I used to volunteer at a heritage railway in Northern Ireland. We had several old restored trains and we went to great lengths to make the station areas look authentically old. Naturally photographers loved it.<p>Most photographers were Okay and respected the rules, but some some just refused and couldn't handle being called out. For example one rule was do not get in train cabs, unless by prior arrangement - which involved doing a safety briefing etc. Still some photographers just did their own thing. Some would jump on to the footplates of in service steam locomotives to get their shot, that was dangerous but they didn't care. I was driving a diesel railcar and had a passenger bang on the cab door so he could take shots from within the cab. He kept banging for about 10 minutes until we got back to the station and was then had a go at me for refusing him access.<p>Another strict rule was no tripods on the platforms. It was dangerous as they created a tripping hazard and just ruined the atmosphere for other visitors. But come a sunny day or special event the forest of tripods would be out in force.<p>And the worst of all was the ones who would walk off the end of platforms and setup alongside the railway line. Most wouldn't even bother to wear a hi-viz vest either. Completely dangerous, but they didn't care they just wanted their special shot.<p>These weren't just our rules, many were in place because of laws and insurance requirements. We didn't want accidents, nor did we want a few visitors to ruin the atmosphere for others. But when we called called out such people we often got abuse, which would then be followed up by long rants about how unaccommodating we were in various photography and railway forums.<p>The thing is we would allow photographers to access cabs, use tripods and go alongside the line - so long as they arranged it with us first. And during special events we would often have an hour set aside specifically for photographers to go to town. But for some that wasn't enough.<p>For a lot of heritage railways in the UK and Ireland the misbehavior of some photographers has got so bad they have a blanket ban on cameras with remediable lenses.
PLEASE change the URL from the blog spam Petapixel site to the photographer's own!<p><a href="https://www.paulreiffer.com/2019/07/photographers-instagrammers-stop-being-so-damn-selfish-and-disrespectful/" rel="nofollow">https://www.paulreiffer.com/2019/07/photographers-instagramm...</a>
<i>"I had a privileged life and I got lucky and I’m unhappy. They say it’s like the “me generation.” It’s not. The arrogance is taught, or it was cultivated. It’s self-conscious, that’s what it is; conscious of self. Social media is just the market’s answer to a generation that demanded to perform. So the market said, ‘here, perform everything to each other all the time for no reason.’ It’s prison. It’s horrific. It is performer and audience melded together. What do we want more than to lay in our bed at the end of the day and just watch our life as a satisfied audience member?<p>I know very little about anything, but what I do know is that if you can live your life without an audience you should do it."</i><p>- Bo Burnham, monologue from the special 'Make happy'.
I honestly expected this article to be another "damn kids, get off my lawn" post, but reading it, I 100% agree with the author and I'm kinda horrified to see some of those scenes.<p>I'm lucky enough to have been to some of those places in the past (Wanaka, Angkor) and while there were some crowds, it wasn't anything like depicted in the article.<p>It's the essential conundrum of tourism. The more people that go to a place, the more they ruin what made the place special in the first place.
Sums up everything I detest about photography and mainly typical instagrammers. You have the same problem where I am in Bali - idiot instagrammers using the farmers rice fields for their selfies, whilst the farmers are breaking their backs.<p>I wonder how they'd feel if tables were turned - farmers all photographing young people on their laptops in cafes etc.
This is as old as photography is a thing. I've been to that area in France many times in my life. My parents actually lived there for a while after they retired and it used to be our default vacation destination when I was young. It's been a popular destination for tourists quite long and tourism is a big part of the local economy. Vincent van Gogh did some selfies there way back before photography was a thing (with a paint brush). The landscape is pretty (particularly the lavender fields), the weather is nice, and the food/wine are awesome. It's a nice place to go. Despite the tourists.<p>Most of the lavender grown there is used to produce the lavender infused tourist junk you can find all over that area. It's literally the primary reason for that farm to be farming the stuff. So, having the odd tourist come along and taking some photos is maybe a necessary evil.<p>Tourists misbehaving and spoiling things has been a thing for as long as tourism has been a thing. The only thing that is worse is locals destroying their environment to draw in yet more tourists and squeeze every drop of revenue from them. Many idyllic places have long turned into package tourism hell with lots of cheap constructions, masses of tourists getting drunk and stuffing their face with junk food and nothing authentic whatsoever anywhere in sight. Arles where Van Gogh used to hang out is a good example.
One trick I learned a while ago is that stepping back as far as possible and taking pictures of people taking pictures is far more interesting than yet another picture of the same thing.<p>There are only so many interesting photos of the Mona Lisa. But there are an infinite number of interesting photos of people maniacally taking photos of the Mona Lisa. If you're lucky, you might snap a pic of an instagrammer falling off a cliff, or getting hit by a truck.
It feels more and more that people go to cool places just to prove they have as many resources as their peers.<p>Travel and social media is just an extension of "keeping up with the Jones's" but on a personal identity level- only at the cost of whatever destruction you are willing to put our planet through, be it that new camera you bought, or the jet fuel you paid to burn.<p>I couldn't help but feel guilty on the way to my last international trip- the homeless do less damage to the planet than I do.
So, NZ is on the receiving end of some of this, and here's my opinion:<p>* Our popular areas are completely overrun during tourist season - I personally think not much fun for tourists or locals (unless a crowd is good e.g. party zones)<p>* As a local, I can usually find something way better when I travel in NZ that isn't overrun by tourists (e.g. from article, that one lavender farm in France is overrun, but I bet there are plenty nearby that are not).<p>* I personally love the vibe of the high tourist areas. Generally having tourists is good for nightlife, great for meeting other cultures, and tourists create heaps of economic opportunities (very often in places that would struggle otherwise).<p>* When travelling overseas, I skip anything "must see" that is in a guide or otherwise recommended (unless you want a tickbox or it is totally off-season). I go to small towns that are in non-tourist areas, and find my own awesome shit.<p>* When travelling, try to meet locals in a low-density tourist area. You get to see the real country. In reverse, I try to be super welcoming to travellers I meet (I have no problem giving a hitchhiker a room in my home if they pass my sniff test).<p>* NZ isn't a big country, but there is a huge amount of amazing places to visit everywhere, if you have your own transport and more than a few weeks to travel.<p>* Try to avoid staying in tourist high density areas. Avoid the easy tourist transport means, avoid the tourist backpackers or hotels.<p>* Yes, tourists often leave a mess (NZ has a real problem with tourists travelling by vehicle shitting everywhere), but the benefits of tourists really outweigh the downsides IMHO<p>* I would love NZ to introduce a visa fee per travelling day - that pays for cleaning and pays for free entry to high traffic tourist destinations. We should be striving to attract the high value tourist, and not nickel and dime them once they are here. Tourism can be a Veblen good.<p>Summary: there are places that are tourist destinations, but there are heaps of places that tourists don't go to that are incredible.
Took my teenage sons to Paris for their first trip abroad last week. Even <i>they</i> were shaking their heads at the ridiculous lengths to which people were going for a selfish pic:<p>— wearing wedding dresses into the Sacré Cœur and marching past all the no-photo signs to the <i>altar</i> for a fake I-got-married-here pic<p>— posing unnaturally with rapid-change outfits and accessories in the middle of <i>street traffic</i> on the Pont d’Iéna facing the Eiffel Tower and at l’Arc de Triomphe, ignoring all the honks and drivers and pedestrians alike yelling at them, until a police car stopped and turned on its sirens<p>— couples dragging strollers with infants and toddlers up to the Mona Lisa to take selfies<p>— throngs elbowing for position to take a selfie in front of a piece of art—and then moving on without even spending <i>a single moment</i> contemplating or appreciating the artwork<p>We saw a dozen or more such scenes every day. It was awful.
This just sounds like poor law enforcement to me. Stopping your car on the side of the road is typically legal. Photographing something from public property is legal in the US. What isn't legal is littering, trespassing, and theft. If you were there to damage the lavender because you thought that would be a fun thing to do, that to me is the same as being there because you want to take a selfie. You should be arrested and charged with trespassing. The fact that this isn't happening is a failure of law enforcement, not a failure of social media. (Though my own photographic philosophy is that a picture with people in it is ruined, I realize that not everyone agrees.)
I went to what can only be described as an "Instagram trap" earlier this month. It was the Rose Mansion exhibit (?) in NYC, I can only describe it as a mix between a fun house where the rooms are explicitly designed for Instagram and a cut rate wine tour. [0]<p>I sense a market for a consulting firm that specializes in managing photoshoots at locations like the one in the post explicitly for Instagram.<p>0: <a href="https://www.rosewinemansion.com/about-2019" rel="nofollow">https://www.rosewinemansion.com/about-2019</a>
<a href="https://instagram.com/insta_repeat" rel="nofollow">https://instagram.com/insta_repeat</a><p>And here is the end result. This account basically takes Instagram photos of the exact same location/style and groups them together. It’s kind of mind blowing!
I used to think photography was an interesting hobby, not for me, however.<p>Now, after the proliferation of cheap DSLRs I now think photography is the most obnoxious thing ever. Now ever asshole imagines themselves as a photographer and acts like a dick to get that one picture. I was out with a wannabe photographer friend and watched her climb over a safety barrier and dangerously close to the edge of a cliff in order to take a photo. I was shocked.<p>This one made me so sad: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/publiclandshateyou/p/Bu_qnY7hjhQ/?hl=en" rel="nofollow">https://www.instagram.com/publiclandshateyou/p/Bu_qnY7hjhQ/?...</a>
I just returned from a trip to Washington D.C. I’m an amateur photographer[1] - I don’t get paid for my photos, I do it for fun. One thing I noticed in D.C. when visiting monuments and places like the Library of Congress (which is a stunning building inside), was the sheer number of people standing around taking selfies in these places. In confined spaces (Library of Congress) it was difficult to take pictures because there were so many people taking selfies. And not just a single one - it’s almost always a series of them in various poses and facial expressions. It was quite annoying.<p>I tried to temper my annoyance by reminding myself that they have just as much right to be there as I do - these are public places after all. What stood out though is the behavior described in this article, which is the complete focus on themselves and no awareness or concern for the location or the people around them who might also want to take a picture - or even just enjoy the place they’re visiting. I didn’t see anything like the destruction and theft described in this article, but that’s likely just because of the nature of the places I visited (lots of armed guards).<p>I worry that we’re allowing (and reinforcing) some horrible behaviors, and wonder what kind of people they will grow up to be. Narcissism is a harsh label, but I don’t have a better one.<p>[1] <a href="http://larrywright.me/photo/" rel="nofollow">http://larrywright.me/photo/</a>
Ive been curious, without knowing how to prove it or not, If social media/instagram is really a significant contributor to over tourism? I guess I have a hard believing its not coincidental.<p>People have always taken pictures around the world. But recently travel is becoming a lot cheaper, a lot safer, developing countries are developing so they are easier to get to, its easier to get to far corners of the world, chinese are traveling more, americans are pushing off buying homes and having kids until later in life leaving them free to travel. The world is just more populated now too.
I mean this type of photography is a style right? Like the more people do it the more cliched it will get and then it will go out of style right? Every generation wants to do something new.
My personal favorite is this instagram profile making fun of influencers taking photos and videos in the famous Rue Crémieux street in Paris.<p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/clubcremieux/" rel="nofollow">https://www.instagram.com/clubcremieux/</a>
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagramreality/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/Instagramreality/</a> is one of my favorite subreddits when I need to be reminded about all this craziness.
People will be people (unfortunately). But what I don't understand is:<p>1) Why doesn't the farmer call the police on them for trespassing? And post clear warning signs explaining the penalties... as farmers and other people with large areas of private property have been doing forever<p>2) And/or make money off it -- charge $$$ for exclusive use of the field for 30 min, do your photoshoot, trample all the lavender you need because you'll be paying top dollar for it<p>Farmers deal with all sorts of pests threatening their crops, this is just one more. And they're businesspeople. I'm certainly not defending people's bad behavior, but this situation in particular seems pretty manageable.
Some months back when this was posted <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17944934" rel="nofollow">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17944934</a> , I thought about doing a POC about this topic. You could scrap a lot about tourist data from state/regional/communal websites and make travel suggestion for the least tourist plagued locations in a given area. The problem in the long run is the more successfull you are, the worse the experience will be, in short term tourism/vacation is to crowded currently to get it flying.
> But this was crazy. And rude. And selfish. And utterly, disgustingly, narcissistic.<p>That pretty much sums up 2/3 of our society.
Dealing with stupidity of the masses will be one of the bigger challenges of the future.
> <i>I’ve seen photographers edge further and further into the water – ruining the view for others, shouting at kayakers who “dare” to exercise their right to paddle around the lake while drifting into their shot</i><p>It's ironic that the author is defending the rights of kayakers to do what they enjoy in the lake, while simultaneously berating photographers and "instagrammers" for "ruining the view for others" with their mere presence.<p>The article does raise many good points. Fences, property-rights, and rules should be respected. But much of the article comes across as paternalistic virtue signaling. Anyone's choice of hobbies or livelihood can be psychoanalyzed as being selfish or narcissistic or parasitic. The author loves to shame instagrammers for being driven by "likes" and "attention", and I'm sure someone else out there would love to shame the author for profiting off of nature instead of toiling as an unknown environmental activist. Unless you're a psychologist or mental health professional, perhaps we should all just let others enjoy life in any way they want, without feeling the need to judge and condescend to them.
For places like this, we need to enforce trespassing laws. Use it as revenue to pay for more enforcement of those laws. For public spaces ruined by the photographers, pass laws requiring licenses to photograph and distribute it (where possible). Make other rules for public spaces to keep them useful to the public for things other than photography (no mounting a camera within 50 feet of the water, for example).
I think this will be a passing craze.<p>Younger instagram users are much less interested in showing off perfect shots than their millennial predecessors.
> These are people so obsessed with their own sense of self-importance for the sake of a few instant “likes” on their social media profile that they find it perfectly acceptable to trespass, steal, disrespect the workers and their land – all in the name of “influencing”.<p>...<p>>They’d damaged the land. They’d stolen the owner’s products. They’d ruined the fields that had been tended to with hard work for months. But even the farmer’s final attempt to put and end to it wasn’t enough – they wanted more.<p>Oh, can't wait the day when we are going to look back at "social media" platforms and go: "what the hell were these creatures thinking?"<p>I really think social media is one of the worst tools for the human psyche ever conceived. It's a net loss for sure.<p>It's addictive and also messes up with dopamine generation. Not to mention the vanity/envy aspect of it: people comparing to selective representation of other people. It's remarkably insane when you think about it.<p>Maybe it's best not to think about it :)
Part of me thinks this is nothing new. Sure, social media has changed the flavour slightly but tourist honeypots have existed since forever... and in a way, they work. A huge number of people go to the Lake District and don't leave Ambleside; Ambleside prospers with its cafes and outdoor shops and the rest of the area is <i>slightly</i> less overrun for it. This was the case long before we even had digital cameras.<p>You'd think social media would disperse the honeypots as people spread out to emulate photos scattered over a greater number of locations, yet I gather from national park authorities etc it has the opposite effect entirely.<p>If we're not going to change human nature then I think that implies the opposite policy on "ticketed locations" mentioned by the OP: <i>do</i> charge money at honeypot spots, and reinvest it to repair the damage.
Is this a recent phenomenon? I traveled to Valensole two years ago, and haven’t seen anything like this. There were some people taking Instagram shots, of course, myself included, but nothing disrespectful, and certainly nothing like that. What’s even the point of being the “influencer”, are people looking up to it?
Wow the last photo of Angor Wat is shocking. I actually feel sick and disgusted by looking at this photo. I travelled South East Asia extensively in 2012 when Instagram was not a thing (yet) and honestly this place was almost empty and one of the most magical things I've ever seen. If I was to go there today and this would be my experience then I would have never gotten the travel bug. What's wrong with these people, honestly the majority of people are just dumb sheep, no self respect, no dignity, no respect for our planet and other living beings. Nobody with a tiny bit of self respect would put themselves into this crowd just for a narcissistic Instagram photo.
this new mindset that you need to spend your money on experiences instead of things is beginning to show its ugly side. I wonder if the carbon and environmental footprint is better or worse than buying goods
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_American_(pejorative)" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_American_(pejorative)</a><p>Whenever I see this kinda stuff, I can't help but think of the "Ugly American" trope and how it seems like it's an insanely (and desperate to be) visible minority of the whole world now
We have the same in Belgium in the Haller Bos (Bois de Halle). People walk on the flowers, pick them.<p><a href="https://www.halle.be/node/61837" rel="nofollow">https://www.halle.be/node/61837</a><p>Each year there are more restrictions to enter the wood while the flowers are there.
Not sure if it has English subtitles, but there is a documentary about a family who works in one of those famous rice terraces tourists fill up for taking photos:
<a href="https://youtube.com/watch?v=FyPIqCDocxY" rel="nofollow">https://youtube.com/watch?v=FyPIqCDocxY</a>
As someone who grew up in an area where tourism was the only substantial industry I have zero sympathy (for the first world areas affected by this at least). When all the people complaining about idiots inconveniencing everyone taking pictures go on vacation they do the same damn thing.
Contrarian opinion: this sounds like a business opportunity to me. I'm pretty sure an enterprising lavender farmer could make a lot more money in season by charging for access to their fields, taking a deposit to cover damage, and selling lavender bunches as props for $20 a pop.
In Buenos Aires there's a beautiful old cemetery called La Recoleta.<p>One of my most jarring and bizarre memories from my time in Argentina was watching as hundreds of tourists took smiling/sultry pouting/peace sign selfies with the various graves and mausoleums.
I had a similar experience taking some relatives to Yellowstone last week. I was actually impressed that my 17 yo niece and 21 yo nephew absorbed the views primarily with their eyes and not there phones. As for the hoards of others...
Grew up in one of those picturesque Maine villages you see, this is definitely getting worse as time goes on, but it is hard to put a stop to this because it also brings in lots of money to otherwise impoverished areas.
Maybe this is an out of the box solution but ... start charging an entry fee for the Lavender fields and designated areas to pose in so the real fields don't get trampled?
Same thing is happening in Monument Valley Utah/AZ... It's like an entire generation just discovered that the earth has some beautiful areas and they're coming to ruin it all.