“Somewhere in the late 90s a shift began – it used to be all about being interesting and now its all about being pretty. I really hope being interesting becomes popular again.”

For this exclusive C-Heads story photographer Miko Lim and model Joy Corrigan devoted themselves to the selfie culture, capturing it from the side of the selfie itself as well as showing the person taking this self-image from an observers point of view. The outcome is great shoots of gorgeous Joy and besides that an absorbing recording of a current cultural affair.

What did you want to capture in this series?

I wanted to capture both “sides” of the selfie – the actual product photograph of the selfie shooter and the image of seeing that person taking a photograph of him/herself. I think there’s something captivating about seeing a beautiful girl taking a picture of herself. It´s narcissism for sure, but somehow its quite interesting seeing a girl contort her body and face to such and such angles for that one ideal moment of looking how she wants to look.

What makes a „good selfie“?

I can tell you that when I scoured the internet for popular selfies before the shoot, I saw a lot of sleazy images of girls twisting to make their waists tiny and their butts huge. These seem to be the most liked selfies. And since you can argue that the whole reason for one to post a selfie is to get “likes”… well, then. For me, I really like the selfies that @breanna_box posts – they’re somehow poetic and very unsexual.

Do you think that there is an obsession with showing this perfect image of ourselves?

Somewhere in the late 90s a shift began – it used to be all about being interesting and now its all about being pretty. There is a lot of reasons. Changing celebrity culture. Strong PR firms that don´t want to take any chances. Less popularity in rock n roll. Models in movies. etc. Plus now with photoshop and airbrushing apps, it really is possible to make anything look pretty. you should see the before and after images of some major cosmetic shoots I´ve done. night and day. I really hope being interesting becomes popular again. Pls!

And to what extend do you think this selfie-culture becomes something “unhealthy”?

I dont know if my opinion here means anything. But I´d say if a person actually gains or loses self esteem because of social media, I think you should stop.

A situation one should never take a selfie of?

Haven´t we reached the threshold of girls taking annoying selfies from a high angle so they’re eyes look big and noses and chins look small. wait let me check instagram. Nope, we have not.