07-APR-2006
Shoppers, Guilin, China, 2006
Shopping is another major tourist activity that provides fertile ground for photographic expression. While resting in the lobby of my hotel, I watched tourists returning home with their booty, and photographed this trio as they emerged from their van and entered the lobby. The back lighting abstracts their identity, and stresses their activity instead. The four red bags are stuffed with the pleasures of travel and magically become eight when viewed in reflection. I also like the incongruity in the body language of the woman, who helps the multi-tasking man manage the largest bag, while he holds a cell phone to his ear. The doorman turns away from the scene. He has seen all of this before and will see it again.
13-MAR-2006
Walking with shadows, Beijing, China, 2006
The morning sun casts long shadows in Old Beijing. This camera-toting tourist is getting a head start on a long day. I noticed how the low angle of the sun painted the wall with the shape of the surrounding trees and waited for a person to cast his or her shadow between them. This tourist entered my frame, and just as his shadow hit the sweet spot on the wall, he adjusted the cameras position on his shoulder. It is an incongruous image – he does not seem to be aware of the evocative power of his own shadow on the wall behind him. His body blocks our view of his camera, yet we clearly see it hanging in the air as a shadow. It is another example how a picture of a fellow tourist can offer us an expressive travel impression.
20-SEP-2005
Group Five arrives at the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 2005
Thousands of cruise ship passengers are bussed every day from Athens’ port of Piraeus directly to the Acropolis, where they can view the ruins that have come to represent the political and cultural accomplishments of Greece. Here, Group Five from the Grand Voyager is about to begin its long climb to the top of the historic rocky butte that has towered over the city for 2,500 years. The tour guide is waiting for the word to move out while this cross-section of tourists reflects emotions ranging from indifference to patience to passivity – all human values.
14-MAR-2006
Exploring the Forbidden City, Beijing, China, 2006
An awestruck tourist wanders through the warren of courtyards that link the 800 buildings of Beijing's magnificent Forbidden City. I initially was attracted to the dynamic interplay of light, shadow and color on the walls and the details seen through the door of this courtyard. I had no idea that a tourist would intrude upon my preconception, nor that she would stop and look through the door with such intensity. I try to remain open to such accidents, however, and instinctively made this photograph. There is an important lesson in this experience. We should not allow our preconceptions keep us from making expressive images. I have spent a lifetime trying to find ways to get stray tourists out of my frame – and if I had blindly followed my plan to make a lovely image of this empty courtyard, I might have waited until she vanished. Instead, I took full advantage of what has been given to me here.
27-MAR-2006
Tourist cart, Taketomi Island, Japan, 2006
Taketomi is a short ferry ride from Ishigaki, the southernmost city in Japan. Cars are not allowed, so it remains fairly unspoiled. Visitors get around on these buffalo-drawn carts, rental bikes, or on foot. Some might argue that such carts as these are a commercial contrivance and not worth including in an evocative travel image. But to western eyes, at least, these carts are incongruous. To get hauled around by a buffalo is an event, just as it probably is for these Japanese tourists. I like the body language of the passenger in the first row at left. His hand tells us that he is relaxed. The detail is instructive as well – the small lion on the front of the roof is to ward off evil spirits. I can’t read Japanese, so I don’t know what the sign says, but I am sure it adds useful context for those who can. If not for tourism, such a cart would not exist. It accurately represents Taketomi Island to the world.
05-APR-2006
Riverboat, Li River, Guilin, China, 2006
Tour groups pack the upper decks of this riverboat as it threads its way down the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo, a breathtaking scenic journey. What makes this image expressive to me is the incongruous relationship of population density from deck to deck. The top deck is jammed with tourists – that’s where the best view is. The back deck holds just four people at this moment in time. The view may be less exciting for them, but some people prefer to look at what is behind them, rather than what lies ahead. On the bottom deck, which serves as the ship’s kitchen, a lone cook prepares lunch. Nobody on this ship can see all three decks at once. But we can. And therein lies the story here. I made this image from the front of the top deck another tourist riverboat – the situation was exactly the same.
05-APR-2006
Vendor at work, Li River, Guilin, China, 2006
These Li riverboat passengers are eating lunch and drinking beer while a young souvenir vendor, rising on the other side of their window, tries to entice interest in a trinket. But they pay no heed -- the Buddha on their lunch table suggests that they may have already exhausted their souvenir budget. There are several fascinating aspects to this image. How did this incongruous vendor magically appear outside the window of a moving riverboat? These daring young men glide into the river on narrow rafts, attach them to the sides of the moving boat just below a window, and proceed to hawk their wares silently. If tourists want to buy, they need just open the window. This image links two favorite tourist pastimes – eating and shopping. These tourists can, if they so choose, do both at the same time. But they aren’t buying anything, at least at this moment. We view a moment in suspended time that postpones such decisions. Lunch, after all, is at hand.
01-APR-2006
Reflected tourists, Old Town, Lijiang, China, 2006
By shooting this reflection of a crowd of tourists walking alongside of a canal, I was able to abstract them, suggesting their presence without actually describing their appearance. It is an image that asks the imaginations of those who see it to make of it whatever they wish. To me, this image represents the Old Town that existed long before tourism was established here. The waters are the same – only the visitors have changed. But the visitors can’t be seen – they are only implied. We see the canal as in a dream or fantasy. The reflections of the golden buildings shimmering in the water suggest permanence, while the reflections of the tourists, clad in monochromatic clothing, are transitory. By morning they will be gone, and Old Town will once again reclaim its identity