Vietnamese and Selfies

Getting bored, aren't we..? 

I guess you're just getting... old...

It's not only in Vietnam, but everywhere in the world... social stuff... virtual social life... and these other things...
The first time I saw that, was in Japan +/- 15 years ago, now it's everywhere... Europe, America too... Everybody got a smartphone with good quality camera... and appearance is really important (too important in fact, but that's another topic to discuss)

We're just getting old, do like me an continue eating

Jlgarbutt wrote:

I'm not going to complain, as I see many beautiful Vietnamese women pose for photos, and by beautiful... They are stunning.
But what is the fascination of going out dressed up - some have friends in hand to do make up today at Landmark... Just to have photos in front of the building and trees.
Is FB that popular here that they cannot go a day without photos ?
On a similar note, every time we eat out somewhere wife has to take photos before we eat.. and I mean photos of the food....like I'm hungry please let me eat

It's not just the Vietnamese, my friend. I've seen Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Filipinas do the same thing. I've seen them bring LUGGAGE to a hotel pool so they can take pictures in different outfits and makeup. It's crazy, but Asians have had an obsession with photos for a LONG time!

Suppobill wrote:

Jlgarbutt wrote:

I'm not going to complain, as I see many beautiful Vietnamese women pose for photos, and by beautiful... They are stunning.
But what is the fascination of going out dressed up - some have friends in hand to do make up today at Landmark... Just to have photos in front of the building and trees.
Is FB that popular here that they cannot go a day without photos ?
On a similar note, every time we eat out somewhere wife has to take photos before we eat.. and I mean photos of the food....like I'm hungry please let me eat

It's not just the Vietnamese, my friend. I've seen Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Filipinas do the same thing. I've seen them bring LUGGAGE to a hotel pool so they can take pictures in different outfits and makeup. It's crazy, but Asians have had an obsession with photos for a LONG time!

I think we can generalise and say......Asians love selfies.

And over 90% of those selfies have either the V-sign or two hands forming the heart.  Technically photos with the latter may not be selfies because you would need a third hand to hold the phone.   

And what's up with the fish lips? You know, the ones where the suck in their cheeks and pucker their lips! I don't get it. Doesn't look attractive, does it?

Hadnt noticed that, but thats popular in the UK.... often refered to as the trout pout.

Suppobill wrote:

It's not just the Vietnamese, my friend. I've seen Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Filipinas do the same thing. I've seen them bring LUGGAGE to a hotel pool so they can take pictures in different outfits and makeup. It's crazy, but Asians have had an obsession with photos for a LONG time!

There is a whole industry in Hawaii doing wedding pictures,  mostly at the beach, for Japanese.  The businesses provide wedding dresses and tuxedos as well as the photography.  A high proportion of these people are reportedly either already married or planning to be married after they return to Japan but want the pictures to be in Hawaii.

As far as the food photos, Vietnamese are not the only ones but they do seem to be the most obsessed with snapping even relatively ordinary meals for Facebook.   My wife doesn't even post anything on her Facebook account but she will take a meal photo and jokingly say "for Facebook."  She does sometimes text message them to friends.

Pre wedding photos is something we had to do. Spend a whole day from 05.00 am running around Da Nang and Hoi An.. i get this is very popular.

But the selfie thing... lets take a photo of me in front of some normal every day object...

Morw r3cently have had photo lessons from wife. Trip to the zoo (tigers are my thing) was a nice idea, but little did i know it was more a day for photos for her. Just before you enter the zoo, there is a pagoda style building. We must have done at least 75 photos

And then get the 'you need to practice' haha... its a smart phone not a professional digital camera.

I think society as a whole is obsessed with smart phones. If you go to a restaurant here, anyone will do and then see how many tables have a few people around them not talking to each other but instead gazing at their phones

Jlgarbutt wrote:

I'm not going to complain, as I see many beautiful Vietnamese women pose for photos, and by beautiful... They are stunning.
But what is the fascination of going out dressed up ... Just to have photos in front of the building and trees.

Come on man, just another Asian cultural difference, inscrutable to westerners.
Totally cute and adorable way they enjoy life! 

Google 'asian selfie poses' or  check out this for official body pose language with annotations.

Never one to complain.. Asian women despite the annoying selfie or food photos are stunning

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Never one to complain.. Asian women despite the annoying selfie or food photos are stunning

As long as they don't pick their nose.

Haha haven't see that YET

Vietnamese girls and young women take many selfies and photos so that they have a record of their life to look back on after they get married and have 2 kids.

johnross23 wrote:

Vietnamese girls and young women take many selfies and photos so that they have a record of their life to look back on after they get married and have 2 kids.

Precisely.  Not just selfies and photos, but they also have professional glamour photos taken before they're married and portraits done when they're older.  (The prices for those photos are very low, almost every woman can afford them.)

Pre wedding photos seems to be very popular these days. Still have our album

New Time in history - difficult to take a selfie with a film camera. Technology makes it easy. Do people chat with each other in person - more like snaps and text.

johnross23 wrote:

Vietnamese girls and young women take many selfies and photos so that they have a record of their life to look back on after they get married and have 2 kids.

Taking pictures in the same place day-in,day-out seems to be a strange concept to me. I have one friend who has around 1500 pics on her Zalo, most of the photos are headshots, nothing else.

colinoscapee wrote:

johnross23 wrote:

Vietnamese girls and young women take many selfies and photos so that they have a record of their life to look back on after they get married and have 2 kids.

Taking pictures in the same place day-in,day-out seems to be a strange concept to me. I have one friend who has around 1500 pics on her Zalo, most of the photos are headshots, nothing else.

Have met a lot of ladies on Zalo & progressed to coffee & eating out (& sometimes a bit of the other). Problem with Zalo is......what you see on Zalo is not always if ever what you get...right?   I have had some very uneasy meetings off Zalo!             
& before anyone comments,  on Zalo I dont use filters or photoshop! on my Zalo site, what you see is what you get

goodolboy wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

johnross23 wrote:

Vietnamese girls and young women take many selfies and photos so that they have a record of their life to look back on after they get married and have 2 kids.

Taking pictures in the same place day-in,day-out seems to be a strange concept to me. I have one friend who has around 1500 pics on her Zalo, most of the photos are headshots, nothing else.

Have met a lot of ladies on Zalo & progressed to coffee & eating out (& sometimes a bit of the other). Problem with Zalo is......what you see on Zalo is not always if ever what you get...right?   I have had some very uneasy meetings off Zalo!             
& before anyone comments,  on Zalo I dont use filters or photoshop! on my Zalo site, what you see is what you get

I had a date back in 2008. A different lady turned up and said that her sister in Germany had set up the date.

colinoscapee wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

Taking pictures in the same place day-in,day-out seems to be a strange concept to me. I have one friend who has around 1500 pics on her Zalo, most of the photos are headshots, nothing else.

Have met a lot of ladies on Zalo & progressed to coffee & eating out (& sometimes a bit of the other). Problem with Zalo is......what you see on Zalo is not always if ever what you get...right?   I have had some very uneasy meetings off Zalo!             
& before anyone comments,  on Zalo I dont use filters or photoshop! on my Zalo site, what you see is what you get

I had a date back in 2008. A different lady turned up and said that her sister in Germany had set up the date.

  but was she a looker anyway?

We need to see the two sisters

goodolboy wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

Have met a lot of ladies on Zalo & progressed to coffee & eating out (& sometimes a bit of the other). Problem with Zalo is......what you see on Zalo is not always if ever what you get...right?   I have had some very uneasy meetings off Zalo!             
& before anyone comments,  on Zalo I dont use filters or photoshop! on my Zalo site, what you see is what you get

I had a date back in 2008. A different lady turned up and said that her sister in Germany had set up the date.

  but was she a looker anyway?

She was fine, but a bit confusing as she didnt speak any English, but he sister did.

Yes, the selfies thing with V-fingers... When I arrived in Australia from Europe by motorbike back in 1983, I hooked up with a Japanese motorcyclist on the ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania. Every 20km or so, he insisted on stopping to take a selfie -- slide-film camera on tripod at the time. V-sign etc. The scenery seemed less relevant, only as a backdrop if that.

Now my younger (Australian) wife keeps doing the same thing wherever we go back in Australia. Wait a moment while I take a photo of our young daughter in this spot, and three or four more. Can you join her, please? She never does anything with those pics as far as I can tell.

So no, it's not just an Asian thing. It's the social-media look-at-me phenomenon. Then again, someone mentioned the generational aspect and I must admit I never got into Myface (people under 40 probably don't get that pun).

When I travelled the world by motorcycle back in the '70s and '80s and wrote travel articles about my experiences, I relied on 35mm b/w and later slide film. I took care with the photos I took for cost reasons if nothing else, and that has carried over to my use of digital now.

robvan wrote:

Yes, the selfies thing with V-fingers... When I arrived in Australia from Europe by motorbike back in 1983, I hooked up with a Japanese motorcyclist on the ferry from Melbourne to Tasmania. Every 20km or so, he insisted on stopping to take a selfie -- slide-film camera on tripod at the time. V-sign etc. The scenery seemed less relevant, only as a backdrop if that.

Now my younger (Australian) wife keeps doing the same thing wherever we go back in Australia. Wait a moment while I take a photo of our young daughter in this spot, and three or four more. Can you join her, please? She never does anything with those pics as far as I can tell.

So no, it's not just an Asian thing. It's the social-media look-at-me phenomenon. Then again, someone mentioned the generational aspect and I must admit I never got into Myface (people under 40 probably don't get that pun).

When I travelled the world by motorcycle back in the '70s and '80s and wrote travel articles about my experiences, I relied on 35mm b/w and later slide film. I took care with the photos I took for cost reasons if nothing else, and that has carried over to my use of digital now.

Do you realise that an aussie was the person who started the selfie fad.

Why doesn't that surprise me