If your Instagram feed looks anything like mine, you’ve likely noticed a decrease in “selfies” and an increase in “shelfies,” the Instagram version of still life photography. The Wall Street Journal describes these types of portraits as “hopeful bids for attention in which one’s aesthetic and one’s ego overlap.” But is that a little harsh?
I have to admit, I sometimes find myself rolling my eyes as I scroll from one artfully arranged tablescape to the next. They often look so contrived.
At the same time, however, I appreciate the beauty in a shelfie like this one from Alice Gao, above, who was featured in the WSJ article. (Look how the brown sugar is sprinkled on the table just so.) Alice will actually ask to switch tables at a restaurant if there’s one next to a window so that she can take better photos of her food. No wonder her brunch shots look so much lovelier than mine ever do!
What do you think of shelfies? Are you inspired by them, or do you find them self-indulgent?
(image via Alice Gao)
I think there’s a line. The photo above is lovely, and while partially staged, it seems like she really was having coffee and just took a few moments to adjust and take the photo. But there are ones that look completely contrived. I am fairly suspicious of pictures of purses with their contents spilling out just so or white work spaces with artfully arranged cut flowers, perfectly arranged stationary, and the requisite Macbook that all fit in the frame. If you set up a scene specifically for an instragram image, I will probably unfollow. But if all you did was take a second to tweak your surroundings, then I’ll stay interested.
If the “shelfie” has obviously been staged for its own sake and wasn’t a slightly-edited-for-film version of reality, then I agree with Jacqueline that I don’t need to see it!
I’ll take a shelfie over a selfie any day!