1. I am wearing a casual-yet-carefully selected outfit for my day at Disney! A bright yellow shirt with (mostly cut off in the picture) and Mickey Mouse ears. My expression is one of pure happiness, because what other emotions could you feel at Disney? I have my arm very extended as to show my friends.
2. The lighting is natural, but angles and which way we faced were played around with. The angle is mostly level, though slightly angled downward for a more flattering picture. I am the holder of the camera while my friends smile in the background. I am at Disneyland California Adventure in front of the pier. Most of the people who see this on my story would recognize it right away.
3. My two friends, Marissa and Megan are with me.
4. I am genuinely happy and want to mark this moment with my friends.
5. I want people to know that I 1. have friends (ha) 2. am having a fun time 3. am at Disney so therefore having a better time than you. This was also on the week I found out I was going to New York. On this day I was trying to figure out if I could be happy living in California attending a community college..
6. I think happiness is definitely a strong one, though I believe friendship or the want to portray friendship is the trait that stands out the most.
7. This photo in my eyes is definitely more feminine. I am surrounded by two of my female friends in a place usually associated with childhood. Though I got in for free through my friend (s/o to Megan) Disneyland is definitely not cheap, so it also shows a great deal of privilege. I know I wanted to let people know that I was out having fun, but even a picture of my surroundings would have done that. I definitely took this picture to show me with my friends having a good time.
8. This went onto my snapchat story, so my audience were my peers. This was taken during the summer after senior year, so everyone was out and about doing things before college. My mom also loves getting pictures from me so she can make collages and upload them onto Facebook with embarrassingly long captions. The two main audiences I think would feel different things. My friends, possibly jealousy, and my mother and her friends– I guess happiness at the sight of a seemingly well-adjusted child?
9. The viewer is being smiled at, being told “hey look at me at this fun place!”
10. In my neighborhood everyone loves going to Disneyland on whims. Everyone knows someone, or has an annual pass. So this picture is pretty recognizable to me. This is me taking part of the hype, joining the crowd, I guess. (I have no complaints though, this is my favorite crowd to join.)
11. It is apparent that I am with my friends and I am extremely happy. It is shown that we are at Disneyland, and though it cannot be seen here, this was one snap on my story out of many with events of that day. The photo shows anyone who’s been following what I’m doing, that I’ve been doing it with Megan and Marissa, and that we’re still having a wonderful time.

1. I am in a jacket, very casual with a half hidden face. My friend is obviously the more comical of us two, with an interesting take on the duck face. I am appearing to lean on her head while she leans on my body.
2. The lighting is much more focused on my friend, and we are sitting against the wall of a conference room at the Warner Center Marriott Hotel. We fill the entire frame and offer a huge contrast to each other.
3. I am with my bestest friend in the entire world, Kasidy! I have a caption that reads “my fav.” This picture obviously shows that we love each other very much, and that she is comfortable with me and herself enough to not make me delete this photo.
4. Kasidy Kuster is very much my favorite, and I do love her very much.
5. This photo obviously has no context whatsoever in the picture, but this was from a series of photos of me at a overnight political convention after dinner. The makeup has been taken off, the heels are tucked away, and the blazers are hanging in our rooms.
6. I think that this photo, like the last, portrays friendship– but a different kind. It is a playful kind-of hanging out vibe, and less preppy girls having fun on a trip. Kasidy’s face says it all, really.
7. This photo has what I like to call an “lmao” trait. It may just be this way because I have very fond memories, and I know her personally, but I love this photo so much I can’t help it. Although this does show female friendship, I do think that this photo also has a masculine undertone. We are resting after a day of debating and discussing politics: super-max prisons, immigration policy, international trade deals– all regarded very masculine things. We definitely show some level of affluence, attending a convention at a nice hotel, and to any onlookers we may look like future swampers in a resting state.
8. My close circle would think this photo is a hoot, for obvious reasons. Others may roll their eyes. I am much more aware of the camera in this picture in a classical sense, in terms of how I am smiling. This photo was also on my snapchat story and so my audience was again my peers.
9. The viewer is again told to look at me having a fun time with my friend. The caption “my fav” makes it known that I have connections with people. It seems like a common theme that I want people to know I have friends. I am perturbed.
10. My selfie is a typical I have a goofy friend picture. I again am taking part of the hype. The dynamic duo, the two girl best friends.
11. The context is two friends that have been hanging out and decide to take a fun pic. To others it may seem obnoxious or endearing.

1. I am wearing a pink jacket with a black tank top, obviously trying to get a good angle for the picture. My face is filtered with the ever so basic dog filter, and my head is tilted so that certain parts of my face will be hit with light. The pout is practiced, but hoping not to appear as try-hard.
2. I am in the background with lights that wash everything out, including some of the shadows on my face. The photo was taken to frame my face in the most flattering way possible, other than the filter there is nothing else. I am the focus of this selfie.
3. I am totally feeling myself.
4. I took time to put on my makeup, and I probably tried multiple times until I got this particular picture of me. A lot more effort went into this picture than I wanted the person who saw this to know.
5. This picture is asking people to look at me. I want to be acknowledged for some level of attractiveness, hence the dog filter.
6. This picture is full on feminine, super binary, very (at the time) acceptable for instagramming or whatnot. I want to appear pretty but effortless at the same time? Welp.
7. Female friends and male friends will see these images, in my opinion, very differently. My girlfriends may cause a scene giving me compliments, or roll their eyes and tell me that they get it and that I think I’m cute. Guy friends may just be confused as to why they are seeing a picture of me like this. This selfie was like the other three, taken on snapchat, but it was actually just a private message to a guy friend. He is like my brother in how easily he rags on me for being unfeminine so I wanted to slap him with a “HEY I CAN TRY TOO.”
8. The viewer is asked to look at me. They are asked to reply in a way that acknowledges that they have seen me and either approve or disapprove of my appearance.
9. This image is one that could have circulated on many girl’s instagram pages at the time. The dog filter chisels out your nose and your chin, and gives you more conventionally admired traits. I am also attempting to look admirable. They go to further the cycle of girls wanting to look a certain way.
10. I am in the bathroom, having put on makeup, having put on a filter, taking a picture of myself for the sole purpose of my face to be looked at. This picture could either be complimented or looked at with pity.

B) Write up a brief 200 word paragraph that sums up your findings and analyzes your selfies with some sort of conclusive thesis about your performance of your Self. What do your selfies say about the self or selves you show the world? Feel free to investigate any of the readings below as you think about your own selfies.

Looking at my selfies, the first uniting thing is the platform: snapchat. I realized while I was searching for selfies to do this assignment, that boy do I take a lot of them through snapchat. I don’t really know why this is. Maybe it’s so that if I take a particularly cute one that I could send it to my friends. Maybe I just like looking at myself and snapchat is always open so I can see my other friends. I don’t know.

One thing that is important to me are the memories that I make with my friends. The first two photos are of me on some of the most happiest moments of my high school days. The thing about the two smiles in the pictures, is that the smiles are genuine. I am not a huge photo taker. I usually make it through the day with more than enough battery from a single charge simply because I don’t really use my phone other than to contact people. The only real times that I take out my phone to take a picture is when I think that I really want to remember what’s happening, or I guess if I’m bored and other people are taking pictures. Regardless, I realized the power of the picture when I was writing these analyses because the photos made me smile and reminisce. I realized that I took these photos more for me than for anyone else.

The last picture on the other hand is different. I wanted to be looked at by my male friend and gain approval. It’s a weird feeling to recognize. I think he told me it doesn’t count if I use the dog filter.

I guess in the end, I want my photos to portray what I want for myself: a smiling face and people that I like smiling with me.