Today we got up early (9am) and went to Vatican City -
- for our audience with the pope. While we were waiting we decided to check out some of the sights…
There is something about our travels that is really starting to disturb me (I first noticed it at the Colosseum), digital cameras seem to be replacing peoples eyes when it comes to looking and the taking in of things of wonder. In the extreme, people are starting to not even look at anything except through a small LCD screen.
At the colosseum, I noticed a guy with his digital camera taking photos of an entire, maybe 20 metre long, board explaining the history of Roman culture, and their worship. Instead of reading it, he moved along each section, lined up his camera and saved it to disk.
At the Basilica of St Peter in the Vatican, exactly the same. This place is an amazing piece of architecture, I could have spent hours in there in awe of the various statues, carvings, paintings and the general peace and sanctity the permeated - apart from the fact that everywhere we wandered our eyes were and our experience was marred by the consistant pop of flashes, and the holding of cameras at arms length to frame a photo of something (I’m being snobbish here, I know) the photographer probably knows nothing about and cares less for apart from something to say I’ve been here. I was walking into so many photos that I stopped caring, these people weren’t going to detract from my experience.
Under the Basilica is a catacomb (is this correct?) containing the tombs of the various popes who have been in power. About a third of the way in, there was a bit of a road block at the tomb of John Paul II, to my disgust, people were even framing up this with their small LCD screens, all the while a few nuns were scattered at the back obviously trying to get a, for want of a better word, religious experience.
Just because you can take infinite photos at no cost with your digital camera doesn’t mean you have to. Put it away and just take it in. Take a few photos of what really moved you. Remember: No one wants to see a slide-show of a thousand things you don’t know about, but if you can show a few photos of something that really inspired you, you will have a much more willing audience next time, and there won’t be so many photos with my ugly mug ruining them 
September 22nd, 2005 at 3:42 pm
Damn, I was looking forward to downloading a thousand random pictures of the Basilica on my 33k modem at 10,000RP/hour, but I guess I’m gonna have to burn my bandwidth elsewhere.
PS: How do you do the cool google maps etc. position thingee?
September 24th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
I use this,
http://aclog.ionosfera.com/wordpress-plugins/geopositions/
Basically you set up a bunch of locations and using a keyword is parses it in your post and replaces it with the links…
February 1st, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I appreciate what you have to say here…I do think it’s all about the “freeness” of the digicam images and not wanting to miss out on the opportunities. Plus, many modern travelers seem to be more about what I call the “Roaming Gnome/I was here” concept than actually absorbing the cultural experience.
However, some of us are there for two reasons…First to enjoy the experience, but also to express ourselves through the impressions we take with us - not just in our heads, but in our microchips. For me, a large part of the experience is the translation of the culture/art into my own art (impressions) which I then share with others (who care to look).
I for one am glad that there are thees and mees out there taking it in in our own unique ways.
Happy traveling!
Kimberley (in Vermont)
May 18th, 2006 at 10:12 pm
Some interesting points here… I fully appreciate the author’s pain, especially after I went to see the Mona Lisa in the Louvre and was unable to concentrate with all the flash-bulbs going off (literally about 2 a second, continuously). Sometimes gratuitous camera use can be almost as bad as using a mobile phone in a movie theatre.
Kimberley has a point though; some people like to take a lot of photos, and not just for the sake of saying “I’ve got a lot of photos”. Increasingly these days they are used in artistic endeavours (anyone seen Rasterbator?).
And it’s important to remember that these people paid a lot of money to go travelling, and IMHO it makes people a bit selfish, and they probably say to themselves “well I’m never coming here again, so I may as well get a good amount of photos to remember it by, regardless of what people think”. Which brings me back to one of Bugsy’s comments - how can you really enjoy something with a camera stuck to your head?
I think moderation is the key, which doesn’t help much because it’s a subjective term. Otherwise I can think of two options:
1) Designate areas of a tourist destination where photos are allowed, and other areas where they’re not. Some museums and art galleries have a “no camera” policy, so why not extend this a little bit and keep both sides happy?
2) Encourage people to use some sort of “wearable camera” that simply takes pictures of everything you turn your head towards, as you’re looking around. That way you don’t inconvenience others by having to “stage” your photo. The problem is, of course, that you can’t usually get a decent photo without a flash-bulb.
p.s. I notice that there hasn’t been a blog entry here for a good few months…. I think that places you in the bottom of the blog-war standings, Bugs