March 2015

The rise of the selfie!

A selfie is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone. Selfies are often shared on social networking services such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. They are usually flattering and made to appear casual. Most selfies are taken with a camera held at arm’s length or pointed at a mirror, rather than by using a self-timer. A selfie is often used as a profile picture on social media sites, however we have found a phenomenal rise in the request for professional self-portraits, with a 58% increase compared to last year., and feel this is linked to the increase to the need to express ourselves and our personalities through images of ourselves, and the explosive trend of the online Selfie.

According to research, over the past year, many people have taken the idea of the Selfie one step further, with thousands of our customers admitting to using professional photos to upload onto social media sites, such as Twitter and Facebook, business profiles such as Linked In and online dating services such as Tinder, Mysinglefriend.com and Match.com. And the trend for self-portraits doesn’t stop there, as we have also witnessed a further 20% increase in self-portraits ordered as ‘wall art’ to adorn the home.

In response, we have launched the Venture App, which enables customers to upload their ‘professional selfies’ to social media sites or use it via email for dating or business purposes. After a professional photography session, in which the your Venture photographer captures your unique personality, the digital images are available and ready for uploading, via the Venture App, which can be downloaded from iTunes.

IMAGE BANK
IMAGE BANK

Richard Mayfield, Creative Director, Venture Studios, says: “A powerful trend of the moment – and one that is set to continue – is the emphasis placed on our self-image and how we communicate that image through online social media, networking, business and dating sites. At Venture, we are well aware of the importance of crafting the right visual identity for our clients – vital if they are displaying that image online for the world to see. A ‘portrait’ acts like a visual calling card, providing a hint of who we are. What we didn’t expect was such a boom in orders of self-portraits for the home – the majority of our wall art orders are of families but we will also capture individual portraits so perhaps if you’re investing in us to make you look your best you want to remember that moment!” Shouldn’t this say something about us doing such a good job of the individual portraits that people want to have a hard copy too – but obviously it needs to be a bit more subtle???

MySingleFriend.com founder and TV presenter, Sarah Beeny, says: “We have definitely seen an increase in people using professional pictures on their profile. They obviously want to look their best and make a great first impression and it’s important to have a range of pictures which really shows your personality.”

IMAGE BANK