FOUR MILLION, SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWENTY-TWO SELFIES.
Do you want to build a LEGO castle with me?
he asked.
Well buddy,
I said.
I'm helping your sister out with Language Arts at the moment, so I will in a bit.
Okay.
he said.
Can I take a picture of the sunset with your phone? It's a really beautiful sunset.*
Sure.
I said.
He disappeared, phone in hands, and I heard the click-clicking in the other room by the back window where the beautiful sun laid its head down for a long nap.
He returned ten minutes later to show us his collection of snaps.
There was one semi-blurry picture of a beautiful sunset.
There were two lovely pictures of some of his favourite art supplies.**
And there were 631*** pictures of himself.
This is the one he first showed us; it sent his sister into paroxysms of laughter that left her almost incapable of breathing. I was not far behind. He calmly, proudly swiped his way through the rest. A rather substantial and eclectic collection of expressions that would likely get marks of approval from John Cleese.
But this, the first, is still the iconic, in my jurist's judgment.
Photography. What a delicious hybrid of documentary and art.
____
*he had overheard his sister making this observation a few minutes previous
**scissors, tape, glue, pen, string
***estimate, but probably totally not completely inaccurate in totality