January | 2014 | Abbey Elaine's Point of View

Just got out of the shower, #selfie

Selfie pic definition: A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to any sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera. Selfie pics have the best captions and hashtags.

What if our generation is still doing ‘selfie’ pics at 60, 70, 80 years old? What would the captions be? Would we continue to document our lives on social media with a selfie pic that had nothing to do with the paragraph you wrote below it? To me this is humorous to think about. So with these questions and an inspiring conversation I had with a co-worker a few days ago about how sometimes the selfie is a little over the top, sometimes annoying and sometimes completely ridiculous I came up with the “Just got out of the shower, #selfie” project.

Instead of using myself, I somehow talked my grandparents into participating. Now while you view the photos just think, this will be our generation when we are older doing exactly this. Documenting life events, even the most ridiculous unworthy of documenting life events, and pairing it with a self portrait taken in the bathroom and posting it for the world to see whether the world wants to or not.

Please enjoy the selfies and especially the captions! Thank you grandma and grandpa for really loving me!

Came home to some fresh koolaid. #selfie #orangedrank

Still trying to figure out the best angle for my #selfie. So I took twenty. In the bathroom. #mirror #bathroom

Preparing a meal for my man tonight! #selfie #wifey

Walked into the house with some fresh flowers for my wifey. #selfie #freshflowers #hubby #thebesthubby

She loved the flowers! #selfie #hubby #wifey

Photoshoot! She really liked the flowers. Sorry for blowing up your newsfeed with me and my baby 🙂 #selfie #wifey #hubby

Rockin some new suspenders today! All Y’all are jealous. I’ve got that hipster nerd flow. #selfie #suspenders

The essentials to a happy home and a happy hubby. Seriously, the best thing ever made. #recliner #backscratcher #slefie

Just got back from the grocery store. I hit up the deli and ordered some salami, ham, and turkey. We already had cheese at home so I lucked out in having to get some! #selfie

Just got out of the shower. #selfie

Waddup Jesus?! Always has my back. Love him! #selfie #Jesus #homeboy #towel

I’m so hood in my nightie. #selfie #nightgown #hood

Dannnnng I look so glam and soooo hood! #selfie #glam #RTifyouthinksotoo

One last thing to do and then I’m layin it down for the night. #selfie #nightselfie

Gettin my teeth whitened over night! #pearlywhites #funnyselfie #selfie

Faces of MUFFY

I first became aware of MUFFY a few months back when I was given the opportunity to photograph a slow pitch softball game between the Montgomery County Fire Fighters vs. the Crawfordsville Police Department. The game had one idea at heart and that was to raise funds for The Montgomery United Fund For You, MUFFY.

Now, I had heard of MUFFY before, but never quite understood the magnitude of the generosity it contributed to my community. It wasn’t until I was assigned to cover the slow pitch game that I really started to understand the affect MUFFY had on people all around the county.

So then, after being inspired by what they do, the ideas and planning for a personal project involving MUFFY and HUGE photographs was born. Inspired by the Inside Out Project I wanted to stay true to their concept of pasting large-scale photographs to the outside of a building, putting on full display the things we care about in our community. We got permission to use a building in the heart of downtown Crawfordsville and MUFFY was on board and willing to get the word out about the project in order to find volunteers that didn’t mind getting their photo taken. We set out a goal of eight photographs, we got 24. It was amazing. We asked anyone to volunteer that was a part of or affected by the organization. My idea was to create huge ginormous images that gave MUFFY an identity, that displayed the people behind the scene in every aspect. Board members, people who ran partner agencies or volunteered for the agencies, people affected by the kindness of those agencies, as well as, people who donate their time to make MUFFY happen were all photographed.

24 photographs meant that we could do two sides of the building we were donated and could go up two stories high. Wabash College was kind enough to let us borrow a lift and my family put in some serious work to get the photos up and stuck. We had a month to pull this off. We hoped the installation would be ready for Downtown Party Night, which meant our downtown streets would be flooded with people shopping locally and people wanting to catch a glimpse of the lighting of the Christmas tree. It would be our best chance of getting a huge crowd to view the photographs and to get people asking questions about who these people are, which led to answers, which led to awareness of who MUFFY is as a whole. We pulled it off.

Through the kindness of Scott Bachrach who printed the large-scale photographs and flyers, the MUFFY volunteers and workers, Wabash College, the people who inspired the project, those photographed and my family, we succeeded in spreading awareness of MUFFY. Thank you to all who participated and made this personal project come to life.

Now view the awesomeness for yourself below!