[Belgrano]

People love to amass terabytes of travel pictures, but then what?

Does anyone ever really go back and look at old pictures of themselves traveling?

I know I don't, and neither does anybody I know.

You pick a handful of your favorite pictures, and that's it.
And after a few years you forget even those.

There's really no point in experiencing the world exclusively through the lens of a camera instead of living in the moment and enjoying it in its ephemeral beauty.

Experiences that lead to great and lasting memories are much more valuable.

[Chevalier De Seingalt]

(03-27-2019 02:15 PM)LatinoHeat Wrote:  

This is why I love surfing, no phones, no electronics, even bringing a waterproof watch is risky. It seems like the only place on the planet to get away from electronics these days.

Shit man take me surfing where you are

Lately where I've been it seems like half the dudes had GoPro cameras fixed on the nose of their board.

I have no problem dropping in on those guys.

[Cortés]

I was gonna touch a bit on this when i write up about my trip in south america. As phones become more accessible in even the smallest of villages across the world, people become more social media addicted, celebrity obsessed, vain etc. Its such a shame as so many girls i met here are just as, if not more, addicted to facebook/whatsapp/instagram than american girls. For me the biggest annoyance from the rise of social media is that it grows celebrity obsession. People can get a view of the "day to day" for any celebrity, and skews the audiences perceptcion of these people. Obviously celebrities have always been seen as god like figures, but now with social media its even more ridiculous.

I unironically believe that the industrial revolution was one of the worst things to happen to humanity. Inevitably would lead to societal decay, the destruction of basic human interaction, communism, the lack of consideration for the natural world, and forgetting purpose and what it means to be human. Dont get me wrong, its pretty clear that technology has done AMAZING things for humanity and our quality of life. However, i believe that only recently we have hit the point where technologys impact becomes negative, and it only gets worse from this point on. Unless there is some sort of event that destroys the technological infrastructure of our planet within the next few years, we will hit the singularity.

Think about it. Most people on this planet are extremely dependent on various forms of media and technology. And this is without artificial intelligence. People would be naive to think that facebook, google, twitter etc wont utilize artificial intelligence to get people even more dependent on their platforms. Collect and compile information on nearly every person alive! As the government grows and grows, and social media has more and more data on each person, we will soon be living in Minority Report!

I feel depressed whenever this concept crosses my mind. There is nothing we can do as individuals to stop this. Even on the societal level, very few people would be on board with halting technological innovation, as that would destroy our economy.

Hard times are ahead

[Cattle Rustler]

Adapt or die.

[Fortis]

I don't often notice this shit and I really do not care. Most people are goobs. It didn't take instagram to show me this.

Expecting a sense of wonder to come burgeoning out of some random, brain-dead office drone is silly. Wonder and curiosity must be cultivated and fed constantly. Honestly, I'd probably pity these people more than anything.

[travolta]

I forgot to mention, I climb mountains and I often take a shit load of pictures/videos while I'm at it (but this depends where I am). I often look back at these pictures and feel good about what I've accomplished. I'm passionate about both rock climbing and photography. When I show them to girls they find it extremely interesting. Sometimes I think I should take less pictures, but shit... I just risked my life to access some badass, photogenic place, so yes I'm going to take pictures to show off to my family, friends and girls I fuck.

[yankeetravels]

(03-27-2019 02:10 PM)Buddydowrongright2 Wrote:  

I'm not fully on the Instagram hate train as I tend to think that the Internet in general has made the vast majority of people insufferable cunts on many different vectors, and that social media is only the natural endpoint of that, but I did notice while I was in Iceland that pretty much anywhere within a 3-hour drive of Reykjavik that was worth seeing was absolutely flooded with cocksucking motherfuckers doing the same exact pose they saw their skanky friends doing on social media...

This was a big thing I experienced in Iceland more than other places I've been. Iceland being my first spot nature was the primary thing on display everywhere, I realized how quickly it can be deflated by too many people doing pose pictures. Dealt with a couple annoying groups on my way. It's true that the Golden Circle is a tourist trap and pretty much every nature spot within an hour or two of Reykjavik is gonna have people. Funny thing is though once you go a little farther out, there may be a little bit of tourists, but maybe handfuls at most. 3-4 hours north was when I really started to feel like I had these sites more in their natural habitat. Some of my favorite sites were really ones not huge on the radar of Iceland compared to others. Riding through small northern fishing towns was incredible.

(03-27-2019 12:59 PM)zoom Wrote:  

Yes nowadays people (mostly women) aren't traveling to see sights, they are traveling to sites in order to take pictures for instagram. OP I can imagine how frustrating that would be to try and enjoy the Northern Lights while being surrounded by annoying instagram-obsessed people.

(03-27-2019 06:39 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  

People don't seem to realize the mortality of the moment. That they'll likely never in their life experience it again.

These two quotes go hand in hand for me. I think what bothered me in my OP was that the girls got so caught up in Instagram that they forgot to recognize the mortality of the moment they were witnessing. I've been through a near death experience in my past at a pretty young age. I don't think that drives my thought process in seeing rare sites or experiencing rare moments in life, but it does make me damn appreciate being alive once I can get that near 100% connection. Despite Instagram pulling a Hollywood stunt with the Northern Lights, it is still something I'm never going to forget sitting outside by myself in 20 degrees just watching a sky I have never seen before being surrounded by practically untouched nature. Growing up where I did, you forget places like that and things like that exist in other parts of the world.

When I experience something like that, I can't help but think about all the other places big and small I've been so far. How many moments have been truly great to witness? How many of those have I actually been back to? The first answer is small. The second answer, I have only been back to a handful of places I saw a first time if that.

I connect a lot with this movie scene specifically, which is ironically one of the main motivators for me going to Iceland in the first place:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfjkiTB1fHQ

(03-27-2019 06:39 PM)nomadbrah Wrote:  

Photos of "stuff" is not very interesting. Looking back at pictures, I smile at photos with people, not fancy backgrounds, not status symbols. A picture at McDonalds with your friends can elicit more emotion, than that specific object of the trip. I see this as more brand building, than actual photography. I appreciate the skill of the photograph, sure, but it's not an experience so much as a new advertising campaign.

This is where I disagree a bit. A lot of my favorite pictures don't have me in it. I'm far from a great photographer, but I do like to capture something I really like, which some guys reminded me does help anchor the memory of it. When I think back on things I've seen at a pretty young age, I look at those photos without the distraction of my friends, girls, or me in it, and it just seems so pure and real. In nature spots at least, I tend to believe people can ruin what the moment is supposed to capture. That the Earth is bigger than us and it's humbling while delivering such a sense of beauty and serenity at the same time.

Maybe I'm just meant to be behind the lense rather than captured in front of it, but it never really felt natural to put myself into sights that I was seeing. Not that I never do, it's just a very small percentage of the photos I actually take. I like to capture things from my perspective.

[jcardial]

(03-27-2019 07:07 PM)Belgrano Wrote:  

People love to amass terabytes of travel pictures, but then what?

Does anyone ever really go back and look at old pictures of themselves traveling?

I know I don't, and neither does anybody I know.

You pick a handful of your favorite pictures, and that's it.
And after a few years you forget even those.

There's really no point in experiencing the world exclusively through the lens of a camera instead of living in the moment and enjoying it in its ephemeral beauty.

Experiences that lead to great and lasting memories are much more valuable.

I have a high end camera and have gotten epic photos of my travels and exes/friends etc. Friends and family seem to really appreciate them. You can really relive moments and reactivate chunks of your memory a decade later that otherwise may have been completely lost. I remember orders of magnitude more with the photos and videos.

I don't agree that photography is that distracting unless you are a noob or get completely carried away. It helps if you have a friend who is halfway decent at taking candid shots because posing in front of every tourist site the same way starts to get lame fast. Who spends more than like 1% of their trip inside the camera viewfinder other than the most Asian tourists of all time?

[Drazen]

I take tons of photos and I look back and enjoy the shots that i have taken throughout my life.

Makes me reflect, "wow, that was 10 years ago, crazy, felt like yesterday". I take daily shots to document my life. I share a very small amount of them, but i like documenting things I do for myself. I am trying to get myself into doing video now.

Unlimited Google photos storage is great. The search functions make it even better.

I probably take 15 to 20 photos per day. 10x that if I am travelling.

If i see something interesting, I'll snap a quick pic. My phone is over $1,000 i need to get some good value and actually use it.

[hedonist]

Unfortunately I live in one of the most cancerous shitholes when it comes to this shit.
Every asshole on a mountain doing yoga poses thinking they are a "rockstar" with Drake playing in the background destroys any kind of tranquility ...

You have to wonder about the dudes they date taking semi nude pics of the GF and posting them up on the gram with hundreds of thirsty dudes in the comments :/ The will be replaced quickly by the next best thing that comes along.

Big difference from 10-20 years ago traveling, people would talk much more in hostels now they are glued to their phones, I feel sorry for those who missed out ...I guess you could say the same at shows before cell phones where everyone was just into the vibe.

I did a couple of epic hikes a year ago and after I got some pics I waited in line again but this time to just go up and for the sole purpose to take in the moment....look around and just take in the sheer beauty.

I saw some women change into swim suits before they got theirs taken...

While chilling at the blue lagoon I saw a dude spend 1/2hr taking the "perfect" picture of his hoar and I actually overheard him comment something about "live for the moment" all I could do was shake my head

Good tip on Iceland....flip to a night shift schedule on summer time...plenty of sunlight still and all the spots without the assholes

If you can make money off these retards though more power to you

[Obermarschall]

To be honest it is not only Instagram, but taking pictures in general that is so annoying. I can never really enjoy travelling with a woman, unless it is a place where it is FORBIDDEN to take pictures (even there some just ignore it) or where other circumstances don't allow it.

And when they take pics...it sometimes take an ETERNITY for them to finish, oh no but in there I look fat, I look bad, the lights, the shadows blabla and it really ruins my moment and my time to enjoy something.