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National Selfie Day: Not just for annoying millennials, selfies date back to the 1800s

How many times have you seen someone taking a selfie and thought to yourself, "Ugh, millennials!"

How many times have you seen someone taking a selfie and thought to yourself, "Ugh, millennials!"

Well, the joke is on you (and me, even though I am a frequent selfie taker and definitely a millennial) because the first selfie was taken by a man named Robert Cornelius in 1839.

That's right! We're not getting more vain, we just have more ways to put out there that we're vain.

Cornelius was able to capture his selfie by removing the lens cap from his camera, running into frame, and replacing the lens cap. The light entering the camera exposed the image onto the plate which would later be processed with a series of chemicals.

On the back of the image, Cornelius wrote, “The first light Picture ever taken. 1839.”

This was one of the earliest daguerreotypes.

Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre had announced this new form of photography just two months before Cornelius took the first-ever selfie. Early daguerreotypes required a long exposure time, between three to five minutes which made using them to take portraits a little difficult, but Cornelius succeeded.

Selfies have changed nowadays. It took me two seconds to take this one on my phone and send it to myself via Facebook Messenger. Sort of downgrades it from art and chemistry to, well, just a way to show the world I'm wearing lipstick in the shade "Heathers."

Destiny Johnson is a digital reporter with First Coast News who is a photography nerd and has taken a selfie or two... hundred. You can chat with her on Twitter @hello_destiny. If you have a story idea email her djohnson3@firstcoastnews.com.

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