Does a location being "touristy" diminish the value of photographing it?

[faberryman]

Limited time? I don't understand. I was in Kyoto for 6 days the past 2 years. THAT is limited time. You have weekend after weekend after weekend after weekend. To me, that's unlimited time. You get to experience the 4 seasons in Kyoto. Wow. I can only dream of that. You can spend time looking for places that very few people know about. I do that too when I walk with my camera in hand but I get only a few days worth of looking. You can have years.

I believe she was referring to tourists who have limited time, not herself.

 

[mooseontheloose]

I believe she was referring to tourists who have limited time, not herself.

Yes, exactly.

 

[RattyMouse]

Yes, exactly.

Whoops! My mistake.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Whoops! My mistake.

No worries! Sometimes I wish I had the same passion for Kyoto as you do.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Similarly, I lived in a smaller city in eastern France which has a World Heritage Site, but it's mostly off the radar for English-speaking tourists, and I photographed it extensively. OTOH, although I have a love-hate relationship with Paris, I found it more difficult to shoot there because I've been so inundated with images of the city, it's hard to feel original.

I do not think about how others have photographed a subject. I approach each one as though it had never been photographed before and see how I can show it best. I only have to please myself.

 

[mooseontheloose]

I do not think about how others have photographed a subject. I approach each one as though it had never been photographed before and see how I can show it best. I only have to please myself.

Sirius, this is not something I deliberately think about. It just happened the first time I went to Paris and I was bit overwhelmed with the feeling. Most of the time I shoot what I want to shoot, no problem. I think with the Paris it was just that I was so familiar with images of the city I really didn't know what to do with myself that first time. Now, when I return, it's definitely not a problem.

 

[Tony Egan]

When I visited Washington DC with my three kids way back in 1991.

 

[RattyMouse]

No worries! Sometimes I wish I had the same passion for Kyoto as you do.

Well, I'm intensely interested in Buddhism, so that powers my fascination with Kyoto I suppose. Without that, I'd probably not care much about that city at all.

 

[pbromaghin]

Funny this thread should happen while I was on vacation. I just returned from a week photographing in touristy areas. However, we were at them during the week in the semi-off-season so it was possible (with patience) to get a lot of shots without people in them. Also, we have been to this area several times so we hit a lot of off the beaten path. With repeat visits, my vision of what I want to shoot has really evolved over the years, a lot closer in and intimate, sometimes more empty and abstract.

As to the postcards and calendars, I don't desire to recreate them, but they do make me want to go someplace and see what I can come up with. It was 15 years ago in one of the most photographed cities in the world, San Francisco, that the film photography bug bit me hard and I made the decision to pursue it as a serious hobby. I was working a consulting gig with nothing to do on the weekends except find the bottom of too many bottles, so I just started exploring with my camera. Then I started wondering why my results were so inconsistent and generally terrible. Yet there were people who really did know how to get consistently good results, as the postcards, calendars, and serious art-types proved.

Since then, the rabbit hole has only gotten deeper, the farther I have gone.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

When I visited Washington DC with my three kids way back in 1991.
View attachment 199826

I photograph all the time in a touristy area- Washington DC - but I do it as a local, so I'm seeing DC through a local's eyes, and seeing parts of DC that most tourists would never visit (not touristy, too far from the main attractions, or dangerous for non-locals). I suspect that gives me an edge when making images of DC, but I also generally avoid the tourist attractions as a subject. Because DC's attractions are inherently iconic/monumental by conception, I think they're harder to photograph in an original way than say the Louvre and Notre Dame.

 

[bobsteele]

I usually read through all the posts in a thread before replying, but I am making an exception here, to say, 'What the hell are you thinking?'. Are you sentient? Do you have a camera? Do you see a picture? Or something that might be a picture? Do You really have to ask what to do/?

 

[DREW WILEY]

I do my homework in advance, study all the "must see" spots, the postcard shots etc - simply so I can go the opposite direction! 98% of people go to 2% of the places. I grew up near Yosemite and avoided it, at least in tourist season. There are plenty of other spectacular other glacial canyons in the Sierra Nevada. You just can't drive to them. I went to one of them a couple of years ago within Yosemite Park itself and didn't see anyone else for an entire week of a two week trip. But sometimes you don't have to go far at all to get solitude. Just don't go with the herd. But there's nothing wrong with shooting familiar locations. It's how you do it that counts.

 

[Bob Carnie]

Yes Drew but with bigfoot guiding you through the terrain you had a big advantage to see what others do not. I envy your relationship with him, btw does he have any family you have been introduced too..
Bob

 

[Theo Sulphate]

... didn’t expect to see such masses of humanity visiting monuments in Egypt. ...

"Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded." (Yogi Berra)

 

[Sirius Glass]

I photograph all the time in a touristy area- Washington DC - but I do it as a local, so I'm seeing DC through a local's eyes, and seeing parts of DC that most tourists would never visit (not touristy, too far from the main attractions, or dangerous for non-locals). I suspect that gives me an edge when making images of DC, but I also generally avoid the tourist attractions as a subject. Because DC's attractions are inherently iconic/monumental by conception, I think they're harder to photograph in an original way than say the Louvre and Notre Dame.

I did the same as a teenager taking low light exposures of buildings and monuments. Sometimes just moving aside or away from the typical locations can make a big difference.

 

[Arklatexian]

Or an alarm clock so you get up before those pesky humans.

What Eric said ;" Or an alarm clock so you can get up before those pesky humans" (and I add), your family and the sun all rise........Regards!

 

[Bill Burk]

Yes Drew but with bigfoot guiding you through the terrain you had a big advantage to see what others do not. I envy your relationship with him, btw does he have any family you have been introduced too..
Bob

Haaa, I last hiked with Bigfoot near Belknap Grove out by Camp Nelson... I was about to stumble onto a black bear eating a pine cone when he yelled out “Hey You!”...

 

[Vaughn]

Haaa, I last hiked with Bigfoot near Belknap Grove out by Camp Nelson... I was about to stumble onto a black bear eating a pine cone when he yelled out “Hey You!”...

I don't remember this -- must have been my brother...

I have done a lot of photography in Yosemite Valley -- sometimes you stumble into the tripod holes of the famous. As long as you don't twist an ankle, you'll be right.

 

[slackercrurster]

I do my homework in advance, study all the "must see" spots, the postcard shots etc - simply so I can go the opposite direction! 98% of people go to 2% of the places. I grew up near Yosemite and avoided it, at least in tourist season. There are plenty of other spectacular other glacial canyons in the Sierra Nevada. You just can't drive to them. I went to one of them a couple of years ago within Yosemite Park itself and didn't see anyone else for an entire week of a two week trip. But sometimes you don't have to go far at all to get solitude. Just don't go with the herd. But there's nothing wrong with shooting familiar locations. It's how you do it that counts.

I saw a landscaper photo show. The photog scouted the location a day or two earlier. He also got there way early to get the light. Too anal for me, but that is how the successful landscapers do it.

 

[Vaughn]

I saw a landscaper photo show. The photog scouted the location a day or two earlier. He also got there way early to get the light. Too anal for me, but that is how the successful landscapers do it.

Nah...this is why I like the redwoods. The light I prefer happens between 10am and 2pm. Even in Zion, I would have a leisurely breakfast, a few cups of tea and head out around noon. Then I'd wander around until dark (~8pm) with whatever camera I had (5x7 or 8x10 -- the 11x14 was limited to use out of the van.)

 

[Theo Sulphate]

I saw a landscaper photo show. The photog scouted the location a day or two earlier. He also got there way early to get the light. Too anal for me, but that is how the successful landscapers do it.

Not being an Early Bird, I wait for late afternoon light. 'course, that means my scenes are from northeast to southeast.

 

[Bill Burk]

Not being an Early Bird, I wait for late afternoon light. 'course, that means my scenes are from northeast to southeast.

When I went to Yosemite with the school kids, I would get up at 6, walk to the Merced or something, take some shots and head back to the tents, passing by Peet’s Coffee and getting eight cups for us chaperones.

I had my photos and coffee before the first noses started poking out of tents.

What a blast, in the most touristy photo place on earth.

 

[markjwyatt]

Since I got my Fujifilm XT-2 I went to the most horrid of all places- the mall twice. Here are some shots I took. Fortunately it is an outdoor mall. ( I do not enjoy malls, but we had guests and ended up going. Taking pictures made it more bearable)

Flickr Album (Victoria Gardens)

https://flic.kr/s/aHsmbFN6t9

 

[DREW WILEY]

I woke up one morning and took a shortcut past the Kearsarge Pinnacles and stumbled onto the precise rock where AA a famous early photograph. Looked the opposite direction standing on that exact spot and said to myself, How the heck did he miss THAT? Got nuthin to do with being an early bird. Everybody knows about that.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Why would one want to be an early bird? To eat worms?