Monday, July 4, 2011

How do you capture a place ?

There is something to be said about a person by the way he or she captures a certain place or a city.

* As a tourist, putting-up the typical tourist attractions. The Statue of Liberty at NYC, the Eiffel Tower at Paris, the White House at DC. the "patel" points. are they subconsciously giving a proof that they have visited a particular place ? these pictures usually carry the caption of that place.

* As an advertisement of their own self. in my own words, "modelling" in front of a place. bust shots, full lengths, profiles. the photo would have no distinct feature of the place they are visiting. it could just as well be their own backyard. such pictures usually do not come with caption. wouldn't make sense to say: "Hard Rock Cafe at NYC" if 90% of the pictures consists of you and the rest is too blurry or dark to differentiate between a cafe and the dining area of your apartment.

* As a traveler. these are the ones which are results of astute observations of a place. the person may even capture the usual tourist spot at a different angle. and the captions are usually interesting and well described. i have often spied on random people's photos of places that i have visited, just to see how they view a particular place.

Disclaimer: i may be accused of psychoanalyzing. but it really is just an observation and a personal opinion.

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