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What has become of us all?

A few years ago my wife and I visited Yellowstone, she'd never been, it was totally different than when I had last been. What a difference, everyone was watching their phones, not the geyser blasting into the air in front of them l
 
It is always worth picking up a tour book of the country one is in. If something is in the guide book, avoid it.

It is interesting that some places have become well known as places to be photographed at, rather than a place to be.
 
Hoping not to give anything away, the film shows hoards of people at a couple of destinations, armed with smartphones and cameras, some going to extreme lengths to get (often silly) photos of themselves, family and friends at the location. One of the locations was obviously a popular one for professional portraits, too.
 
BrianShaw said:
Photography at beautiful destinations should be banned.
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Picked up a German hitchhiker back in ‘77 going between the Grand Canyon and Phoenix. Just as I was especially enjoying the desert scenery, he volunteered the info that he found it boring.

So does that mean he could photograph and I shouldn’t?
 
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BrianShaw said:
Photography at beautiful destinations should be banned.
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Better still, don't post anything online about "beautiful destinations"!
Not just photographers guilty of this; I poke the finger at the glossy media travel sections, as well as local rags.

I can give a litany of places in Australia (and New Zealand) that have been absolutely screwed by the proverbial (and sorely real!) Instagram Set; rarely do the fully-fledged pros (analogue or digital) go to these places knowing full well their compositions would be eavesdropped on by literally hundreds of clueless phone-wielding tourists falling over each other attempting to get the Insta-worthy shot that nobody else will (but alas, has come and gone before them).

I have followed this awful trend for a long time now, probably since the first primitive iPhone came out I think in 2008, even with a lousy camera on board. As technology marched along, phones became cheaper and more powerful and mobility unrestrained, the situation now is so much worse — it really, really rankles me.

Tourism is essential to any economy, but it must be balanced with the needs of the environment. Too often now it is not.

Work quietly and keep low. I get around the buggers by keeping my mouth shut where I am going, what I am photographing. So far, it has worked beautifully — nothing put online and the beauty that I personally capture remains shrouded in a mystique in order to provide protection from both over-promotion, invasion, introduction of exotic weeds, litter and frankly, piss-poor toilet habits.
 
That's one of the drawbacks of large camera, tripod photography - just today I was photographing something, I arrived and was all alone, set the camera up, adjusted everything, suddenly there were 3 groups of people there around me, all having conversations, with each other, with me. If I'd been using the more compact camera in my pocket I'd have been in and out before I met a soul.
 

You don't need to watch a doco to know that - just visit any place that's listed as a must see near you and witness stupidity in all its glory.
 
Taylor K Nankervis said:
They are. I walked away to get a G&T.
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Park rangers in Sydney are closing tracks, closing lookouts and all types of nonsense to prevent idiots killing themselves in search of the perfect insta shot.
Even in what I consider to be suburbia.

I figure eventually the craze will die out when the next new fad comes along.

Viral lookout inundated by thousands of daily visitors set to close

A council will shut an iconic Blue Mountains cliff after being overrun with tourists, sparking serious safety and environmental concerns.
www.abc.net.au
 
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There are some strategies to ameliorate this:

  • Work early in the day - the tourists are still asleep and the light is better

  • Work late in the day - the tourists are already thinned out and the light is better

  • Go off season when the unwashed hordes don't travel

  • Shoot during apparently "not nice" conditions. I have many images shot in extreme cold, rain, or gray days that turned out to be very nice pictures

  • Practice poor personal hygiene and let your stench keep them away ...
 

Either that, or it will die out when they do. Nature punishes stupidity.
 
chuckroast said:
Shoot during apparently "not nice" conditions. I have many images shot in extreme cold, rain, or gray days that turned out to be very nice pictures
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This is precisely how I operate in the wild!
Alas, alas, not everybody is turned off by extreme cold, rain or grey days... here's the thing: rainforests — my bread–and-butter, are by nature at their most beautiful and atmospheric in the worst of weather, the type of weather you speak of, the type of weather I routinely encounter and enjoy... and wouldn't you know it, it brings out just as many keen and enthusiastic people who sometimes, I think, would be better served looking (and buying) my works rather than sacrifice themselves at the alter of hungry leeches, carnivorous snails, deep bogs, stinging nettle and tree snakes!
 
gbroadbridge said:
I figure eventually the craze will die out when the next new fad comes along.
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I think the world is awash with too many fads at the moment. I don't know what future fads await; I'll have to change the battery in my crystal ball and have a perve...
 
gbroadbridge said:
Park rangers in Sydney are closing tracks, closing lookouts and all types of nonsense to prevent idiots killing themselves in search of the perfect insta shot.
Even in what I consider to be suburbia.
Click to expand...

Somewhere in Sydney is a place called Suicide Lookout (?) where stupidity takes a front seat next to death. I may be mistaken or mis-naming it for some other place, IDK.
 
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