'Selfie tourism' - AIBU?

[SunflowerPosers]

This weekend I went to a beautiful sunflower field not far from where I live (NC for this as don't want it to be too outing), and I just wondered if anyone else feels the same way as me or whether I'm being too judgey and unreasonable?

There I was with my little DSLR camera trying to get some nice photos of sunflowers, and I couldn't believe the number of people who clearly thought the place existed for their own personal photo shoot.

Women (of a range of ages, not just the early 20s 'influencers') all clearly dressed up, doing 'candid' poses (where they deliberately don't look at the camera for some reason), instructing increasingly exasperated partners to take 20 more photos of them doing very similar poses. People walking around with obnoxiously large 'selfie sticks' where they've got the camera trained only on themselves the whole time, rather than just taking a moment to put their phone down and be present.

Maybe it's my age, but I don't really get it, and just think it all looks so cringeworthy. Of course, I understand wanting to get one or two photos of yourself in a nice location, but some people seem to take it to an extreme level of narcissistic behaviour.

And it seems to be common at so many places now. Go anywhere pretty, and you can barely move for the amount of people with selfie sticks. I'm half convinced that a lot of people you see on walks are only interested in getting photos of themselves to show where they've been, rather than actually enjoying walking!

Apparently there's a term for this sort of thing that I wasn't aware of, selfie tourism. People who specifically go to a location to get the perfect photo of themselves, rather than appreciating where they actually are.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who thinks this is crazy?

No wonder they hate tourists

The fact is times change.

This is nothing personal to you OP, but I always think it's ironic when people moan about trends they don't like by furiously typing there gripes to 8 billion people on the internet.

Life was so much simpler when people couldn't vent on the Internet or use selfie sticks in sunflower fields.

OP does any of your annoyance come from the automation of photography. It used to be a real skill and that has now been stripped away with pre settings and editing software

Doesn't bother me. Although I did find it funny at the Acropolis when the staff would scream at people for daring to pause on the steps for a photo. It was August and absolutely packed so we had to keep it moving at all times. Anyone caught dawdling would get loudly bollocked by the Greek workers.

Same thing happens at the Trevi fountain in Rome - you’ll get shouted at if you dare to sit on the edge for a photo. Wasn’t the case when we visited 30 years ago, and I've got the photo to prove it!

I’m not even of an “older generation” and I totally agree. I actually find the level of self-obsession so gross and quite worrying for the future of society (if everyone is becoming this self-obsessed what will kindness and compassion for others look like in the future etc.). A few years ago I climbed to the top of a mountain in Asia to see the stunning view (and take a photo of the stunning view, without me in it!) but when I got there there was literally a queue to get to the top, filled with people waiting their turn to get the perfect selfie, usually a “natural”, mysterious, wistful looking side-profile that they thought made them look really profound 🤢 I swear some of them didn’t even see the view, all they were concerned about was getting the perfect picture to put on social media to say “look how awesome and adventurous and athletic I am, I climbed all the way to the top of this very tough mountain” (and probably filtered out all the sweat pouring from their faces!) it was actually dangerous…people were crowding around a tiny ledge at the top, putting themselves at serious risk of falling off just to get a bloody selfie. It was pathetic. One of the most worrying things I see in these situations is people aren’t even embarrassed anymore about how self-obsessed they’re being when trying to get a photo. It’s become socially acceptable to be this awful cos so many people are doing it. It properly gives me the rage!

You literally say in your OP ‘Please tell me I’m not the only one who thinks this is crazy’. You are seeking validation for your view that you’re using a field of sunflowers in the right way as a photographer and other people aren’t.

And every sunflower photo is different?

How dare people want a picture of themselves for the memories!!

It’s not about people daring to want a picture

it’s how they go about it - farting around , taking ages and showing off is the problem - not the snap . The how , how many, how long - not the what

people have died taking their perfect picture - it really smacks of self obsessed stupidity

and it’s been shown that people who take lots of pictures have weaker memories of the event than those who just enjoy being there

I'd wager there are far more ways you can take a photo of a sunflower, if you possess the prerequisite skills and knowledge, than there are to take a selfie!

I noticed this on holiday in Italy this month. On one beach there was a woman rolling around in the surf/shore while her husband took photos of her in all different poses, back arched and heaving chest up, head back in the surf etc. it all looked boring and uncomfortable!

I got in trouble last week for laughing at DSIL and DNiece taking ‘candid, oh look you just caught us trotting casually through a field ‘ type pics in floaty dresses … I did think they were over dressed for a pub lunch when they arrived but it turned out that the location had been special on chosen because it’s a Insta location for people pretending that they serenely waft through meadows while coyly looking back over their shoulder at the photographer/their loved one.
I felt sorry for DBro who had to taken the photo over and over and over until it was perfect.
twits.
The rest of us sat there going ‘what ARE they doing?’

I’m 64 and my interest in photography long predates camera phones and selfie sticks and photoshop, and yes I did like it when my instamatic owning friends were green with envy over the quality of my photos taken with my 35mm camera!

OP taking photos of sunflowers = healthy hobby
Anyone else taking photos of sunflowers = oh the shallow narcissism

It’s just so fake! The sullen teenage niece barely spoke to anyone all through the meal, argued with her mother about 4 times and then there they are skipping through a meadow together laughing as if they hadn’t been rowing half the day

For many people, their identity is inextricably tied to what they post about themselves online which causes a corrosive pressure to post a certain volume of selfies just to stand still. And that's before comparing themselves with the unrealistic standards of professional, full-time social media types.

It's living life at-one-removed from experienced reality or, at the least, imposing an extra burden in order to continually prove something to the rest of the world.

Great, if it leads to people being happy. But it's a happiness that rests on a dependency of social-media-induced dopamine hits. And that's not a fulfilling happiness - and it's certainly not contentment.

Galleries and museums can’t just ban influencers, though. Their money is as good as yours.

They can ban tripods, and if you don’t like places that move people like this along, don’t go to them.

Take a deep breathe and read what I've actually said.

Where have I said my right trumps anyone else's, or any of the rest of your diatribe?

I haven't. My first post was merely an observation of something that I think is pretty silly, and a sad reflection of the self-obsessed society we now live in.

I have thought the same in London, OP, pavements full of people with head tilt, pout, arm outstretched taking a photo of themselves. Not looking around and just being completely oblivious to the busyness of the street or area. It's all about them. Makes me sad as it's like people only exits to post things, rather than to experience them.

Again, if you can't tell the difference between using a camera for landscape, nature or wildlife photography with exclusively taking selfies, I'm not sure what to tell you.

You sound nice. Maybe she didn’t speak to you because you judge her

They were taking selfies there. You don’t know what other photos they take anywhere else. For all you know they could have been there before when it was quiet to take landscape photos and decided to come back for selfies.

It’s the age of social media

Cringe-tastic

I think YABU. Why are your photos better than theirs? Because you aren't in them, they are 'arty' or you have a fancier camera?

People can choose to take photos however they want, I wish I'd taken more selfies when I was young and attractive.

We had a huge, absolutely beautiful field of poppies down the road from me - they’ve all died off now but it was stunning.

Lots of people, myself included, went to see it and took some photos of the field from the road however, so many people were using it as a backdrop for their own private photoshoot.

Actually climbing over the gate and walking into the field and filming themselves skipping and twirling round the field, a couple of local cheeky fucker photographers were even offering photoshoots there.

The field owner got quite upset at thousands of people traipsing through his field and trampling all over the poppies they’d come to see.

Was then told he was boring, stopping people having fun and being miserable when he asked people to stop trespassing in his field.