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I was in the Grand Canyon a week ago, and the amount of posing girls perched on off-trail ledges being photographed by their boyfriends was astounding. I couldn

I was in the Grand Canyon a week ago, and the amount of posing girls perched on off-trail ledges being photographed by their boyfriends was astounding. I couldn't help but think something very wrong has been let loose in society. It really made me feel like I was observing primates in some mating ritual gone berserk. Edit: To be clear, I'm not talking about lovebirds taking a selfie. My wife and I do that all the time. I'm talking about the sustained amateur photo shoots. We kept hearing over and over as we walked along, "Why can't I connect here? My instas aren't loading." It was bizarre.

airstrike 7y ago
I suggest you watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA and rethink your life
- LarryDarrell 7y ago
  Ha! I'm the one who is lonely because I couldn't hike along the rim without interrupting a iPhone photo shoot every 100 ft? I'm sure I came off as a cranky old man, but I'm just making my observations from the last time I was there in the summer 2003. There's nothing wrong with having your picture taken, and it's a part of visiting places and sharing the human experience. But now the sheer volume has become comedic and weird. In this particular case, it's not a secret beach in Kauai. It gets a little bit more dangerous when clear novices in slippery sneakers are climbing out on rock structures to get a shot no one else has. It makes the whole thing more pronounced. I did a lot of traveling up to 2008, and then started up again in 2015. I'm older so I'm sure my biases evolved, but there are some clear differences. Digital cameras freed you from the tyranny of only having 24 exposures, but the self documentation going on now is more frantic and obsessive.
  - jvagner 7y ago
    I'll bite. If you're at the Grand Canyon for an hour, and spend 5 minutes taking photos/selfies, you've still got 55 minutes of the rest of the experience. A lot of things look silly when observed, as opposed to being experienced. Turn around during a concert and watch for a good while. The audience may look... strange. One of my big objections to Susan Sontag's "On Photography" is the common idea that if we take photos we don't experience the moment. I've got a child, and I've taken 30K photos of him since he was born (he's 15 now). When I fly through his photographic timeline, my memories of the moments around the photos are pretty vivid. I'm glad to have the record.
    - LarryDarrell 7y ago
      Fair enough! This might be the future we were working towards all along and it's just passed me by. For what it's worth, I have gigabytes of photos and I rarely go through them. When I do, the joy starts to turn into a slog. I've recently gotten back into film photography, and at the risk of sounding overly sentimental and bullshitty... I find the pictures I take now are more special and intimate.
  - watwut 7y ago
    They assume you are lonely, because you take issue with couples dating. They are there in equal amount for nature, pictures themselves aaand what you call mating ritual. The coupling seems to anger you. Yes, cheap digital photography is how young people show each other their feelings. They later watch pics to feel the same again. Or most just forget pics. In the past, passion was shown differently and in the future it will be different again.
  - airstrike 7y ago
    You're the one who's lonely because you refer to couples taking photos as "primates in some mating ritual gone berserk" which is a pretty disproportionate response to say the least. You're interpreting reality through the lens of someone who resents other people for their happiness. They're doing the Grand Canyon wrong, in your view, but you're oblivious to the fact that's... just your opinion, man. People can make what they want out of their trips and if they're happy and not causing harm to anyone else, who are you to shit on them? "Posing girls perched on off-trail ledges being photographed by their boyfriends" is a pretty clear tell that you're personally bothered by the whole thing, considering that many single people also take photos when they travel yet you choose to highlight dating once more. Anyway, I shared the link in earnest. It's an eye-opening take on what loneliness is, and it includes links to two allegedly great books on the topic. Best of luck.
lovehashbrowns 7y ago
> It really made me feel like I was observing primates in some mating ritual gone berserk. This is so condescending. They're primates in some berserk mating ritual because people like taking pictures of themselves with nature in the background? I'm also curious how you know they were dating but not married. Apparently, "sustained amateur photo shoots" is a good indicator of who they are as people or human beings? How does the Mona Lisa fit into all of this? That portrait in front of nature is okay because it's a painting? Because she was married?

airstrike 7y ago

I suggest you watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3Xv_g3g-mA and rethink your life

LarryDarrell 7y ago
Ha! I'm the one who is lonely because I couldn't hike along the rim without interrupting a iPhone photo shoot every 100 ft? I'm sure I came off as a cranky old man, but I'm just making my observations from the last time I was there in the summer 2003. There's nothing wrong with having your picture taken, and it's a part of visiting places and sharing the human experience. But now the sheer volume has become comedic and weird. In this particular case, it's not a secret beach in Kauai. It gets a little bit more dangerous when clear novices in slippery sneakers are climbing out on rock structures to get a shot no one else has. It makes the whole thing more pronounced. I did a lot of traveling up to 2008, and then started up again in 2015. I'm older so I'm sure my biases evolved, but there are some clear differences. Digital cameras freed you from the tyranny of only having 24 exposures, but the self documentation going on now is more frantic and obsessive.
- jvagner 7y ago
  I'll bite. If you're at the Grand Canyon for an hour, and spend 5 minutes taking photos/selfies, you've still got 55 minutes of the rest of the experience. A lot of things look silly when observed, as opposed to being experienced. Turn around during a concert and watch for a good while. The audience may look... strange. One of my big objections to Susan Sontag's "On Photography" is the common idea that if we take photos we don't experience the moment. I've got a child, and I've taken 30K photos of him since he was born (he's 15 now). When I fly through his photographic timeline, my memories of the moments around the photos are pretty vivid. I'm glad to have the record.
  - LarryDarrell 7y ago
    Fair enough! This might be the future we were working towards all along and it's just passed me by. For what it's worth, I have gigabytes of photos and I rarely go through them. When I do, the joy starts to turn into a slog. I've recently gotten back into film photography, and at the risk of sounding overly sentimental and bullshitty... I find the pictures I take now are more special and intimate.
- watwut 7y ago
  They assume you are lonely, because you take issue with couples dating. They are there in equal amount for nature, pictures themselves aaand what you call mating ritual. The coupling seems to anger you. Yes, cheap digital photography is how young people show each other their feelings. They later watch pics to feel the same again. Or most just forget pics. In the past, passion was shown differently and in the future it will be different again.
- airstrike 7y ago
  You're the one who's lonely because you refer to couples taking photos as "primates in some mating ritual gone berserk" which is a pretty disproportionate response to say the least. You're interpreting reality through the lens of someone who resents other people for their happiness. They're doing the Grand Canyon wrong, in your view, but you're oblivious to the fact that's... just your opinion, man. People can make what they want out of their trips and if they're happy and not causing harm to anyone else, who are you to shit on them? "Posing girls perched on off-trail ledges being photographed by their boyfriends" is a pretty clear tell that you're personally bothered by the whole thing, considering that many single people also take photos when they travel yet you choose to highlight dating once more. Anyway, I shared the link in earnest. It's an eye-opening take on what loneliness is, and it includes links to two allegedly great books on the topic. Best of luck.

lovehashbrowns 7y ago

> It really made me feel like I was observing primates in some mating ritual gone berserk. This is so condescending. They're primates in some berserk mating ritual because people like taking pictures of themselves with nature in the background? I'm also curious how you know they were dating but not married. Apparently, "sustained amateur photo shoots" is a good indicator of who they are as people or human beings? How does the Mona Lisa fit into all of this? That portrait in front of nature is okay because it's a painting? Because she was married?