An interesting article has been recently published in NYTimes about the changes in the photo industry and how difficult it become to make living from photography (you can read the article here). Indeed, the dynamics have changed - and as an effect hundreds of photo seminars and tours have been mushrooming in the past years - with the prices constantly going up and reaching over a £1000 for a 4 days workshop in Scottish highland (and prices going through the roof for any course overseas). Looks like workshops, safaris, exotic islands are becoming the new bread and butter for many photographers.But this article got me thinking about some other changes in the way photo industry has been developing. There are some big changes happening in the way photography is developing, affecting meaning (and the prices) of photo gear. One interesting thing happening is in Asia – especially China. It seems to be the next big thing to do: get the most expensive and the biggest SLR to take snapshots (in fully automatic mode) of the most famous landmarks around the world. Nothing to do with real photos you could get with the top-notch gear. What is needed is a snapshot of yourself and your family in front of the landmark. Done within 5 seconds...
It’s not about photography but to be able to show off to your friend that you have been there. Probably only for 5 minutes before the coach whizzed the tour off to the next BIG thing– but that’s surely enough… If you also show them that you went with full frame SLR with the biggest and heaviest lens (both mounted on a cheap tripod) – your face is saved…
Example of how important the landmark photo can be.
The Ye Liu Geological Park in Taiwan is undergoing some maintenance work and part of the park is off limits to visitors. Partly due to the visitors themselves (it was ever so important to carve your name on the rock formation or poke it with an umbrella when taking a photo that the fragile structures were about to fall).
Not only is part of the park closed – but it’s the part with the most known feature: the Queen’s Head rock formation. It’s known not only to Taiwanese – but also to mainland Chinese. And since Taiwan for some strange reason decided to open the tourist market to mainland China (fortunately there are some limitations) and Ye Liu is part of the “must do” itinerary – not the park itself but the Queen’s Head. The face issue seems double here: the “forbidden land” which is off limit just to some. Surely you need a photo to show you went there… (possibly you may also need to carve your name on the neck of the Head or at least touch it…)
Since the head was in the closed part of the park – and consequently the tours not very happy with the situation - the park decided to provide a duplicate of the most famous rock formation. Not only they replicate the head but also ensured that everybody can go back home with the precious shot with the head in the background. To make things easier and faster – traffic management system was put in place, specifying where to queue, where to stand to take a photo and where to stand to be taken photo of… To prevent any risk of non-compliance a “traffic warden” in hi-vis jacket with a whistle keeps an eye on things during the peak periods (i.e. when a tour bus arrives).
Everybody seems to be happy: the park, the Head and the hordes of tourists who came here just to get “the shot” of the (fake!) Head – so now they can show off to their mates (whilst torturing them with 5000 photos taken during the 3-days Grand Tour of Taiwan)…
waiting for your turn...
Quick! the whole bus has just a couple of hours for the whole park so no posing around!
Not only everybody would get a shot with the Head – but all the shots would look exactly the same – things could not be any easier! I hope all the cameras are in Auto and with “smile detector” on – just to make it more consistent…
And I thought that travel and photography were creative and personal pursuits.
I'm sure though that Canon and NIKON are over the moon with the trend – especially since its so important to have the best and latest SLR to take these sophisticated photos.
Would the next big thing would be to take your overpriced gear and get your shots whilst guided by a recognised photographer? Huge and cash rich market seems to be opening up to fill the gap created by shrinking incomes from stock photography. But how many would be able to endure the new breed of wanna-be-photographers???? Not me for sure!
UPDATE: I heard the rumours that the restrictions were because of the inflood of Chinese tourists who did cause a lot of damage to a lot of the sights. Now it was confirmed! The story goes that since Taiwan allowed Chinese tourists to visit new signs appeared in the public places: No Chewing gums, no spitting, no name carving!
I 2009 a 63-year-old Chinese tourist Zhao Genda decided to "CHINA" whilst visiting Yehliu. Others tried as well. So the site - and some others - are now suffering from more anti-vandalism restrictions. Pity as some of these places are magical!
The problem Taiwan is facing now is linked to another face-issue: for a lot of Chinese Taiwan is THE DESTINATION - a face-saver, jealousy-spinning pinnacle of travel. It's got nothing to do with sightseeing. It's the "forbidden fruit" that only some can reach. Add travel to Taiwan to your overpriced and huge camera gear and your FACE is safe... sometimes it all makes you wonder...
