Ok so tourist photos are really wacky things. We all take
them, for no real reason though. We could definitely find better photos online,
but we are sacrificing quality for personalization and use them as proof of the
fact that we were there ourselves. A photo has an inherent claim to truth that
no other art form really has.
Most tourist photos have a goal in mind of showing the place
of interest without people in the image. We want to imagine the objects as
having existed for all eternity, untouched by human hands. Which is absurd
because most tourist destinations have been made by humans, or at least shaped
by them.
If there are people in the image, photographers want them to
be their travelling partners or usually family. And the whole arrangement has
to be staged instead of a candid shot. A certain image of the trip needs to be
imparted through the photo so we are all arranged a certain way and smiling.
Tourist pictures are meant to be brought out and seen by others, and these
future audience members need to get a specific impression from the photo pf
your trip. There’s an element of vanity inherent to them.
Tourist pictures aren’t meant to be squirreled away, they
are intended to be brought out later as proof of how cultured we are. As a
sidenote, we all have this strange idea that by travelling and visiting
different places we become more cultured and somehow more intelligent and
worldly. Literally no other animal really thinks this, I wonder how we
developed this idea?
Having said all that, there’s also websites like www.reclaiminghistory.org, which is
a website that crowdsources images of ruined heritage sites from tourist
pictures. Here they want all of the various imperfect camera angles to compile
a virtual image of the work. Tourist photos are actually a method of
preservation!
Personally I find that tourist photos can be a great way of
examining how works of art are displayed. So what they’re next to, what
information is given about it, what the room it’s in looks like. They capture a
specific moment that would otherwise be lost in the history of the work itself.
So even though tourist photos are odd and somewhat
contradictory, there are redeeming qualities to them. Bottom line is, do what
makes you happy. Take a picture of something with historical or artistic
significance, or don’t. It’s up to you.
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