Humanity is a pretty narcissistic species - from inventing self-portraits to front-facing cameras, weâve been obsessed with capturing our own faces with âselfiesâ for a long time now. Every now and then however, you come across a selfie thatâs incredible - usually depending on its context and when it was taken.

Here are a few of the very best.

The First Selfie Ever Taken

© Wikimedia

The selfie as we know it today began to take shape in the mid-2000s, and peaked after the iPhone 4âs front camera shook up the industry in 2010. Youâd be mistaken in thinking this trend was a new invention by any means though - the first actual selfie dates back. Way back, to 1839.

The image above is a self-taken âdaguerreotypeâ photo taken by Robert Cornelius, an American lamp manufacturer by day, but photography pioneer by night. At the age of 30, he set up a camera in the back of his familyâs store, ran in front of the lens and crossed his arms - beating all of us by just over 180 years.

The Ellen Selfie

© Reuters

After sortaâ breaking the internet in 2014, this Oscar selfie became a huge deal - inspiring at least a yearâs worth of memes and parodies. Interestingly, if you did the math at the time, itâs not so surprising to see why it became so viral - not only does it feature some very popular A-listers, but their combined worth in 2014 skyrocketed past one billion dollars. 

Sure, thatâs laughable in front of a single selfie of Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, but still, one hell of a photograph. Too bad Jared Leto didnât quite make it in.

Ex-World Leader Selfie

© Twitter

It happened at a rather unlikely place. Five days after Nelson Mandelaâs death in December 2013, the world gathered to mourn his death at Johannesburgâs FNB Stadium. It was here that then-US President Barack Obama would bump into then-UK Prime Minister David Cameron, with Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish PM, sandwiched in between. The three then began to take selfies together in a moment as iconic as it was controversial. Some werenât pleased that the trio thought taking selfies was appropriate for Mandelaâs memorial.

The First Selfie⦠In Space

© Twitter/Reddit

NASAâs Gemini-12 mission from 1966 had a pretty difficult goal ahead of itself - proving that human beings were capable of functionally surviving outside of a spacecraft. Before he became famous for walking on the moon, Edwin âBuzzâ Aldrinâs previous mission saw him break a different kind of record, as he took the worldâs first selfie from space while holding onto the NASAâs Agena spacecraft. In 2015, a vintage print of the selfie sold for around $9,200 at an auction in London.

George Harrison At The Taj Mahal

© Twitter

Seems like 1966 really was an iconic year for selfies. After turning 23, legendary Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison decided to spend some time in India, visiting the Taj Mahal and taking this iconic photograph. Not only did he have a classic piece of music history in his hands, this very same visit saw him pick up the sitar, learning under the tutelage of Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Tottiâs Selfie Celebration For A.S. Roma

© Twitter

While Italian football has certainly seen better days, back in the 2015 season, Francesco Totti blew back Lazioâs two-nil lead with two goals of his own, celebrating by taking footballâs most famous selfie - but did you know it was all planned?

© A.S.Roma

According to the team website; âI gave my phone to [goalkeeping coach] Guido Nanni,â explained Totti. âI asked him to take it with him when he went out to the pitch.â Twenty minutes later, Totti performed his miracle, breaking Lazio hearts and taking the selfie. And the actual photo? Totti handed his phone to one of the journalists on the club website and told him to do what he wanted with it. 

It went viral, obviously.

Modiâs Bollywood Selfie

© Twitter

This one blew up across Indian news back in January 2019 - the Prime Minister attended a meeting organised by filmmaking mogul Karan Johar and producer Mahaveer Jain. The delegates also included celebrities like filmmaker Rohit Shetty, actors Bhumi Pednekar, Ashwini Iyer, Sidharth Malhotra, Ekta Kapoor, Rajkummar Rao, Vicky Kaushal and Varun Dhawan. Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurrana were also there, and the former snapped this selfie which lead to not just excited Bollywood fans, but a good deal of political debate around the ties between film and government.

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