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

[blockend]

Excellent point. I don't know anything about Brit tourism (except from 60s movies) but that particular "touristy" location looks pretty dead in terms of "timeless-landscapes."

I've no idea what a timeless landscape is, I only know what photographers choose to show us:
https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2015/10/20th-century-landscape-primer.html
https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2018/01/sunbather.html
https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2015/12/great-lakes.html

 

[Drew B.]

NO. Get up close and wait for the right moment

 

[Alan Edward Klein]

90% of these street shots were taken in NYC that gets 50 million visitors every year. Yet, it's hard to not trip over a street shot that has some interest to shooter and viewer alike.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alanklein2000/albums/72157625796644064

 

[jtk]

this reminds me of the photographer from russia ? FSU? who did all those photographs
with people commuting to work. they looked like black and white italian futurist paintings.
and the recent work of walter callahan .. what could be more touristy than a carnival ..
his photographs look like impressionist /futurist /abstract expressionist paintings ...

sure photographing touristy frequented places mobbed by people might not be everyone's cup of tea
but the images made at these places can be pretty interesting.



Somehow I don't think of Russians (or anybody) commuting to work as being "touristy."

Thanks for mentioning Callahan....please link to the "recent work" you mentioned.

Callahan Dead Link Removed

Love his website ...but I don't see much tourism there. Maybe he's got better things to do with his cameras.

Does he even visit "touristy" places and photograph?....rodeos and Western cities/towns don't seem "touristy" to me...nor does Los Angeles itself.

Los Angeles comes to Westerners, not many go to it. It's an invasion more than tourist destination..

 

[removed account4]

Somehow I don't think of Russians (or anybody) commuting to work as being "touristy."
Thanks for mentioning Callahan....please link to the "recent work" you mentioned.
Callahan Dead Link Removed
Love his website ...but I don't see much tourism there. Maybe he's got better things to do with his cameras.
Does he even visit "touristy" places and photograph?....rodeos and Western cities/towns don't seem "touristy" to me...nor does Los Angeles itself.
Los Angeles comes to Westerners, not many go to it. It's an invasion more than tourist destination..

you obviously haven't seen any of the photographs i am refering to.

how about responding to eddie's question?

 

[jtk]

you obviously haven't seen any of the photographs i am refering to.

Please make your point by linking some of Calahan's "touristy" photos. I must have overlooked them. Dead Link Removed

What I see in Callahan is a brilliant professional illustrative/photojournalist ..no "touristy" locations but plenty of serendipity.

 

[removed account4]

how about answering eddie's question

 

[jtk]

I answered with regard to the question in thread title. A "touristy" location infers the unavoidability of tourists.

OK... I'm a native San Francisco (transplanted). Somehow never photographed tourists. Was easy to avoid them.

In New Mexico the Pueblos with exception of Taos ban (with fines) photography by outsiders. In Taos they demand money (except for a few specified subjects).

From that I infer that positive value of tourist photos might be dubious.

 

[removed account4]

sorry for your "trouble" eddie..

sorry didn't answer the question

 

[eddie]

Why don't you answer John's question?

 

[jtk]

Dead Link Removed

Paxton's tourists:

https://rosspaxton.photoshelter.com/portfolio/G0000sf7Iaa4TauY

 

[jtk]

Here's someone who seems not to shoot tourists. Is that because she's a woman? Or is it just because she has a life?

http://www.susanmeiselas.com/info/

 

[removed account4]

Why don't you answer John's question?

eddie getting him to explain his comment seems to be a waste of electrons
i guess even with prodding IDK maybe he thinks if he doesn't respond
you won't remember he said it
back on the ignore list he goes !
( i suggest you do the same since he is trolling you )

 

[Sirius Glass]

I've no idea what a timeless landscape is, I only know what photographers choose to show us:
https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2015/10/20th-century-landscape-primer.html
https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2018/01/sunbather.html
https://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2015/12/great-lakes.html

A timeless landscape is one in which there are no clues of when the photograph was taken, such as cars, billboards, signs, people [clothes provide clues]. I prefer to let nature tell the story.

 

[blockend]

A timeless landscape is one in which there are no clues of when the photograph was taken, such as cars, billboards, signs, people [clothes provide clues]. I prefer to let nature tell the story.

There are contrails over the Amazon and Japanese outboards on the boats. The natives wear Nike. The South Pole might be the place you're looking for?

 

[eddie]

IDK maybe he thinks if he doesn't respond you won't remember he said it

I bet he learned it from Trump.

 

[eddie]

There are contrails over the Amazon and Japanese outboards on the boats. The natives wear Nike. The South Pole might be the place you're looking for?

You have to wait until signs dating the image are out of view.

 

[blockend]

You have to wait until signs dating the image are out of view.

That seems rather precious.

 

[Sirius Glass]

There are contrails over the Amazon and Japanese outboards on the boats. The natives wear Nike. The South Pole might be the place you're looking for?

If ye seeks, ye can find. No need to got to Antarctica just for that; there are much better reasons.

 

[Sirius Glass]

That seems rather precious.

It is and it is worth taking the time.

 

[blockend]

It is and it is worth taking the time.

I don't like posters.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I don't like posters.

People who post? That would include yourself.
I never said, referred to, or in anyway talk about taking poster like photographs. Do you ever read what individual post or do you just spew out posts based on what you had for breakfast? Do not waste my time. You are not worth it.

 

[blockend]

People who post? That would include yourself.
I never said, referred to, or in anyway talk about taking poster like photographs. Do you ever read what individual post or do you just spew out posts based on what you had for breakfast? Do not waste my time. You are not worth it.

As you understand very well, my humour is reserved for people who believe landscape photographs denuded of any sign of human existence are more picturesque. The idea is at best old fashioned, and almost always derivative and clichéd. Touristy places are by definition full of tourists. To present them as otherwise is to misrepresent what such places have become.

 

[Sirius Glass]

As you understand very well, my humour is reserved for people who believe landscape photographs denuded of any sign of human existence are more picturesque. The idea is at best old fashioned, and almost always derivative and clichéd. Touristy places are by definition full of tourists. To present them as otherwise is to misrepresent what such places have become.

Nature is not cliché and always in style for humans and animals.

 

[Vaughn]

I have to admit that my artist-in-residence (AIR) in Zion National Park for all of last April was a unique situation to be in. A very busy 'touristy' spot...presently in the top five national parks for visitors/year...and during Spring Break. A small Park with most visitors concentrated in a narrow long Zion Canyon, with some spread along the road east in the Checkerboard Mesa area.

Making visitor contacts was part of the AIR job description...20 hours/week requested...so several times with my 100 yr old 5x7 on the tripod over my shoulder I'd hike on busy trails and randomly set the camera up and let tourists look through it...sometimes I would even take a photo. Several hundred kids and adults from around the world looked thru my cameras...kinda neat. I screwed up several times with that many people around, but I usually realized it at the time and could re-shoot. Engaging the tourists while photographing was a rewarding experience.

However I just developed the last of the Zion film (some rolls of 120 and 12 5x7 sheets). I must admit, out of the all the negs, I don't remember any with people purposefully in them. Undoubtably there will be someone somewhere in my images that might be seen with a glass...and the shuttles that go up and down Zion Canyon ended up in a couple of photos. There's a dead Big Horn Sheep in a couple the 5x7s. I am most interested in the light reflecting off the landscape and being in beautiful and interesting places. But I also have a decade+ series of 8x10 platinum prints of my boys growing up in our local redwoods -- my three young tourists, with me as the tour guide.

Silver gelatin contact print, 5x7
Valley Tour, Yosemite Valley, ca 1993
and
Single-Transfer Carbon Print, 8x10
Three Boys, Three Snags, New Years Day 2008
Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, CA