19 Interesting and Amazing Vintage Photos of Mirror Self Portraits From the Early Days of Photography

Portraits were the most commonly produced type of photographs in the first decades of photography, comprising an estimated 95% of surviving daguerreotypes. Among these are some exquisite self-portraits, including what may have been the first daguerreotype made in America, the self-portrait of the Philadelphia metalworker-turned-photographer Robert Cornelius.

Although the daguerreotype was eventually replaced by other techniques, self-portraiture has remained one of the most interesting genres in photo history. It seems that from photography’s earliest days, there has been a natural tendency for photographers to turn the camera toward themselves.

Here is an interesting collection of amazing mirror self-portrait photos from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

Belgian painter Henri Evenepoel took a selfie, 1898

German fraternity mirror selfie, 1912

Harold Cazneau who took this selfie in 1910

Ilse Bing took her self portrait at the age of 14, Frankfort, 1913

A young woman with her Kodet Cameras, ca. 1880s

Luxembourgian-American photographer Edward Jean Steichen, 1917

Nasseredin Shah (King of Iran) selfie with his concubines, ca. 1800s

Self Portrait of Photgraphers in their Studio, 1890

Russian princess Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna took a selfie in 1914

Nikolaevna shot another one with her sister, 1915

Selfie of an unknown man, ca. 1900s

Self-portrait of unidentified woman with her camera, ca. 1900s

Soldier Thomas Charles Richmond Baker took this selfie in 1917

Swiss photographer Frédéric Boissonnas, 1900

Trooper George Simpson Millar took this selfie while shaving in the morning in Egypt, 1915

Young woman taking a photographic self portrait in Tallahassee, Florida, ca. 1900s

An Unknown man took a self portrait with his wife, 1905

A young woman in a tinted blue dress and her camera are reflected in a large mirror, ca. 1900s

An early Edwardian woman in 1900 with a Kodak Brownie box camera