Tourists and cameras (vacation, price, photos, cheap)

[Trimac20]

Yes I generally bring a camera along when I travel, but I was just griping earlier on about how annoying it is that a good majority of travellers I see seem to spend 80% of their time taking photos. Like their mobile phones, it seems they are obsessed with taking photos or videos to put up on the internet. It's like our entire lives are fed into this online world which is sucking the life out of and replacing the 'real world.'

Sometimes if I see something interesting or famous I might get a bit carried away, but I try not to focus on my camera and taking pics...you're creating memories but memories of what, of the time when you were creating those memories lol.

Of course everyone is free to snap away as much as they want, but all those cameras do get annoying. I get fed up and trying not to get into someone's picture. I'm just saying some people can get too carried away trying to be a photo-journalist or a photographer, and not actually take time to experience the place, take in the sights, sounds and smell of the place.

[BigFish2]

Good post.. so true. I noticed a few years back that I was doing this too. I've decided to take less photos and more videos, found you actually spend less time holding a camera taking videos. With pictures, you have to take a ton of them .. or at least that's how it feels. With video you can take a few seconds of video with a quick narrative and you're good to go.

[Vichel]

I think digital cameras have made it worse, as well as mobile phones with cameras (which all mobiles probably have). Memory's cheap so people snap away incessantly. It's easy to do, I've caught myself a few times doing that, especially with a new camera. But it's good to just stand/sit back and savour the scene and take time to notice the little details instead of fussing with composition, exposure and all that.

I don't mind waiting til someone takes their shot before I walk in front of them but sometimes they take so frickin' long to line up their shot, it can be annoying. People who use the LCD screen seem to take the longest compared to those who use their viewfinder. They hold their camera at arm's length and they tilt and angle and straighten, and tilt the other way, and squint at the screen .... grrrrr!

[Trimac20]

Originally Posted by Vichel

I think digital cameras have made it worse, as well as mobile phones with cameras (which all mobiles probably have). Memory's cheap so people snap away incessantly. It's easy to do, I've caught myself a few times doing that, especially with a new camera. But it's good to just stand/sit back and savour the scene and take time to notice the little details instead of fussing with composition, exposure and all that.

I don't mind waiting til someone takes their shot before I walk in front of them but sometimes they take so frickin' long to line up their shot, it can be annoying. People who use the LCD screen seem to take the longest compared to those who use their viewfinder. They hold their camera at arm's length and they tilt and angle and straighten, and tilt the other way, and squint at the screen .... grrrrr!

I don't like how most compact digital cameras these days lack a viewfinder. I had a trusty Panasonic Lumix 3 megapixel cam I used for years, which I liked because it had a viewfinder and was compact (viewfinders were already becoming a rare breed for anything other than an SLR). But yeah, some people just take too long.

[Jezer]

I agree about previous comments.

People sometimes snap away and don't actually look and take in what they are seeing.

Savour is the right word.

[rainroosty]

Well I don't agree at all! 0%!

People are having fun.

[chielgirl]

Originally Posted by Vichel

I think digital cameras have made it worse, as well as mobile phones with cameras (which all mobiles probably have). Memory's cheap so people snap away incessantly. It's easy to do, I've caught myself a few times doing that, especially with a new camera. But it's good to just stand/sit back and savour the scene and take time to notice the little details instead of fussing with composition, exposure and all that.

I don't mind waiting til someone takes their shot before I walk in front of them but sometimes they take so frickin' long to line up their shot, it can be annoying. People who use the LCD screen seem to take the longest compared to those who use their viewfinder. They hold their camera at arm's length and they tilt and angle and straighten, and tilt the other way, and squint at the screen .... grrrrr!

Most cameras only have an LCD screen; viewfinders are hard to come by in mid-priced cameras.

[annerk]

I'm a professional photographer. I try to limit the number of photos I take while on vacation, and I go for quality over quantity. (That doesn't mean spending 20 minutes setting up "the perfect shot")

One thing I need to point out is that sometimes the camera will capture things you the eye misses, even when you are paying attention to your surroundings rather than being a shutterbug.

[DrEarth]

I also find it funny that now, everyone and their mother thinks they are a professional photographer. So many people are walking around with a 10 pound Nikon with lenses and everything else.

Thieves must love this new trend.

[toosie]

Originally Posted by Trimac20

I don't like how most compact digital cameras these days lack a viewfinder.

LOL! I don't use my camera a lot and every time I take a digital pic with my or someone else's camera I want to hold it right in front of my face like a film camera with viewfinder Obviously, I miss those too!

Originally Posted by rainroosty

Well I don't agree at all! 0%!

People are having fun.

Ya, actually I agree with ol Roosty here. Don't get me wrong, people get on my nerves for all sorts of reasons - and I'm sure the camera peeps are included sometimes. But that'd be because they were being obnoxious, not because they weren't experiencing their time the way I'd choose to spend mine. To each his own. An exception is when it's a parent who constantly hounds their kid to pose instead of just letting them be - those kids always end up perfecting such cheesy smiles