It's True - I invented the Selfie in 1977

In 1977 I was with a group of friends hiking the trails along the Humber River near the McMichael art gallery. One of them was carrying an inexpensive Kodak point and shoot camera. At one point he asked me to hold his camera while he looked for something in his pack. I don't know what possessed me, but I held the camera up with the lens pointed at my smiling face and snapped the shutter.

I had no idea how the picture would turn out or whether it would turn out. In those days you waited until the roll of film was used up, then sent it out to be developed and picked up your prints in a week or so.

It was some months later when my friend showed me the pictures from his camera. The selfie I took turned out remarkably well. "Who took that?" he asked. "I don't know," I shrugged, not wanting to admit to my vanity. Those were the days when I tried deliberately to look like John Denver.

But there we have it. When selfies became all the rage with the advent of the smart phone, I I had a certain amount of gratification that the selfie was nothing new. I was the one who first came up with it.