Over the past decade or so, Iceland has become an extremely popular destination for tourists, including photographers and filmmakers. This tourism expansion has gone so far that one of the country’s photogenic canyons, Fjaðrárgljúfur, will have to be temporarily closed to visitors. The place has been attracting so many tourists that there’s a danger its environment could be destroyed. One of the reasons for its popularity seems to be a Justin Bieber video from 2015.
Grandmother becomes Queen of the Ocean as her “ice throne” gets swept out to sea while shooting a photo
We have all done reckless, stupid or plain silly things for the sake of a photo. A 77-year-old Judith Streng from Texas is no exception. She sat on an “ice throne” in Iceland to pose for a fun vacation snapshot. But when a wave dislodged the chunk of ice, it started drifting away from the shore and the lady almost got washed out to sea.
A teen falls to her death at Horseshoe Bend, a popular photo destination
It’s a sad fact that several times a year, we hear about deaths caused by accidental fall at famous tourist spots and photo destinations. The latest tragedy happened to a 14-year-old girl, who was found dead below the Horseshoe Bend overlook in Arizona.
Geotagging your landscape photos is ruining the world around us. Stop it
We have seen a few sad examples of what happens to natural wonders when they become too popular. In this video, Vox explores just how much geotagging your images on social media increases the destruction of nature. What happens when nature goes viral?
Selfie-takers cause “zombie apocalypse” at an Ontario sunflower farm
Bogle family opened up their family sunflower farm to photographers on 20 July 2018. However, the mild boost to Bogle Seeds farm soon turned into “zombie apocalypse,” as the farm owner describes it. A few photos from the farm got viral on Instagram, which caused hordes of selfie-takers to invade the farm and cause lots of trouble for the owners.
Sometimes, maybe, you should just put your camera away
I’m not even 18 years old and I’m so far away from my parents. It’s the first time that I’ve gone this far. I’m two-thousand kilometres away from home, in Barcelona. I’m wandering the streets with a couple of friends, unable to concentrate on them and our conversation because I’m completely enchanted by everything I see. It feels like this huge, beautiful city is hugging me, while I smile at everyone and everything: people, buildings, trees, and cars. Everything looks so much better than it does back home. Everything seems idyllic, seems just right.
I have recently acquired my first digital camera. And when I manage to snap out of the delirium, I take photos of pretty much everything – because everything seems worth capturing, everything seems freakin’ amazing!
Fragile Lake Wanaka tree could be destroyed because of tourists’ Instagram photos
We’ve seen people damage artworks, nature, national parks, even hurt animals just to take photos for social media. Recently, it has been happening around Lake Wanaka in New Zealand. A photogenic tree in the lake is insanely popular on Instagram. There’s even a hashtag #thatwanakatree, with almost 20K posts at the moment. Tourists are visiting the popular location and climbing the tree to take photos. Because of this, the brittle willow could be destroyed.
Tourism Has Run Amok…And Ruined Photography
Photography is and has always been a very personal vocation.
For many photographers, the process of capturing an image is just as important as the end result – the long hours of preparation, planning, overseas travel, getting to the right place at the right time and the inner satisfaction of clicking the shutter at just the right moment, knowing you’ve got it.
However, in recent years there seems to have been an explosion in tourism that has completely drained the joy out of the process of photography – from world renowned locations like Moraine Lake to simple local locations like a nearby waterfall – if it is a tourist destination it will be overrun with hordes of people and the experience of photography is ruined.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!