49/365 Excited Face

Eight or nine years back when I got myself a Sony Ericsson K800i mobile phone with a slidey-lens cover, I used to take endless selfies. . Long before the word selfie made it to the Oxford English Dictionary, I was taking pictures of myself on the go and checking to see if all was well. Mirrors were old time. My Sony Ericsson was my trusted source.

I bought myself a new phone this week. Rather, I committed myself to two years paying for an iPhone 7 Plus, resurrecting the number I acquired back in 1997, reclaiming and reasserting myself in the process. I feel a little more solid now, a tangible demonstration of self-determination.

The camera on the iPhone 7 Plus churns out some delightfully high quality images. I’m not entirely convinced about the depth of field function built into the software (the Panasonic Lumix is a far less contrived interpretation), but the pictures are sharp, it handles low light pretty well, and at the age of 44 I still can make myself look slim.

Admittedly, I have to pull off the same trick I did when I first held the Sony Ericson in my hand: hold the camera high, look up and think hard of something I’m really hoping for. I remember the process in 2007, it still holds good ten years later.

The difference today is being able to see the feeling behind it. Look at the picture. That is the face of a ridiculously excited individual.

I feel proud of that picture. It’s not perfect-it’s not meant to be. It’s an accurate reflection of how I feel at this moment in time.