• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

What has become of us all?

Reading the article is behind a wall, but the short documentary of the same name is available for FREE on Youtube:


Terry S
 
There are news stories about someone falling off a cliff (or into a hot spring) while fully absorbed by getting a selfie.
It's funny or sad...
 
Chuck1 said:
There are news stories about someone falling off a cliff (or into a hot spring) while fully absorbed by getting a selfie.
It's funny or sad...
Click to expand...

A few years ago, I was in a National Park where a Ranger was giving a talk. When asked what he did when he was not giving tours, he's said search and rescue. And that most of the people needing rescuing fell while taking selfies.
 
The film was very painful to watch for me, as a significant portion of it was shot in Capadoccia in Turkey (the balloons). I've visited Capadoccia regularly from the 1990's onwards and I've witnessed the changes and finally the scenes in the film first hand. It was also touristy in the 90s, but within bounds, and none of those balloons and ATV's. Then with the rise of the smartphone and social media it devolved into the absurdity of what you see in the film. A wonder of the world is being actively destroyed in the name of tourism. It's utterly disgusting!
 
mshchem said:
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
Click to expand...

Same thing at the Mona Lisa.
Same thing in Paris.

People do not see with their eyes; they see with their phones.
 
Sirius Glass said:
People do not see with their eyes; they see with their phones.
Click to expand...

That's the very nature of photography, isn't it?

The outrage here seems to be the tourist hoards and their asinine antics rather than photography itself, in any of it's forms.
 
Sirius Glass said:
.

People do not see with their eyes; they see with their phones.
Click to expand...
Oh-Man ................... well said

Reminds me of 7 - 8 years ago.
In the usa, the NFL Team that won the Super Bowl had a parade in their home city. Lots of players sitting in open top limousines.
I remember seeing some of the players filming the parade with their phone.
I thought, My God, you guys are THERE, IN The Parade.
You "should be" soaking it in with your eyes and body, not your phone
I suppose times change.
Perhaps their way is just as good
 
pentaxuser said:
Does that apply to photos of "beauties" as well?

pentaxuser
Click to expand...

It depends. Since beauty is in the eye of the beholder then it's relative. And since it's relative, that depends on if that beauty is a blood relative or more distant.
 
Travel/tourism photos become a substitute for the experience. Unfortunately, some forgo the experience in order to get the photos.
 
BrianShaw said:
That's the very nature of photography, isn't it?

The outrage here seems to be the tourist hoards and their asinine antics rather than photography itself, in any of it's forms.
Click to expand...

When people have their noses stuck in their phone, the mess up the flow of foot traffic.
 
snusmumriken said:
Furthermore, if you find something good, don’t tell anyone about it. No-one.
Click to expand...

That was our family‘s rule camping in the 1960s. As an American boomer, I am very lucky to have experienced much before iPhones and the Internet advertised every place. I spent six months bicycling in New Zealand before the Lord of the rings, thankfully. No one else would be in the Alabama Hills. And so forth.

But looking at it in a different way, I still photograph in Yosemite Valley, though not in the summer. All the valley icons have been photographed by masters by tourists and by everyone else. In all kinds of light in all the seasons and at all the times of the day.

So I appreciate the challenge of seeing the light in the valley and making it my own.
 
Sirius Glass said:
Same thing at the Mona Lisa.
Same thing in Paris.
Click to expand...
Places like Paris are simply overrun. It's not about the phones. It's about the hordes of people dominating the place. Same with most European capitals. They've become 'unlivable' cities. And, of course, any of us visiting any of those places for pleasure is part of the problem.

If you stand in the back of the perpetual crowd surrounding Mona Lisa, you're part of that crowd. Is it good? Is it bad? The punters bring in the money that hopefully pays for a some decent security so the next batch of artworks isn't stolen, or that allows other works of art to be preserved in a durable manner. At the same time, the city center of Paris has become a terrible place to spend time at due to the hordes of Chinese, Americans etc.

As to photography - I see it as a way people experience something. At what point do people grab their phones/cameras to photograph something? When they're impressed, moved, amazed. It's an expression of emotion. Same with 'sharing' it on Instagram etc. It's of course meaningless to everyone else - but it's meaningful for the person who snaps the shot and then shares it.

Who am I to judge that?

We have a lot of time and money on our hands. This allows us to travel at a massive scale and flood these places. Again, is it good, is it bad? If you're there to witness it and it bothers you - aren't you just being a part of the problem? Stay away from those places if you think that's the case. Accept the consequence.

L'enfer: c'est les autres.
 
Pieter12 said:
Travel/tourism photos become a substitute for the experience. Unfortunately, some forgo the experience in order to get the photos.
Click to expand...

That could be true at times. But how does one tell the difference, and so what?
 
Sirius Glass said:
Same thing at the Mona Lisa.
Same thing in Paris.

People do not see with their eyes; they see with their phones.
Click to expand...
My wife and I admiring the Mona Lisa. Well, we didn;t want to wait on that long line.
 

No different than when the French, Germans, Brits, Japanese et all come to the big North American cities on holidays. Big cities are crowded to begin with and adding visitors in large numbers as happens in the summer, especially, just make them moreso. It's not a uniquely European or British or Asian or ... phenomenon.

Tourism, by its nature, encourages "the hordes". The destinations promote it because tourists are a significant source of revenue.

But there's a more fundamental question here. Why do we look down our noses at the phone snappers who often do not see what they're looking at? We Elite Photographers (tm) who drag a bunch of equipment around to "properly" photograph a destination can be seen doing much the same thing. I have seen all manner of people dragging around Nikon, Canon, and Leica kit just banging out pictures and clearly disconnected from the actual experience of it all.

I was quite fortunate. For some decades, my global trips were part of my jobs and I thus got to know some of the people and experience some of the culture. I used my downtime to photograph these places and thereby felt a lot more connected to the whole experience. These days, I find myself spending more time looking at things when I travel than I do photographing them. The photographs I do take are therefore much more considered.

I will stipulate that people who grew up in the all digital age tend, in my observation at least, to have much shorter attention spans and tend not to concentrate a lot on any one thing for very long. But that may be confirmation bias on my part. After all, I have now lived long enough to be entitled to say "These kids, these days ..."
 
Last edited:

I rarely feature myself prominently in my photographs.
That is one fundamental difference.
 
  • BrianShaw
  • Deleted
  • Reason: Previously said already before.

Did you leave his body there in the desert?
 
My late mother-in-law did not like to use a camera. She just picked up postcards and travel books at the various places she visited. I think she enjoyed herself more that way, actually immersing herself in the experience rather than attempting to document it.
 
tezzasmall said:
Reading the article is behind a wall, but the short documentary of the same name is available for FREE on Youtube:


Terry S
Click to expand...
Egad...

The population density of north coast BC, Canada, where I live is 0.92 people per square Kilometre and it's very rare to meet anyone on a trail.

There are fancy pants super expensive multi-day coastal boat tours along the Great Bear Rainforest, but the waterways are so complex you hardly ever bump into them. About 80% of the time we have anchorages to ourselves.

I like the quiet areas.
 
Last edited:
MattKing said:
I rarely feature myself prominently in my photographs.
That is one fundamental difference.
Click to expand...

You don't include yourself in holiday pix? I know I have (of me not you .

Perhaps this varies by individual, but long before there were cell phones, I was often handed a Nikon/Canon/Minolta/Olympus ... (never a Leica or Hasselblad and asked "Would you mind taking our picture. Be sure to include <some local landmark>" or words to that effect.

Heck, I've done it myself (never a Leica or Hasselblad) ...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register