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I travel for growth: to see, witness, and experience new things, places, cultures, and even food.  I am also a photographer and seek out special locations to exercise and express my love for the art of photography. And before we start, I like to share my art with others. These days, that increasingly means using social media, and I will post shots I am proud of for others to see.  There is nothing wrong with that – it is the 21st-century extension of the travel photo album or slide show, or a small gallery exhibition of your photography. 

 

In recent years, a new type of travel has emerged, one profoundly different from the way I have always traveled: The new way is sometimes referred to as “Instagram travel” . You used to share your travel experiences, but now the sole reason that you’re traveling is for the ‘gram, or the TikTok vid featuring you. 

 

Social media, from Facebook to Instagram and TikTok, is as much about getting approval as it is about taking photographs.  That’s a big driving force:  It is more important that YOU are seen visiting somewhere than the reason you are visiting in the first place.  Many users are chasing likes and followers by posting the kinds of photos that have proven to be popular in the past, driven by the need to feel important or loved,by counting the likes or views, and even worse, influencers that monetize those likes. Photographs of certain places become redundant, new creative shots are simply not rewarded, and many times the shots are risky. Locations that were once beautiful landscapes or sights are now crowded with TikTokers and Instagram mavens queuing up for the same shot, or taking over a location, not allowing for any art or even a record of the site to be taken without one or more of these strangers in the frame. 

 

We recently spent three weeks traveling through the Western US National Parks and other natural areas. As someone who loves landscape and travel photography, I was excited to try and capture some famous landscapes. Many of them turned out differently than I had planned. 

 

Day two: Valley of Fire State Park is a wonderful, and less visited, park outside of Las Vegas, featuring beautiful tortured sandstone landscapes that are a

Mouse Tank Road, Valley of Fire State Park

photographer’s dream. One of the prime locations in the park is the Mouse Tank road that cuts through the park. 

 

We got up early, first to beat the heat of 117 degrees F during the day, and to have the road to myself. We drove to the location, and I scrambled up the sandy slope to set up my tripod.  Then I had to wait….

In the middle of the road was a woman writhing around on the ground in the middle of the road, posing an almost infinite number of ways and times, while her partner took photo after photo. She got up, walked to the person with her, and reviewed the photos… then obviously not liking them, the whole process was repeated.  My standing and waiting for a photo did not even register to them. 

After 15 minutes of this, they finally walked out of my frame and I was able to take the photo I came to take. 

 

 

Day 12: The Moon Overlook is ( was) a little-known spot outside of the boundaries of Capitol Reef National Park, near Hicksville Utah. It involves driving on a Bureau of Land Management dirt road for about 5 miles, then turning onto a road called Coal Mine Rd. It is not a road and is hard to cross without serious high clearance and a 4×4. The reward is some of the most otherworldly landscapes, best photographed at dawn. We drove our RV in the predawn hours ( almost a deadly mistake) to get there for sunrise…. We were met by a crowd. 

Moon Overlook Famous View

 

There is an outcrop that you have to crawl out onto and has been made famous on Instagram. It is dangerous, and at least one person has fallen to their death, but regardless, we were met by some German Instagram maven who was worried we would crawl out there before her. She stood and posed throughout the entire sunrise. The person for scale in my photo is interesting, I wished it were someone I knew. 

 

Photographers at Mesa Arch

Day 13: Mesa Arch, Canyonlands National Park is a 30-foot pothole arch near the end of the road in the Islands of the Sky section of the park. It is famous for its sunrise, as the sun casts its first rays on the underside of the arch, making it glow.  A spectacular sunrise to witness, and to photograph.

Mesa Arch Canyon Lands National Park

We started out about 3:30 am, driving  90 minutes in the dark to get to the spot, then carried my tripod and gear back the half-mile hike. We were met by probably 100 people already there.

Amateur and professional photographers created an orderly wide arch of tripods standing tip to tip,  all awaiting the sunrise in silence. The crowd continued to build, now with dozens of iPhone-wielding influencers.   As the sun began to rise, the silence and order were broken by people intent on having themselves in the photograph, crawling around and even under the feet of photographers standing there. Several heated incidents occurred, as those who wanted to get their photograph, without somebody in the frame mugging for a video, jostled with the Tiktokers. 

 

Delicate Arch as it should be

Day 14: Delicate Arch in Arches National Park is arguably the most famous sandstone arch in the world. The tradition of watching the sunrise or sunset on the arch is long-standing, so we expected a crowd. We were not disappointed, as hundreds sat on the cliff near the arch to watch the spectacle at sunset. 

What was not expected were the countless number of people running out to stand under the arch to have their photo taken,

Delicate Arch with Selfie Seekers

rather than enjoying the wonder of nature happening around them. I eventually took what photos I could and removed dozens of people with Photoshop.

 

Forrest Gump Point

Day 17: Monument Valley. If you drive Route 163 heading west from Bluff, Utah, you arrive at a stunning view of a set of mesas that are a classic landscape photo. Officially known as the Bear, the Rabbit, the King on his throne, etc, they are now known much more famously as Forrest Gump Point. It has been made

Forrest Gump Point

famous for its use in the scene in the movie where Forrest Gump decides to stop running. It has now become a huge social media spot.

 We arrived to find dozens of cars, and even buses, stopped there, with people posing in the middle of the road, sitting in the middle of the road, some almost hit by passing vehicles. All of them not appreciate the beauty of the spot, but were driven to have their photo taken in front of it. Between the Instagram horror and the bad afternoon light, we just drove on. I returned early the next morning to finally get an opportunity to take my photo of the famous landscape. 

 

I try not to be a grumpy old man, but I’ll never understand the self-importance of the selfie, the counting coup of Instagram locations, the me over others, and even nature, on the quest for internet fame. I love the photographic expressions I ended up with at all these locations, but saddened that the memories are forever tainted by the experiences associated with them. 

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