【明報專訊】When I see the rapidly growing popularity of "selfie" portraits, these photographs remind me of the long tradition of self-portraiture in art history dating back to the early Renaissance in Europe and even earlier in Asian art. In Europe, self-portraits became popular culture of their times because of increasing wealth, social status, and an interest in the individual as a subject matter of art. In Asia, self-portraits arose as a part of the "scholar gentleman" tradition, alongside Buddhist art of depicting semi-caricatured self-portraits. As for taking self-portraits with a camera, the earliest images were available from the late 1800s, almost as soon as the camera was invented and popularised. A mirror was needed to photograph a reflection of the subject. Another method was the use of the camera's timer through a remote-controlled shutter release. Nowadays, selfies are taken with the camera in an outstretched hand. The "selfie stick", however, has created a lot more possibilities. The stick is a simple handheld device that holds steady a camera (but more typically a camera phone) from a distance beyond the arm's length. In this way, self-portraiture can illuminate an inclusive background scenery. One of the most interesting styles is the bird's eye vista enabled by the selfie stick to film a crowd of friends from above. I like the fact that the self in a selfie is becoming a shared, collective object.