[Rondec]

Obligatory XKCD:

I think my one comment (and maybe this is the point of your comic) is that my interactions with my children and those around me change when I am constantly pointing a camera (whether in my phone or SLR) at them. Others have said that they and their spouse both enjoy photography together and if that's the case, that's probably a different situation, but children tend to stiffen up and have much more stand-offishness when someone is constantly taking photos of them doing stuff. Or at least mine do.

Certainly if I am by myself at sunrise, I have no problem being antisocial and taking all sorts of images with no regard to the environmental impact of such shutter clicking.

[reh321]

The article says the photos came before the tourist. Let's face most people don't throw a dart at a spinning globe and say I will spend my limited vacation money and limited money in hopes that dart made a great choice. They see the pictures and say that's a place I want to see. Then they take pictures and tell more people about them.
I think an article about places that fell out of favor for no dangerous reason would be more interesting.

Actually, we have always made vacation choices based on written words.

To show what I'm talking about concerning photo choices, here are a couple of photos I took during our recent trip to your city. We were very disappointed that part of Bourbon Street was torn up for some kind of utility or road work .... but this is a city where people live, and you require infrastructure maintenance just as I do; I doubt if I could have found a photo like the first one below on any travel site - but this was part of our experience. We walked all the way down Bourbon Street to Canal Street because I had originally adopted photography as a hobby fifty years ago to supplement my interest in railroading, and Canal Street seemed like the closest place to see the 'Heritage' trolleys the city is famous for. I was able to take an "uncluttered" photo of a trolley as it went down Canal Street between stops - fifty years ago that is all I would have photographed, but now I also photographed it doing its job.

[rogerstg]

My wife of 39-1/2 years has come to expect me to take 30 minutes to take what should be a "5 minute photo"; my joy comes from exploring various angles, various situations, etc. - looking for different ways of looking at the scene. I am seeing it, I am enjoying it. For example, when I visited Mt Rushmore in 1982 I took a photo of the four guys; 13 years later I was looking for different ways of incorporating various tourists into my shots.

Congrats on a long marriage, understanding wife and great photos. Much of this is a matter of degree and should be what is right for the individual. What rankled me a bit about the article was the subtext that, unless a tourist takes time to get good photo's, they can't be enjoying the experience. That kind of narrow thinking seems elitist and somewhat arrogant, though I might just be reading too much into it.

[Merv-O]

It would be interesting to get every one of the same shot photos of a place put into a timelapse.

I look at photos like this as thus: Just like an old movie, it's not a rerun if you've never seen it and there is always the human differential added top the mix. Give 3 photographers a similar camera, lens and tripod. Set them up on a scenic overlook and I'll guarantee you, you will receive 3 variations of the same locale...Isn't that the point?

[reh321]

Congrats on a long marriage, understanding wife and great photos. Much of this is a matter of degree and should be what is right for the individual. What rankled me a bit about the article was the subtext that, unless a tourist takes time to get good photo's, they can't be enjoying the experience. That kind of narrow thinking seems elitist and somewhat arrogant, though I might just be reading too much into it.

I totally agree with you on that. Our second day in the New Orleans area we went on a 'ranger walk' in the area where Lafitte and his men hung out. I used my Sigma 10-20mm; another guy used a long white lens the whole time - obviously we viewed the area completely differently, but I expect that he enjoyed the walk his way, just as I enjoyed it my way.

[photoptimist]

I think my one comment (and maybe this is the point of your comic) is that my interactions with my children and those around me change when I am constantly pointing a camera (whether in my phone or SLR) at them. Others have said that they and their spouse both enjoy photography together and if that's the case, that's probably a different situation, but children tend to stiffen up and have much more stand-offishness when someone is constantly taking photos of them doing stuff. Or at least mine do.

Certainly if I am by myself at sunrise, I have no problem being antisocial and taking all sorts of images with no regard to the environmental impact of such shutter clicking.

I've noticed that some adults can be like this, too.

I wonder it is arises from a burden of expectations about photography. Perhaps some are taught or believe that photos should show your-best behavior, look-nice-for-grandma, it's-on-your-permanent-record, smile-for-the-camera, etc.

Maybe it is an innate realization (or fear) about the discrepancy between our true uninhibited self and personal or societal expectations of our self.

---

Of course, there's also another segment of children, teenagers, and adults who refuse to "act serious" for the camera and prefer to crazy antics instead of stiff poses.

Ironically, group #2 probably gets more "likes" on social media than group #1.

[reh321]

I look at photos like this as thus: Just like an old movie, it's not a rerun if you've never seen it and there is always the human differential added top the mix. Give 3 photographers a similar camera, lens and tripod. Set them up on a scenic overlook and I'll guarantee you, you will receive 3 variations of the same locale...Isn't that the point?

Of course, mine might be different just because I hardly ever use a tripod.
Sometimes I will set up a "challenge' for myself. Our younger daughter {now 27} loves the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI, so we have been there ten times in the past eight years. To keep the whole thing fresh for me, one morning in the Village I limited myself to using my Mir1b {37mm} M42-mount lens only; another time, I limited myself to including another photographer in every photo I took in the museum.

[Merv-O]

Of course, mine might be different just because I hardly ever use a tripod.
Sometimes I will set up a "challenge' for myself. Our younger daughter {now 27} loves the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI, so we have been there ten times in the past eight years. To keep the whole thing fresh for me, one morning in the Village I limited myself to using my Mir1b {37mm} M42-mount lens only; another time, I limited myself to including another photographer in every photo I took in the museum.

Exactly REH: individual renditioning is infinite -- sometimes I find myself taking photos of the same things/places/people with different cameras lenses and lighting...It's like DNA, the same "ingredients" often produce different offspring (PHOTOS). Anyway......

[gaweidert]

In 1942 someone named Ansel Adams stopped at a roadside pullout on the road between Jackson, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. In 2013 a Pentaxian named gaweidert stopped there too and decided to do an homage to Adams and my own uncle who was a friend of his. Sadly I was not allowed to take a chainsaw to the trees in the foreground as they were not there 71 years earlier. But I did my best. Kept it in B&W as I like it a lot better than the color image. All sorts of people there snapping images.

[clackers]

Of course, mine might be different just because I hardly ever use a tripod.
Sometimes I will set up a "challenge' for myself. Our younger daughter {now 27} loves the Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn MI, so we have been there ten times in the past eight years. To keep the whole thing fresh for me, one morning in the Village I limited myself to using my Mir1b {37mm} M42-mount lens only; another time, I limited myself to including another photographer in every photo I took in the museum.

Fantastic way to get productive, Reh, imposing a constraint for a session.

A writer can be paralyzed by a blank piece of paper, but tell them it's a haiku, seventeen words with a juxtaposition, and the game's on again.

And good on you, too, if I read your post correctly, for having moved in your life from taking more or less straight pics of public transport to showing them in context, doing what they're supposed to do. We should all be like that, lifting our game when we've gotten the hang of doing something in one way. A new approach costs less than some lens or other gadget.

[rogerstg]

In 1942 someone named Ansel Adams stopped at a roadside pullout on the road between Jackson, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. In 2013 a Pentaxian named gaweidert stopped there too and decided to do an homage to Adams and my own uncle who was a friend of his. Sadly I was not allowed to take a chainsaw to the trees in the foreground as they were not there 71 years earlier. But I did my best.

Tetons? Beautiful. I look forward to being there next August with my wife.

[clackers]

Or one can be less fortunate, and live bad to ok-ish relationships, and be absolutely sure that "true love" doesn't exist.

Charlie Brooker, the writer behind the British SF series 'Black Mirror' once said, "If love were a product, the queue at the faulty goods desk would stretch right round the universe and back."

[robgski]

Charlie Brooker, the writer behind the British SF series 'Black Mirror' once said, "If love were a product, the queue at the faulty goods desk would stretch right round the universe and back."

Maybe the fault is not using it as it is intended, after all, look at all the Pentaxians who don't RTFM and are disappointed with the results

[Lord Lucan]

In 1942 someone named Ansel Adams stopped at a roadside pullout on the road between Jackson, Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park.

I've heard (not been there) that at some of AA's locations a pair of footprints has been painted to show where he actually (or is supposed to have) stood! I must admit I did take a picture where Fox Talbot took his first photo at Laycock Abbey, the first ever picture taken on a negative. He must have left his camera behind, that's it in the perspex case on the table.

[ZombieArmy]

Sweeping generalizations based on a couple scientific studies.

Quotes like this:

Some recent studies support that idea. One suggested that taking a photo of something makes it harder to remember it.

Are actually kind of misleading, because if you look through the paper it talks about it's actually based on recollection of the event without access to the photo itself. The hypothesis put forward is that people don't register the entire memory over the assumption that the camera would keep part of it.

And even in the paper itself it says:

Previous research suggests that reviewing photos we have taken does help us remember the objects, but only if we take the time.

Remember to keep a skeptical eye on articles that try to sell you something as the definitive answer.