WELCOME
A PINCH OF
BEHIND THE SELFIE
LOSING YOUR IDENTITY
(ANTI) SOCIAL MEDIA
PERFECT IMPERFECTIONS
LIFE IN TWO DIMENSIONS
In the digital age it seems as though social media is unavoidable. With our lives so saturated with the imagery shared by those we deem interesting enough to follow, it is hard not to find ourselves influenced by this imagery as we begin to compare ourselves to the lives we see played out online. We tend to take the snapshots of life we see on our Instagram feeds at face value, we don’t question the legitimacy of the location someone tags into or take time to ponder over the effort that went into the selfie we see. SALT has focused its first issue on revealing the bigger picture behind social media. We shed light on the countless outtakes discarded in the attempt to get that ‘perfect’ selfie and we point out how much of our identity we lose as we strive to curate the picture-perfect online personality. We want to expose and uncover the falseness within social media and show what goes into the “perfect” online self. Our message to you is to take social media with a pinch of salt.
WHY WOULD i
Behind The Selfie
Posting a selfie on Instagram is more often than not, an extremely long and sometimes stressful process. Whether people would be happy to admit it or not, this perfect image usually involves a multitude of selfies that will be swiftly discarded of once the finished product has been shared with the online world. This photo series captures the process involved in creating this image and highlights the obsession and strive for perfection, not forgetting the time wasted‌
settle for being a 7 when I could be a 10?
valencia, always valencia
Boy or girl, young or old, we all just want to look bare fit
Confessions Of A Selfie-holic “I haven’t gone as far using photoshop or taking a photo off my phone to edit on a computer or anything. But I do tend to use two or three apps before I upload to Instagram. Snapseed and VSCO Cam are great I use them a lot. Everything ends up on Instagram though, it’s the one everyone uses and let’s the most people see it so it’ll get more exposure.” Lana, 17, A-Level student
“I have hidden a couple of blemishes on my skin in Photoshop, I almost felt guilty for doing it, I seem to feel some sort of need to impress these online strangers I’ve never met its ridiculous. I know I shouldn’t care so much but I hadn’t uploaded a picture for a few days and if I left it too long I’d start to lose followers.” Sophie, 20, Comparative literature student
“Mostly I take all the photos off my camera and upload them directly to Facebook. I want my friends to see them and it’s nice to share images of my family with relatives that aren’t so close to home. Sometimes I do take pictures on my phone, catching little candid moments or if a sunset looks particularly nice when I’m walking the dog, those I add to Facebook too through the app. They have a thing now where you can put filters on the pictures before you put them up, I like that idea that I can touch things up before everyone else sees them. I know there are other apps I could use to touch up things on my phone but I’m more interested in sharing the actual picture with people, communicating with them and knowing they have seen it than the look of the picture and retouching any elements.” Amy, 36, Pharmacist
Losing Your Identity It could be argued that the use of social media platforms enable individuals to express themselves in a way that wasn’t accessible ten years ago. In many ways, this approach to self-expression is a positive one, however it’s easy to recognise the individuals that have tried a little bit too hard and ended up creating an online persona that replicates the basic bitch. Here at Salt, we wanted to see how easy it was to embody this concept, so we took to the streets with our cardboard MacBook air and that iconic Starbucks cup.
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Chloe Sheppard’s ‘(Anti) social Media’ series presents a very honest reality exposing the way we often feel second place to the iPhone. Her simple yet thought provoking images raise the question of whether we are the least social we have ever been despite the fact we are all more ‘connected’ than ever. Sheppard claims that she has “always felt more like someone who is always on the outside looking in” and was hoping “to show a particular sense of invisibility whilst trying to talk to someone who is also on their phone.” The collection captures the online tribe doing what they do best, we decided to take these images and emphasise the zombie-like reality of this generation.
Chloe Sheppard
Anti social media
Perfect Imperfections As social media consumers we are beginning to feel disillusioned with our own realities that don’t live up to the lives we see online. We decided to explore the idea of becoming unfiltered on social media, posting the reality of life rather than the curated perfection that is usually posted. These perfect imperfections are based on images taken from our day-to-day lives, they show the frank reality behind the flawless images we feel more comfortable uploading to social media.
Life In Two Dimensions We all use social media to communicate with each other, which is not in itself a bad thing, it allows us to connect with other users all over the world. But we are all guilty of becoming too consumed with the lives we lead in two dimensions through our phone screens and ignoring those around us. At SALT, we feel like its time to switch off and experience the present.
Fuck the Filters. Honesty is the best policy. @salt_zine