"The tourist's accountability of the experience resides in the souvenir, the snapshot or the video-tape-irreducible pieces of portable evidence of the sight have been seen. The camera is the ultimate authenticating agent."
I have this habit, and I only noticed it on this last trip to California. The first thing I do when I would come to a beautiful landscape or a breathtaking building is reach for my camera, bring it to my face and snap photo after photo, to catch the most beautiful shot. I keep taking photos so that I.....wait....why am I taking all these photos. As I leave the sights I begin to realize that I never actually stood and looked at the buildings. I never took the time to actually look. The only memories I have of the building is the photos that I took. After reviewing my photos of the first day of my trip I realized I never really knew what the building actually looked like. We as a culture value the idea of the photograph; it is a lasting impression of a moment. In this case, it is proof that says "I have been here, I have experienced this place, I know what it is like!". But do I? As a tourist, spending the whole time behind the camera is putting complete trust in your camera to interpret the meaning of the site. Would you still really have been somewhere if there is no record of it? No photo to interpret your story of the space?
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