So, lately, and probably because I've been working in Vieux Montreal, one of the most touristy spots in Canada, I've become really interested in tourist photography.
Why is it, I'm wondering, that people show up in a place they've never been, and have no connection to, and stand in front of things and take pictures of themselves?
What does this have to tell us about modern culture, if anything?
What does it mean that, because of jet travel, in the space of a day we do journeys that would have taken our ancestors years, and that they might have done once in a lifetime, if ever?
What is at the root of our desire to show up in random places, and say: "I was here".
Anyway, this is me, after drinking a pot of tea (which comes from India in a boat, I think), crossing the famous and majestic Jacques Cartier Bridge.
In order: 1-- The view down Rene Levesque Blvd, facing west towards Mount Royal and downtown.
2--Me on the bridge. Ha ha! Look! There I am!
3--The bridge! It's so GREEN!
4--Leaving the bridge, sunset.
16 comments:
I like this.
So then, will you provide answers to your questions?
i dunno.
good question.
Short answer: People Love (to make) Art.
Good questions indeed.
nice beard...when did you grow a beard?
anyways, lots to think about in those questions.
Beard it up dude!
You know, I grew a big gnarly beard while in UofM painting, but I don't think I have a single picture to prove it. It wasn't a chic Montreal beard like you're sporting, it was more of a Kaczynski.
I dunno, of course when you go to a new beautiful place you want to document the experience somehow.
I lost my camera before I went to the Amazon jungle and I'm still regretting not documenting that part of my trip. Memory inevitably warps and blurs over time which is so unfortunate because I saw so many crazy and beautiful things on that trip but the images in my mind are not so vivid anymore.
That being said, I get annoyed when people show me pictures from a trip they took and its just them standing in a very boring pose in front of like, the empire state building, and now this is me in front of the statue of liberty, and in the future: this is me in front of the Mars space station in my spacesuit (yawwwnnn pleease kill me now).
I just feel like our culture tells us that's what we're supposed to do on vacation. Taking pictures can be a tool to document experiences and you can choose to do it meaningfully or not. Of course there are other documentation tools such as painting and writing, they can equally provide you with a concrete sense of the evolution and continuity of self.
Not to offend anyone, I like these pictures, but that's because it seems like you must feel some connection to the places you have chosen to document with your camera, because you're there everyday and its part of your new home. In ten years you might look back on these photos and be like, oh yeah the jacque cartier bridge!
I can look through my old pictures for hours and not get bored, especially the ones from my travels and childhood. Without pictures, you would never be able to see what you looked like when you were four years old, I sure can't remember that.
To answer another question, I'm sure our ancestors were very ethnocentric. The world can be very small if you just choose to explore it. My memories of traveling stand out like gems of experiences over my lifetime, so why wouldn't I want to document that? (disclaimer: I feel guilty about my jet fuel consumption)
On a sidenote, I was thinking it would be fun to document all the weird and crazy looking people that you see around Montreal. I've wanted to do that since I moved here. I remember there was a guy who played five flutes with his nose in the metro. Do you guys think that I could do that without any legal/ethical issues? I would ask their permission beforehand.
There was a lady in Wpg who took pictures of inner city youth and it turned into a controversy (some might have been in gangs or something). If you get adults (and have them sign a waiver if you have a big exhibition or make a book?) you are free to use their image. If you just want to post a few on a blog, I bet no one would make a fuss.
ok, ill start doing it then.
shiela spence was the artist. now she runs martha street studio-- the MB printmaker's collective. she's an awesome lady.
anita-- i'll comment on yr comments soon.
macro/cara-- my beard is montreal chic only because that's all that grows-- you're looking at 5 weeks here, pretty much untouched. i been growing it on and off since summer, and no one here knows me so they think it's normal.
I found I grew more beard hair in Montreal, I attributed it to the moistness. Fecund.
anita-- yr right, our ancestors probably were very ethnocentric, and most of them probably knew very few people outside of their ethnic/linguistic/religious/cultural circles.
so in that light, it's certainly a positive that the jet age has opened up a sense of a global community, and where my friends now have roots in 25 different countries.
I don't think our ancestors were any more ethnocentric than we are, regardless of whether 'ethnicity' is a much more fluid condition than it once was, and irrespective of the realities of human migration as they stand today.
I think people have 'in groups,' and 'out groups,' and our reactions to out groups are probably so behaviourally and evolutionarily based, that an individual's reaction would maintain some consistency over the last 1000 years, the jet age if you will.
While people are much more open to the idea of accepting others relative to ethnicity or 'otherness,' I think their general reaction is still the same, especially if the immediate context is an in group setting.
That said, I think there have always been people who are more willing to share in ideas than others, the diplomats of the old age, or the wanderers of any age.
And as a side note, I h-te vacations.
:)
And I also think that if you're in a public setting, people should be able to take pictures of anyone, as long as you're not imposing yourself and you're not going to harm that person.
This makes me think that on prior occasions, I have been criticised for the pictures I take of people, too intimate I once heard, and on another occasion specifically, a young woman at an ALfA show was seriously put out by one of my videos, she brought up very forcefully the ethical implications of the picture, man, she was pissed, I'll always remember that.
Haha, how can you hate vacations???!!
Coincidently, Sheila Spence just had an opening last night in Winnipeg at The WAG. Mostly of photos of friends of hers and people she knows. The photos were very intimate, mainly because they were up close and personal shots of people she is intimate with.
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