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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

#151

Post by neogodless »

holografix wrote: post #144
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…

This is obviously terrible behaviour. As an amateur photographer myself I particularly dislike the Instagram driven “race to the bottom”. However... I do think in a situation such as this it’s a missed commercial opportunity. If I managed a highly “Instagrammable” private location I’d aggressively enforce good conduct and at the same time have paid access to alternative times for photographers. You want to be a selfi…

You're a lavender farmer. Do you also want to run a tourism business, including hiring security to enforce that only paying customers get the exclusive benefit you are now selling? I doubt it.

That "aggressively enforce good conduct" is key. There are dozens, hundreds of people showing up at the same time at some of these places.

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

#152

Post by dsfyu404ed »

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.

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

#153

Post by CarVac »

unicornporn wrote: post #103
dhekir wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author's blog says: All site content © Paul Reiffer 2019 and may not be used without permission And Petapixel's post credits him, and includes in the end: About the author: (...) This article was also published here [link to author's blog]. So, I assume it has been authorized by the author? Does he prefer to have a link to his own blog directly?

It has been authorized. The deal works like this: Petapixel pays nothing and the links in the footnotes hopefully drives some traffic to the photographer's site and social media. In this game Petapixel is the influencer that asks for free ice cream in exchange for an Instagram post. Blog spam 2.0. I don't see why one wouldn't want to link the source and at the same time support the writer directly instead of hoping a…

I once called out blogspam like this before, and was called out in return by the author themself—Petapixel actually pays authors for their content.

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

#154

Post by 0x5002 »

astura wrote: post #25

I used to think photography was an interesting hobby, not for me, however. 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…

I find this to be very true.

Before smartphones were a thing, I used to have a side-gig as semi-professional photographer for metal concerts. Semi-professional means in this case, I had an official accreditation for the venue and the band, experience, equipment and most importantly, professional courtesy an respect, but was working for a not-for-profit heavy metal magazine that just had to cover server costs - all volunteers who happen to be really into the music and wanted to share that and support artists, big and small.

There are some very easy ground rules: You are in the photo pit for the first (usually) 3 songs, no flash, not getting in the way of other photographers, and not disturbing the performance or audience.

This worked out great - as few people were able to capture the concerts, people actually appreciated our work, both in the magazine I wrote for as well as on my personal photography blog. It's a great way to re-live some moments of a great performance, for free.

I stopped doing that after more and more kids with smartphones spent entire concerts on their phones, trying to get front-row selfies, crowd-surfing for the purpose of their friends snapping a picture, kids who somehow got into the pit with a phone and the flash on full power, and of course unprofessional "influencers" who only cared about getting a shot for their Instagram page and their own self-image and brand, not for the reasons I highlighted in the first paragraph.

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

#155

Post by ashelmire »

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).

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

#157

Post by collyw »

robocat wrote: post #78

So, NZ is on the receiving end of some of this, and here's my opinion: * 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) * 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…

Agreed. I live in a very popular tourist city. A lot of people complain about the tourists, but its big enough that there are lots of places to avoid tourists. Tourists tend to stick to the same playground area in the centre anyway. I wouldn't have ended up here if I had't have come here as a tourist in the first place.

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

#158

Post by collyw »

silveroriole wrote: post #145
J-dawg wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 (h…

They definitely think it automatically makes them fun/interesting, but it also functions as a way to automatically become an expert on something. I like to watch nature documentaries. Someone I knew started bothering me about how I should travel like them and see REAL giraffes, lions etc rather than just watching. Did they know anything about the animals themselves? No, but they’d SEEN them, which they felt made them…

Kind of like how people criticize them on internet forums to show how much better they are than that.....

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

#159

Post by crazygringo »

People will be people (unfortunately). But what I don't understand is:

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

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

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.

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

#160

Post by notyourday »

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…

> Not nearly enough has been written about "travel as status-seeking".

What are you talking about? Travel is status seeking and status displaying. It showed up after WWII.

"I travel" is a polite way of saying "I am rich enough to travel". "I like going to places, seeing new things, meeting the locals and blah blah blah" is a polite way of saying "I'm rich enough to be able to take off work time for going to new places, seeing seeings, meeting the locals and blaj blah blah"

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