Alright, I’m going to be blunt in this post. I’m probably going to be a little rude and I’m probably going to rub some people the wrong way. Basically, this whole post is just one long rant that my husband (who takes most of the pictures you see OF ME while traveling) would agree with…you’ve been warned.
***A little precursor here- this post does not apply to specific “photo spots” (because I know those exist), to travel photos taken in quieter spots that don’t have as many people, OR to those who handle camera courtesy :)***
In July we went on our Summer Holiday. By now you’ve heard all about it and probably want me to stop talking about it ha-ha. While we were traveling, I came to be able to put a name to one of my biggest travel pet peeves…Camera/Photo Courtesy.
I’m a huge photo person. I LOVE taking pictures, I LOVE capturing moments, views, and everything in between. I take a million photos of EVERYTHING. I take a million photo’s because you never know what will end up being the “perfect shot” and what will end up looking the best overall. I take photos of seemingly random moments, random places and the like, BUT I also take photo’s at and of popular tourist destinations. Who doesn’t? Who doesn’t want a picture in front of Buckingham Palace or on the skylight of The Tower Bridge or really anywhere else? I get it.
Let me say this real fast- I will not begrudge someone wanting to get a photo. Hell, I will not begrudge someone wanting to get the perfect photo. I get that we live in an age where it’s not just getting a photo of yourself at or in front of the tourist spot, but getting the PERFECT photo in the PERFECT place, with the PERFECT lighting.
Here’s what I don’t get…why we have to then ruin someone else’s chance of getting their photo because we are too busy being wrapped up in our own PERFECT photo. Example: I was up in The Tower Bridge walking through the ramps and saw multiple people taking multiple different photo’s (getting taken of themselves) while not letting others get a chance to take a photo. As a blogger, I get the whole it takes a lot of photos to get the PERFECT one, trust me, I get that.
BUT when I am at a popular tourist destination, and there is a high volume of people trying to get pictures, I try to get in and out with my camera just as quickly as possible. That means one, two photo’s tops and hopefully they are good. If not, oh well. It’s a courtesy to others who are trying to capture that spot too.
When you are in a spot where there is a line of people who want the same picture, it is not fair to that line of people to have you taking 20 photos. Think about when you are at a theme park. You get one chance at a picture and there is something special about that. Are the pictures always great? No. Are they always going to be worthy of your IG Feed? No. But when you have a line of people all waiting for the same thing, it isn’t fair to rob the time away from others.
Not only that, but sometimes people don’t even want pictures (I know, novel concept), but quite simply just want to see what you’re trying to take a picture of! Sometimes people just want to experience a moment rather than try and capture it on camera. For me personally, I balance the two out choosing to take a smaller amount of photo’s in certain areas.
Another thing, if you are clogging walkways or roads or such while trying to capture that perfect photo, that’s not fair to others either. I mean, c’mon! I have done the whole take a thousand pictures to get the perfect one and often times (not all the time though), the best ones are one of the earliest pictures I’ve captured.
I’m not trying to be a whiney person over here (which means I probably come off that way), lord knows there are much bigger problems in the world, but this has to be one of my biggest complaints that I’ve had while we’ve traveled. I feel like in the age we live in the courtesy factor kind of went out the window. I figure as someone who is a massive photo lover, who loves capturing moments and places, if I get annoyed by it, I can’t be the only one.
I’m curious to know, how do you handle camera courtesy? Did you agree with anything that I’ve said? Do you think a completely different way? I would love to hear your thoughts!
A Cuppa Cosy 