We were recently in Koh Samui and ended up making friends with the owner of the small hotel we were staying at. Matt also happens to be a kick-ass photographer (check his Instagram feed here), and so we went on a couple of photo expeditions together. There’s nothing like luck or being guided by a local to find some truly stunning spots.
Between capturing in photos the beauty of the island, I asked Matt to take a photo of him. Like many Thais would do, he immediately put up two fingers in V shape and posed for the click. I laughed and said “that is so Asian of you!!”. “Really?!” he answered. Of course! Anytime I’ve seen Asian people taking selfies, whether it is somewhere in Asia or abroad, I’ve noticed that this is the go-to pose. Why? I do not know. But it’s cute! Specially if people in Asia don’t actually realize that this is a thing. So I wanted to take an Asian selfie with Matt too – and that is today’s photo right here!
Is there any specific cliche pose for photos and selfies on your side of the world? Share it with us in the comments below!
Thought you’d like this one Zara: http://bbqboy.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Korean-selfie-in-Split.jpg
I don’t understand the whole Asian selfie thing. We take lot sof photos of things without being in the photo…but I see Asians, like where we are in Budapest, and everyphoto will be with them in the foreground and the object (church, monument, etc) in the background. And they’ll take 10 of the same shot.
I honestly don’t get it. What is the fascination with selfies? Is it to prove they’ve been there? And what doe the V stand for? Enquiring minds want to know…
Frank (bbqboy)
Hahahaa.. oh Frank, that photo killed me. Even the baby’s face is like “WTF is going on here?!” :P
What you mention about people in photos is so true! I think it has to do with social media and the desire to show to the world what you’re up to. Showing the place is not good enough because, thanks to the internet, anyone anywhere can see photos of a given place. Only when you include yourself in that place you get to make the experience more of your own, I guess..
Regarding the fingers on V shape, I finally decided to google it. Apparently it all started in Japan, way back in the 60s.
See this: http://time.com/2980357/asia-photos-peace-sign-v-janet-lynn-konica-jun-inoue/
That Korean selfie photo was truly lolz.. I will add my 2 cents on the Indian perspective of selfies at iconic locations.
When I click a photo of say Niagara Falls then my dad says why you are not in the pic. If I click a selfie without good background he says why is Niagara Falls not in the pic :) :). He is happy only when he sees me with an iconic tourist location in background. And thats the case with all my friends and relatives. I can say this by just number of LIKES on all 3 types of photos. Whenever its me with a great background then the LIKES on FB increase exponentially,
Going down to the root cause –
Travel was never part of our culture and I had never heard of the term backpacking or career break till 6-7 years back. In western countries students travel across Europe but in India we had only enough pocket money to buy a good meal .. In the late 90s IT boom started and Indians started traveling all over world and were earning really well. Travel bug caught us and all travel media started saying Indians and Chinese are the biggest spenders . But our parents generation could still never travel and it was there unfulfilled wish. So now that they see their children traveling they expect we to send photos of ourselves at all the awesome travel locations.
Hence the selfies .
Some Indians take it too far by clicking selfie with their dead uncle ;) :)
http://i.ndtvimg.com/i/2015-03/selfiedead_650x400_41426001055.png but thats an exception :)
Having said that victory sign selfie is better than duck face of Hollywood celebrities :) and all over my last week in Portugal I saw each and every visitor with selfie stick.. (I hardly saw an Asian visitor btw ) .. so I guess as of today its global phenomenon ..
That’s an interesting Kiran, thanks for the explanation. Makes sense. Dead uncle selfie – ewww…
Frank
Thanks for commenting, Kiran!
I’ve noticed in 1st person what you say about Indian people expecting the person + the landmark.
About “dead selfies”.. do you know this blog called Selfies at Funerals? Yeap.. this creepy blog is a thing!! http://selfiesatfunerals.tumblr.com/ Some of the captions are pretty hilarious!
PS: I hope you are having a GREAT time in Portugal!! :)