Facebook. Tit for tat mate. Where this broke down though, was when you were the only one who's digital camera hadn't been broken/lost/doused with vodka and you therefore ended up being the sole picture taker of the evening. That's ladies and gentlemen, was me. And I was livid. But, before selfies, no-one was narcissistic enough to consider this enough of a problem to voice out loud, and so I suffered in silence (the struggle was real). So yes, if you choose to take pictures the old fashioned way then you yourself might not be in them, BUT you do avoid all the pitfalls of selfie taking like double chins, massive noses and being cropped out altogether.
The Dad
Remember when you went on holiday and your dad in his socks and sandals used to engineer the camera to take timed shots so he could set it up on a rock, press 'go' and then leg it back to the rest of you so you could all pose together? This was arguably the gateway to selfie taking; even though no-one under the age of 45 would ever have engaged in such behaviour. Since you obviously don't have a real life camera, there's plenty of apps that turn your phone into a self-timed camera. We're partial to TimerCam but there's plenty of other options available. Just maybe don't set your phone up for a self-timed photo on a busy street where it will almost certainly get nicked.
The Phone A Friend One
Less embarrassing now we're all fully open about our rampant narcissism. Asking your friend to take a picture of you is literally so not a big deal. Hell, you can even ask your friend to take a several pictures so you've got options without feeling like the vainest person ever. The other alternative is asking a passerby on the street for help although this probably worked better if you were dealing with a disposable camera rather than a £600 iPhone6.
Don't say we don't seek to educate you always.
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Selfie Sticks Are Banned At Two Of The World's Biggest Festivals
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Picture: Ada Hamza
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.