I have to admit I don’t remember too well how travelers acted at tourist attractions before digital photography and mainly before mobile photography. Probably they took pictures, but it was different back then. Everybody didn’t have a camera, and those who had couldn’t just aimlessly shoot all they saw. Film had such a definite storing capacity compared to any digital camera, there was 24 or 36 exposures on every roll and an average tourist used maybe a roll or two during his or her vacation. Dedicated enthusiast had perhaps 10 – 20 rolls of film in their camera bag, and even that is not much by today’s standards, if we talk about number of photos people take.
Today it’s almost comical to see how people perform a ritual when they arrive at a tourist attraction. They lift both of their arms in the air, hold their hands in front of their faces and stare at the same direction. There is, of course, a phone between their hands. It’s such a pronounced gesture that it really looks much more like worshipping than photographing, especially if a group of people is synchronously doing it. The traditional way of holding a camera on the eye is somehow more subtle as a gesture and it clearly defines what is going on. When you lift your arms in the air it can mean many things, but of course, it’s the only way to use a phone camera.
Anyhow, it’s intriguing to watch people at tourist spots. I often find it much more enjoyable than the attraction itself. Here are some of my observations from the past couple of months.
Great photos Matti thank you sharing them I have enjoy watching them
Hi Matti,
randomly I read your article about the rituals of tourists in smartphone times. In summer 2019 I visit your wonderful home city while a roundtrip trough Sweden, Finland and Norway. And I see such an behavior of tourists (okay, I also was a tourist, but with a camera in my hands), mainly by asian people, posing in front of attractions, climing on every monument and taking selfies that say “look I was here”. I notice this extremely at the Sibelius monument. In this moment I change my way of taking images at travel. I don’t take photos of monuments and attractions anymore, but I take images of tourists in front of attractions making their selfies. That provoked many funny and astonished reactions of other tourists wondering why I take images about them. I told them, if you are posing in front of a monument I think you would be photographed as part of the attraction by me. And I got a lot of interesting images of attractions.
Best regards,
Manfred
So true, it is amazing to watch people try to get pictures of themselves, truth be told I have done the same and even shake my head at my own expense. The camera phone has made it very easy for so many to capture the moment, even if it is not always the best picture.
It’s actually kind of hilarious watching people along with their ubiquitous cellphones and inevitable selfies.