I keep bumping into posts and videos about how photographers get in the way of other photographers, ruining their chances of a good shot
“Other photographers are morons. The stupid, unknowing schmucks with a camera get in my way, stand in my frame and ruin my images.“
That's the essence of what I've been seeing, hearing and reading quite a bit lately.
It's probably not a recent thing, but I just happened to bump into more of these posts and videos than I used to.
In the shot
It could be that you have slept in your car, hiked on narrow, steep and bumpy mountain trails since just after midnight, set up your camera in pitch dark dangerously close to the edge of a dizzying abyss to get a shot from the best spot with the best view. As daylight breaks, you realize that about a dozen other photographers have done the exact same thing, and are posed and ready with their humongous cameras mounted on gigantic tripods.
And not only are they there, but they are scattered in the landscape, all trying to find the place that will give them an image, which depicts the place as peaceful and beautiful as it can be – if it weren't for dozens of photographers with large tripods.
And worse are the places where parking lots are nearby and access is easy. Footpaths scar the landscape, worn down and bare, cars and buses are in the picture, people are literally crawling all over the place, which is often littered with trash.
The plebs are present, it's a forest of selfie-sticks and phones are posting live to Instagram, Facebook and TikTok in a steady and never ending stream all being documented by buzzing drones hovering overhead.
Undisturbed by tourists
There was a time when there were places on earth that were “undisturbed by tourists”.
That little pristine beach, that small village with a tiny local market, that remote temple, that rock formation in a lake with fantastic colors.
I hear the complaints:
“You can't find places like that any more!”
“There are tourists everywhere!”
“The Internet has ruined this place totally!”
Well, you know what? Unless you are walking in your own neighborhood or driving around in your own town, you are the tourist that ruined it!
You – yes, you! – are the very reason that you can’t find places like that with no tourists. And when you at long last get the picture you so desire, you post it online attracting more people, and potentially ruining the place further.
Going to a nature reserve in Cambodia or Laos and expecting to have the place to yourself is naive.
Hoping to find that small, clean, empty beach in the Greek archipelago is hoping for too much.
Betting on finding that picturesque local market in a Spanish village is a long shot.
Because people like you have been there and still are there!
It's the tourists that make places touristy. And unless you are local, you are one of those tourists!
The guy doing the video – Stuart McGlennon – is British, goes to Norway to shoot rocks and waves, and even arranges workshops for other people in the same location. And of course he expects to have the whole scene to himself! You can see the full video here and judge for yourself.
You ARE traffic!
It's like being stuck in traffic. A lot of drivers are complaining that the car numbers are growing, congestion is getting worse and all the other car drivers should pool, drive properly, avoid certain roads, use public transport and so on.
Don't you realize that you aren't stuck in traffic? You ARE traffic!
The problem is you! You are the driver blocking the roads – together with many others, but still. If you and all the other drivers weren't there, there'd be no traffic.
Likewise you are the tourist ruining the pristine and undisturbed spots on the map, making places "touristy", and you – yes, again: you personally! – are the photographer getting in other people's shots.
You might not be welcome
It’s actually becoming more and more common that tourists aren’t really welcome. We’ve seen reactions in places like Barcelona and Venice, which are truly overrun by outsiders, but local people on the Italian Amalfi coast, in Florence, Santorini in Greece and other locations have also complained about over-tourism.
You don’t have to go to sunny southern Europe to find people reacting. Look to places like Norway, Iceland and the Faroese Islands, and you will find locals who are starting to doubt whether it’s a really good idea to invite more cruise ships or more tourist busses.
It’s not easy getting a picture without tourists in places like Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock), Trolltunga (Troll Tongue), Geiranger Fjord or many places on Lofoten in Norway.
Tourists can bring in money and create jobs, but the price may very well be that they literally ruin the pristine places that they come to see. And ruin the good mood and hospitality of the people living there.
So, if you are annoyed by tourists, simply don’t be one, and stay away!
Find your own spots
So off the list is Horsshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon and The Wave in Arizona, Moraine Lake in Banff, Mont Saint Michel in France, White sands in New Mexico, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain in Rome, Plitvice in Croatia, Taj Mahal in India, Kirkjufellsfoss in Iceland, Mount Fuji in Japan and so forth and so on.
Just don't go there!
We've seen the pictures, again and again ... and again, actually. Many of us have been there and if we haven't and decide to go, we will most likely be just behind you (or rather: in front of you), if you decide to go there too.
The solution?
Use your feet.
Use your eyes.
Use your imagination.
Find your own spots.
In the images below – shot on the same trip as the one from the Bundestag above – we're at Olympiastadion on the outskirts of Berlin. It's a fascinating place with plenty of good photo opportunities, and we basically had the whole place to ourselves. There were just a few other people there, and they were actually welcome, because they could set the whole place a bit in perspective. Without people, you don't rellay realize how immense the place is.
So much to see
I have been to Spain, Italy, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Faroese Islands, Japan and many more of the countries mentioned above. I have even been to a few of the specific locations, which are overrun, like Venice and Barcelona, and yes, even back when I was there, many years ago, they were crowded.
And I have seen enough of these countries to know that they are chuck full of beautiful places, fabulous views and fascinating cities and villages.
There’s absolutely no need to go where every Instagrammer and TikToker has been waving their selfie-sticks.
Actually there are all kinds of reasons not to go there, one of them being all the Instagrammers and TikTokers waving their selfie sticks.
It takes very little effort to go in the opposite direction of everybody else, and go to places not mentioned in guide books or posted on web sites.
There might be a time for everything
If you absolutely must go to one of those Insta-worthy places, consider going when no one else does.
Go to summer spots in the winter and vice versa.
Go in the middle of the night when tourists are typically sleeping.
Go when the weather is bad.
Go outside the tourist season.
There will be fewer other people, the locals will typically be more relaxed, prices might even be lower, and you may very well experience something that nobody else does because they always go in "peak season" or in "the golden hour".
Just around the corner
There's a lot of great places to photograph all over the globe, and a surprising number might be just around the corner from where you live.
So go out the door and turn left or right and look for subjects.
Take your car and drive an hour from your home and look for subjects. Most cities, countries, regions have beautiful spots, some might be untouched and rarely visited for the very reason that they are just around the corner, and not in some remote and exotic place.
And it doesn't take a waterfall to make a good landscape
It doesn’t take a cathedral to make a good cityscape.
It doesn't take small colorful houses clinging to the Mediterranean rocks to make a good travel photo.
It doesn't take gin clear water, palm trees and white sand in the Caribbean to make a good seascape.
Much less can do.
Going the Thomas Heaton way
You can do as landscape photographer Thomas Heaton, whose beautiful photos are shot in places, which in some cases are well known, but in the far majority of cases is just a place he found when hiking or trekking from his car in some remote corner of the British Isles.
He sometimes does go to places with a name that your might recognize, but most often he just goes where his eyes lead him.
And there’s nothing wrong with his images!
Also, there’s rarely other people in his shots or in his videos, unless it’s on purpose, although even he sometimes struggles.
He has posted a video or two where he bumped into less than happy locals or fellow photographers, but they are very few in his very large portfolio of videos.
If you want to see videos dealing with the subject of this article, check out Brendan van Son’s video here or Joseph Seager’s video here. Heaton also has a video titled Don't Ruin Images for Other Photographers.
We are all morons
Other photographers who step in front of your lens are of course morons.
But how about yourself?
You are most likely in the shot of someone else right there and then, where you are bitching about the idiot who can’t see that you are shooting the image of the day of that desolate and empty place ... which isn’t empty!
It’s not empty because you are there. And so is a bunch of other people hoping to get that shot of the location, free of disturbing humans, free of cars, free of dogs, free of drones.
But because all you morons are there, none of you are going to get the shot.
You are all in the way for each other.
We are all in the way for each other.
We are all morons.
Don’t be that moron
So, my overall advice and conclusion is: don’t be any of those morons – neither the one who gets in the way of other people’s shots or the one whose image gets wrecked by people doing the exact same thing as you: searching out exciting and remote places to get a good image.
Either accept the fact that undisturbed is a rarity, or go somewhere that is truly undisturbed. And then don’t advertise it left and right, telling people how fantastic it is.
Because then all the morons go there ...
