pmorin Loc: Huntington Beach, Palm Springs

Having recently returned from a monthlong trip to Europe, I wanted to rant just a bit about the way the tourists seem to have no respect for anyone but themselves. They will walk in front of your camera, hold their iPhone up in front of your lens just as you snap, walk into you as your setting up because they’re looking at a cell phone or as the case in this photo, just totally screw with your shot. Yes, I can clone it out, but why can’t people just have some consideration. This dude just walked up and set his camera in front of mine while I was shooting in Venice. His shot could have been done on the other side of me, there was plenty of room that late at night. Took all I had to not bump him over the side of the canal

The local people are fine, but it’s mostly the hordes that get off the Cruise Ships that are such as#0/e$. And of course dipsticks like this guy.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

People at Disney and Universal are the same way.....

GeorgeL

Yes indeed ! I can arrest to totally inconsiderate tourists. We're winding down our 30 day trip through Europe and it's like they relish ruining your shot .
Not to mention their uncanny expertise at cutting in line.

BlueMorel Loc: Southwest Michigan

That's why I prefer vacationing in the off-season and avoid crowds, except at the local fair, where I become the polite one and wave people on because I don't mind waiting. You'd think fellow photographers, especially ones with the setup you show, would have the same sensibilities.

Oh, wait, there are a few on here who I wouldn't put in that category. Not all of you, of course, just the few.

newvy

I’ve seen that shit four thousand times👍 But never WW other camera in it. Kind of charming.

tommy2 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

Give a camera to someone and THEY are the expert. Case in point is a first cousin old enough to know better (61) jumped in front of me as I was snapping a possible keepsake close-up shot of the birthday girl - I had been asked by the family to photograph the event, not him!

Mama Bear984 Loc: Langley, BC Canada

Totally get it. We were in Rome last month. A place I’ve so wanted to see forever. Doing my research I knew that you had to see the Vatican in the early morning. So we booked a tour for 8am. The hoards of people hundreds being packed into there was terrible. The guide talked to us outside as she said it will be too difficult to do that inside. She did point things out as we went. But there was no way to stand back & enjoy anything. A place I had dreamed about was crushed under the masses of people. You just got pushed along by the people & forget about taking a picture. I feel like I was ripped off in my experience.

Bill_de Loc: US

He gave you a shot you wouldn't have gotten without his help and gave you something to rant about. You should send a thank you card.

--

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

WW ? WorldWide, Wonder Woman, Weight Watchers?

https://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/WW

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

The problem may be the way cruise ship tours are operated. On a cruise my wife and I took last year around the British Isles, we stopped at eight ports of call in ten days. At only one port did the ship stay over night and allow us a second full day. Almost all cruise ships stop at each port for only one short day. They typically arrive in port just before dawn. By the time they are ready to disembark all the passengers going ashore, half the morning is shot. The ships typically sail in the late afternoon following at least a couple of hours getting the passengers back aboard. As a result, there is a lot of pressure on passengers, most of which have never been to the location and may never be there again, to see as much as they can in the very little time they have been afforded. It should be no wonder that some tourist that feeling the pressure of seeing and photographing as much as possible in a limited time frame may become oblivious to other photographers or act with short tempers.

Although we have been on several cruises and port tours, our British Isles cruise provides a typical example. Our ship's last port of call was La Harve, France. We had never been to France, so instead of taking the close by Normandy tour, we took the Parris Tour. It was a two hour drive to Parris, the bus rushed around the city. We drove quickly around the traffic circle at the Arc de Triomphe where photography was very difficult from the bus. Because the tour guide was narrating the tour from the front of the bus and we were in the back, we were trying to pick out one sight while she was talking about the next. As a result, I have a whole bunch of pictures that I have no idea of what they are of. The only real stop we made was at Notre Dame. There was sufficient time to photograph a decent amount of the interior. After that, it was back on the bus which drove by the Eiffel Tower over a mile away. A couple of us had to talk nicely to the bus driver to get him to agree to stop long enough to jump off the bus and shoot a few frames (less than five minutes) after which we drove another two hours back to the ship.

For the most part, photographers are an afterthought for the tour operators. It starts with the buses themselves. The majority of the new European tour busses have polarized windows that not only preclude the use of a polarizing filter on your camera, but also amplify reflections on the windows from the inside of the bus. Because they try to cram too much into a tour so they can say that you will see everything, the busses often fly past the sights you most want to photograph. Then there are the "photo stops". Depending on the tour, there may be one or two and they are often too short to get good photographs because there is no time to go far from the herd and everyone is climbing over one another to get a shot. Add to that the fact that there may be five or more buses from the same ship following each other and making the same stops at the same times, it is a wonder that there isn't more discourtesy.

rook2c4 Loc: Philadelphia, PA USA

Carrying a big camera doesn't give one special privileges. No more than a tourist without a camera. What I see here are two photographers fighting over the same view! From an outside perspective, a rather funny situation.

Bobspez Loc: Southern NJ, USA

I do my travelling on cable TV. Great views, no tourists.

zug55 Loc: Naivasha, Kenya, and Austin, Texas

All these other tourists get on my nerves too, but then to others I am one of them as well. However, mass tourism has gotten out of control over the past two decades. And those coming off the cruise ships are the worst. They are being rushed through cities in groups and therefore develop a real herd mentality that leads to extremely rude and uncivilized conduct. Travel has gotten so cheap that more and more people engage in it. Travel has become a status symbol--having been to Paris or Venice enhances one's social standing.

There are things you can do to counteract that. Travel more slowly so you can hide when the herds are grazing the city. Spend several days in the same city. Sit in a coffee shop and read a book. Travel during the off-season works well, as does visiting destinations that are less crowded. I spent five days in Vilnius last fall and had a splendid time--gorgeous city, not very many tourists.

You also can learn how to avoid the crowds. I often travel by myself, so I just sit and wait until the locusts have passed. I was at a conference in Bruges three years ago--in July. There were all these groups who had come off the cruise ships. I noticed that they all do the same route. There is much more to see in popular cities than what the hordes get to see. Once you leave the circuit you get your peace. Usually, the groups disappear in the late afternoon because they have to get back to their ship or because their bus takes them to the cheap hotel by the freeway. At that point, you get to take all the shots you want during the brilliant evening light.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

The key is to travel in the off season!!

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

Just a thought.........YOU were part of the problem !!!!

whose shots did you screw up?

You can understand why tripods are not allowed in some places....you cause a bottleneck.

Tourists are mainly 9am to 9pm - so go outside those hours or perhaps vacation in less traveled parts?