Crazy Tourist Photographers
I just recently got back from a trip to Italy and Greece. I brought a relatively small setup with me to go shooting photos with: my EOS-1v, the 17-40mm f/4, the 50mm f/1.8 II, and the 70-200mm f/4. Plus about 30 rolls of slide film. Walking around though, I saw some truly crazy things that other tourists were doing with their cameras. There was the usual "tourists who don't turn off their flash when trying to shoot a picture of a building across the Great Canal thereby ruining the shot by just getting a picture of illuminated nearby water" thing.
The crazier thing was how many people were doing this while using $1500 digital SLR's. I swear, these things have just become status symbols. People buy them because they're "cool" and it makes them look "sexy", even though they have no clue what they're doing and, worse, don't really care to get a clue. It's the Mercedes of the photography world. I find that pretty despicable. When I decided to start out with photography, I bought a simple entry-level camera that cost me about $250 with lens. Only when I finally figured out how to operate the thing did I bother with upgrading to nicer bodies or lenses. I wasn't worried about how "cool" I would look if I bought the fanciest equipment first.
The worst of this was seeing people taking silly pictures with the most ridiculous gear you can imagine. I saw a 60 year old who was carrying a full EOS-3 with power booster and a 420EX flash attached, in broad daylight, while lounging at the pool. Do you really need those 7 pictures/sec capability while sunbathing?? I never once saw him actually try to take any pictures with this camera setup, either. Clearly this guy was carrying this gear around just to show off.
But the tourists who take the cake in this category has to be the two guys who were walking around Venice with their girlfriends/wives/whatever, carrying not just EOS 5D cameras, but also 70-200 f/2.8 IS lenses, with lens hoods attached, on a cloudy overcast day! They were using these things like point-and-shoot lenses, just walking around, snapping a shot, and then moving on. No tripods, of course, and certainly no more than five seconds to evaluate a shot and take it. They could have been such pro's that that's all the time they needed, of course, but somehow I got the impression that they were just showing off their fancy gear. Worst of all, they were making their wives carry all their photo bags and gear! Like little sherpas.
I did at least see two serious photographers while on the trip. One had a Leica M7 who was waiting patiently for tourists to clear so that he could take a picture of a homeless lady begging for change. Another had a tripod out during the magic hour and was very carefully and patiently setting himself up to take pictures of the gondolas. So it wasn't all just ridiculousness.
But probably the most annoying thing of all was the three or four times that I would take the time to find an interesting shot, compose it, get all my settings right, take it, then turn around and see some tourist there behind me duplicating my shot! Find your own damn pictures to take, people!! ;-)
The crazier thing was how many people were doing this while using $1500 digital SLR's. I swear, these things have just become status symbols. People buy them because they're "cool" and it makes them look "sexy", even though they have no clue what they're doing and, worse, don't really care to get a clue. It's the Mercedes of the photography world. I find that pretty despicable. When I decided to start out with photography, I bought a simple entry-level camera that cost me about $250 with lens. Only when I finally figured out how to operate the thing did I bother with upgrading to nicer bodies or lenses. I wasn't worried about how "cool" I would look if I bought the fanciest equipment first.
The worst of this was seeing people taking silly pictures with the most ridiculous gear you can imagine. I saw a 60 year old who was carrying a full EOS-3 with power booster and a 420EX flash attached, in broad daylight, while lounging at the pool. Do you really need those 7 pictures/sec capability while sunbathing?? I never once saw him actually try to take any pictures with this camera setup, either. Clearly this guy was carrying this gear around just to show off.
But the tourists who take the cake in this category has to be the two guys who were walking around Venice with their girlfriends/wives/whatever, carrying not just EOS 5D cameras, but also 70-200 f/2.8 IS lenses, with lens hoods attached, on a cloudy overcast day! They were using these things like point-and-shoot lenses, just walking around, snapping a shot, and then moving on. No tripods, of course, and certainly no more than five seconds to evaluate a shot and take it. They could have been such pro's that that's all the time they needed, of course, but somehow I got the impression that they were just showing off their fancy gear. Worst of all, they were making their wives carry all their photo bags and gear! Like little sherpas.
I did at least see two serious photographers while on the trip. One had a Leica M7 who was waiting patiently for tourists to clear so that he could take a picture of a homeless lady begging for change. Another had a tripod out during the magic hour and was very carefully and patiently setting himself up to take pictures of the gondolas. So it wasn't all just ridiculousness.
But probably the most annoying thing of all was the three or four times that I would take the time to find an interesting shot, compose it, get all my settings right, take it, then turn around and see some tourist there behind me duplicating my shot! Find your own damn pictures to take, people!! ;-)
posted by Chris at 7:27 AM
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