Exercise: The Tourist Gaze.
How apposite that I write this less than a week before I leave for a five week break in Australia. The way I have taken photographs has change dramatically over the course of my studies. My wife says I now look for the quirky rather than the obvious; seeking out the unusual rather than the trite.
This essay nice encapsulates the attitude of the tourist who occupies that place that is neither home nor familiar. The word “liminal”, new to me, defines the space he occupies as a threshold.
As it says in the essay, when we visit the other place we go to see the already seen, be that in a brochure, a travelogue, or a soap. We go already knowing what we will see. We are directed, pointed, and even pay to see what we have already seen.
The alternative to this is to hire a local guide, take some risks, go off the beaten track and visit the lessor known. Don't take a thousand selfies in front of the Taj Mahal but do what Katie Litchfield did and take a picture of the cleaner.
Reference:
Litchfield. K. (2013) A Clean Sweep For The Taj Mahal. FT Photo Diary.
[Accessed: 16th September 2015].
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