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Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

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Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#111

Post by tempguy9999 »

DoubleGlazing wrote: post #105

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. 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 inv…

Indirectly related, living in the UK there seems to be a growing culture of 'fuck you' in this country. Not a lack of etiquette or the trivial please and thank-you, those I can do without, you can still be sweary and abrupt and still considerate, I mean a fundamental selfishness. It seems to be bigger among younger people, 20s to 30s, and I will emphasize that it's uncommon and that the great majority of people at any age still behave very decently, but I can feel it.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#112

Post by tempguy9999 »

atoav wrote: post #110
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #105

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. 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 inv…

I don’t really get it. I studied film and therefore had to talk to many places about permissions (often without beeing able to pay any compensation) – usually just asking nicely and explaining whatbyou want can get you a long way. Sometimes people will even come on their day off and help you out. This is about mutual respect: if anyone takes the time and effort to open a place for people with cameras, if what you wan…

See my reply elsewhere.

I was talking to a bus driver recently who said someone had lost their card and demanded rudely the driver let him on anyway. The driver said words to the effect of, please be polite and I will. The guy said he wasn't going to be polite. So he didn't get his ride.

I don't get it either.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#113

Post by Sharlin »

atoav wrote: post #110
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #105

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. 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 inv…

I don’t really get it. I studied film and therefore had to talk to many places about permissions (often without beeing able to pay any compensation) – usually just asking nicely and explaining whatbyou want can get you a long way. Sometimes people will even come on their day off and help you out. This is about mutual respect: if anyone takes the time and effort to open a place for people with cameras, if what you wan…

Egotism, selfishness, lack of empathy, entitlement. A nice collection of "dark triad" personality traits.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#114

Post by pferde »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #91
VvR-Ox wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like a lame excuse - sorry. Every child knows that you don't do whatever you want on the grounds of other people, in their gardens and homes. Stop being jerks and just ask people politely if it's ok for them that you take a picture. Also I don't get how they all need a picture of the same place. In the end all they do is to deprive themselves from real happiness and the possibility to just enjoy the momen…

> Also I don't get how they all need a picture of the same place. It's because they don't care about the place, they care that they've been there. This is a problem as old as photography; I remember watching tourists on my daily commute coming to the same spots, day in, day out, and shooting the exact same photos of the exact same buildings from the exact same angles. All I could think of is, "your exact photo is on…

My parents rationalize this by saying that they want to have something to reminisce about once they're too old to travel or even to move around without pains. On the other hand, the photos they take on their travels do not end up on any social media, but in a private collection on a family file server...

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#115

Post by zimpenfish »

tempguy9999 wrote: post #111
DoubleGlazing wrote: post #105

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. 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 inv…

Indirectly related, living in the UK there seems to be a growing culture of 'fuck you' in this country. Not a lack of etiquette or the trivial please and thank-you, those I can do without, you can still be sweary and abrupt and still considerate, I mean a fundamental selfishness. It seems to be bigger among younger people, 20s to 30s, and I will emphasize that it's uncommon and that the great majority of people at an…

> Indirectly related, living in the UK there seems to be a growing culture of 'fuck you' in this country.

Well, when the elite are all shining exemplars of "fuck you, I got mine" with demonstrably no consequences for those actions, and TV is full of reality shows pushing the same message, people (especially the young) will pick up on that.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#116

Post by KuhlMensch »

mlang23 wrote: post #90

> But this was crazy. And rude. And selfish. And utterly, disgustingly, narcissistic. 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 think of it more as a continuing challenge. There is just bigger groups of us now.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#118

Post by tempguy9999 »

zimpenfish wrote: post #115
tempguy9999 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indirectly related, living in the UK there seems to be a growing culture of 'fuck you' in this country. Not a lack of etiquette or the trivial please and thank-you, those I can do without, you can still be sweary and abrupt and still considerate, I mean a fundamental selfishness. It seems to be bigger among younger people, 20s to 30s, and I will emphasize that it's uncommon and that the great majority of people at an…

> Indirectly related, living in the UK there seems to be a growing culture of 'fuck you' in this country. Well, when the elite are all shining exemplars of "fuck you, I got mine" with demonstrably no consequences for those actions, and TV is full of reality shows pushing the same message, people (especially the young) will pick up on that.

No, this is different an may come from a very different source. I worked in the city and was expecting to meet spoilt brats in suits, well why not, they earn a fucking fortune some of them[0] they don't need to bother with manners.

At a personal level I found them very decent and considerate, deeply and genuinely so. The problem in the city of scarfing up too much money seemed to me to be down to them just not understanding how much it hurt other people. They were born, if not wealthy then certainly nowhere near poor, so never understood what the stress of not knowing you can pay the rent does to you. I felt it to be an ignorance problem not an attitude problem.

Though YMMV as americans say.

[0] which mostly they didn't deserve. They were no more competent than the average man on the street and in fact considerably less so in some ways as they'd been 'poisoned' with abundant corporate money - they didn't understand you can get a lot done with moderate cash; they expected to throw cash at everything. It produced a very inefficient way of working, exactly the opposite of what the capitalist culture should have done. It made them stupid. It made it an incredibly frustrating place to work and I had to hand in my notice.

I read somewhere that the designer of the original ARM cpu said his boss had given him 2 great gifts, no money and no staff. These were not gifts the square mil hands around easily.

Edit: sorry, I realised how far I've wandered off-topic. Happy to delete if you wish.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#119

Post by J-dawg »

word-reader wrote: post #28
tjr225 wrote: post #2

It feels more and more that people go to cool places just to prove they have as many resources as their peers. 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. I couldn't help but feel guilty on the way to…

Not nearly enough has been written about "travel as status-seeking". It is for some a way to portray that you're not materialistic, but still dunk on all the poors and other outgroup members while blowing thousands of dollars on what is ultimately a luxury. The sub-category of "travel as wasteful mating signal & ritual" deserves another novel on top of this. It didn't help that for several years (though it has thankf…

Absolutely. It seems to have become popular to value "experiences over things" as if that's somehow virtuous and makes you better than materialistic people who just want to accumulate stuff.

It's really just another branch of the same kind of materialism.

The mating signal thing is crazy too. I recently dabbled in dating apps (hopefully, never again). It seems virtually every woman on there is obsessed with travel (has "wanderlust", or wants to visit "30 countries before 30", or "couldn't live without my passport", along with a bunch of photos of them posing in front of familiar stock-photo tourist sites).

It's almost always like this: an obsession with travel itself, rather than a passion for a particular culture or region or language or activity that requires travel. (Which might not really be any better, but I'd identify with it a lot more easily).

What's driving this? Is it covert (or subconscious) signalling that they want a mate with the resources to fund this lifestyle? Or simply a feeling that this is expected of them to seem fun and interesting?

As you said, not nearly enough has been written. I wish a great writer with the requisite knowledge of culture and psychology would dive into this.

Re: Photographers, Instagrammers: Stop Being So Selfish and Disrespectful

#120

Post by Freak_NL »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #51
jwmoz wrote: post #42

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. I wonder how they'd feel if tables were turned - farmers all photographing young people on their laptops in cafes etc.

They probably wouldn't notice, but if they did they'd be unlikely to mind. If you go to China, Chinese tourists will want to take pictures of you (assuming you're white). And they really like taking pictures of white kids. It's kind of funny, but I've never seen anyone react by thinking the Chinese are all selfish jerks. That just wouldn't make sense.

The reverse situation is not getting stared at by local farmers when you visit a foreign country; but when Chinese tourists visit your country, walk into your private garden, and stare into your house through the windows.

Which is exactly what happens in many countries. In the Netherlands this is a common (and recent) issue with Chinese tourists visiting folkloric villages that have normal people not living there who are not part of the tourism industry as well — like picturesque canal-strewn Giethoorn.

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