Tourism in Japan has increased dramatically over the past few years. And as we all know, not all tourists are respectful towards the places they visit. Kyoto’s historic Gion district has been struggling with bad tourist behavior. As a result, Kyoto has banned photography from all of Gion’s private streets and properties.
A street in Paris wants to ban Instagrammers so the residents can get some peace
Rue Crémieux is a picturesque street in Paris, with lovely colorful facades and old houses. And just like Notting Hill: it has become swarmed by Instagrammers and the residents have had enough. They want their peace back, so they are asking the city government to ban photo and video shoots on weekends and evenings.
Residents of Broadacres try to ban photo shoots. The city rules that photography must be allowed
Frustrated by numerous photo shoots in their neighborhood, the residents of Broadacres in Houston posted the signs prohibiting photography. It caused a public outcry on social networks, calling out on Broadacres Homeowners Association for such a drastic move. But, the city of Houston has now confirmed that this popular location is in the public right-of-way. Despite the residents’ attempts to ban them, the photographers are officially allowed to organize shoots in this area.
Swiss village bans photography so people don’t have the “fear of missing out”
A resort village of Bergün/ Bravuogn in Switzerland recently implemented quite an unusual ban. The local council has announced that, from now on, it’s forbidden to take photos of this picturesque village. Anyone who gets caught taking pictures will be issued a symbolic fine of 5 CHF (around $5), and the reason – they want to stop people from feeling miserable.
“What sense does it make,” you may ask. According to the Facebook post on the resort’s page, “it is scientifically proven that beautiful holiday photos shared on social media cause the viewers to feel miserable because they are not in that place. And Bergün is so lovely that there are only beautiful photos.” So, this strange move serves to prevent anyone from feeling sad because they’re missing out.
The Camera Restricta will force you to take unique photos
Open any social media platform and you’re pretty much guaranteed to see the same type of photos. If you’ve got a friend in Paris there will a photo of the Eiffel Tower and your cousin visiting NYC just posted a filtered photo of the Statue of Liberty. Two of your friends posted selfies at the gym and fifteen others posted pics from last night’s concert.
Enter the Camera Restricta. This prototype camera uses a GPS to track your location and then searches for photos geotagged in the same area. Should there be too many photos uploaded online from your location, the shutter button will retract and the viewfinder will show a big red “X”, effectively preventing you from taking another photo at an already overly-popular location.
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