Copy of Copy of The casual run with the mind blowing background.jpg

Selfies. With the now decades long rise in social media, the word has become a commonly known noun. However, let’s not ignore the fact that we’ve been taking selfies long before the Facebooks and Instagrams have taken over the world. We’ve been taking them long before the front facing cameras were put on our smartphones. I remember taking self-portraits of me and my friends with old school disposable cameras. The only difference of course, was that we had to wait for the pictures to get developed before we could critique and share with others (if you don’t understand the concept of “developing pictures,” I suggest you do a search on the internet, #oldschool). Now we can see ourselves before snapping the picture, retake if needed, and conduct instant editing before anyone else sees the magic that we captured. Pretty simple process. The selfie is just plain easy. But what if we add the magical art of running into the mix? How do we capture the beauty that is our sport? Deep dive time.

Let’s be clear from the start. And I’ll repeat myself over and over again. First and foremost, I hope that if you’re reading this, the absolute bottom line, main point for you being out on the trail, out on your grand running adventures, is for the love of running; not the love of the pictures you post. We all love reading about others’ running excursions and seeing the stunning images of the various grounds that we cover, but the ultimate goal of what we do should be about the journey. That being said, there is still a lot to be said about capturing the perfect running selfies.

Let’s start with the angle of the picture. What are you trying to capture? There are a couple of purposes to a running selfie. One is to show yourself in action. Show the world how you’re out crushing your run. In that case, you would typically want to set your camera on a flat surface with an upward facing position, set a timer, probably about 10 seconds, back up to your beginning position, and then run toward your phone. Make sure that you use a setting such as “live” or maybe even consider doing a “slo-mo” and take screen shot after. You’ll have better luck capturing that perfect moment as you run by the camera. You can also grab some great pictures from your capable hands while on the run. If you take this option, you’ll want to hold the phone at an elevated angle facing down toward you. Again, because you are in motion, consider using the “live” setting. You can edit out any blurry parts later. You can also select the “video” option and again, take a screen shot later.

Next, let’s talk about the focus of the selfie. Of course, we want to see you in the picture. After all, if there’s no picture, it never happened. However, what we really want to see is where you were running. Let’s get a view of the stunning landscape. Let’s see what was so majestic about your run. We all have those special places where we love to run. Our adult playgrounds if you will. That’s what I want to see. I want to be jealous of your joy. I want to know where I should run if I ever find myself in your neck of the woods. Show me the splendor of your efforts. I like to see you but I like to see behind you even more. Let’s get a peek into the wonderland that is your run.

On to the next point. Be yourself. Don’t “fake it ‘til you make it.” We want to see the raw emotion of what running looks like. And it doesn’t always look pretty. If you find yourself repeatedly retaking pictures to capture that perfect look, it’s not the point. Now I’ll repeat myself. First and foremost, the absolute bottom line, main point for you being out on the trail, out on your grand running adventures, is for the love of running; not the love of the pictures you post (I told you I would repeat myself over and over again) is to capture the journey. I think that some of the best pictures I’ve ever seen represent the dedication and pain that sometimes come along with what we do. That being said, don’t fake the pain and strain of the run. Make it real. That is the main point that I’m trying to drive at. Let’s see that passion, let’s see that hunger, and let’s see that part of you that is unwilling to give up. It’s inspiring. It’s what we want to see. There should be a purpose to posting selfies and if inspiring others isn’t the purpose, then why bother?

A final thought on the subject is that a running selfie is definitely different than a regular selfie. There’s action that needs to be captured. Again, it’s not just about you; it’s also about the location and the journey. You want people to be captivated by the landscape of your run. You want to inspire people to go find beauty in their runs. When you can embrace the awesomeness of the geographical makeup of where you run, the act of running becomes second nature. You can lose yourself in the exquisiteness of nature. And we want you to share that with us. We want to know where we should run next. One last warning however (and I said I would repeat myself), the absolute bottom line, main point for you being out on the trail, out on your grand running adventures, is for the love of running; not the love of the pictures you post. We want to see your adult playground. Just make sure the running and the journey is what captivates you the most. Journey on my friends.