The state of Photography in the National Parks today….
I witnessed something this morning at North Window in Arches N.P. that is becoming all to common! My group was across the opening North Window ready for what promised to be a fabulous sunrise, when a bus load of Japanese tourists unloaded and stood in the open arch during the sun rise! At dinner last night I saw a friend who shared an iPhone image of the 40 + people at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands that morning. It is becoming a common issue, once desolate lonely places where we could make landscape images, now jammed with people. Don’t get me wrong, people have a right to be there, it’s just sad to see an era end when these places were quieter and more accessible, with less folks.
So what is the solution? For me, I am going to start researching some less visited, but equally beautiful places to take my groups. On the way to Moab, Jim and Sue Haverstock, Tom and Maryanne Cherry Gaffuri and I spent a day and morning in Capital Reef N.P. and at Goblin Valley State Park, both unique and beautiful and we saw very few people!!!!! 10 of us had a great trip down Route 66, never experiencing crowds. My 2017 schedule will reflect this changing trend. I will still go to some of my favorite parks in my favorite times, like the Smokies in Spring and Acadia in the fall, Americana locations like Old Car City, Shaker Village and Roanoke, VA, but I think I will start to look at either better times or not returning to some hot spots when the crowds arrive. In the past, mid March was safe for Arches, not so today!
The advent of GoPros and iPhones has made everyone a photographer and we must get used to the fact that we are not a lonely group of wanderers anymore…..
Blessings,
the pilgrim
Join Jack and I in the Smokies, April 14-17, for one of our great Fuji Workshops, back to a quieter calmer place of beauty!!!!
This entry was posted on Friday, March 18th, 2016 at 4:55 pm
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I’ve come to the same conclusion, Bill. Digital photography has really proven to be a double-edged sword. It has given photographers the tools needed to raise the quality of their work by orders of magnitude. And it certainly creates awareness and ownership of these amazing public lands which will hopefully lead to greater protection for more places. On the other hand…this.
Normally, even in crowded parks if one gets up early enough or stays up late enough one can achieve some sense of solitude. This is a new low point: tour buses arriving before dawn. (Arches is particularly vulnerable because just about everything is so easily accessible from the road.) I think that, in addition to finding less popular locations, another solution is to travel at alternate times of year.
I agree, I’m putting on my thinking cap!
Are you sure that they were Japanese?
Did you talk to them? What is the proof that they were Japanese???
Looking at how they dress(in your photo), I think they are CHINESE.
CHINESE are all over the world nowadays, and they not only talk really LOUD
at sacred places like temples and shrines, but also tarnish the places
(spitting out phlegm, throw away garbages, etc. etc).
As a half Japanese, I am sick and tired of being mistakes as Chinese
by naive westerns (surely we look alike but TOTALLY different human
beings).
I understand that the race is not your point though….
I can only imagine how annoying it must be grouped as Asian and painted with the same brush. Then again, it’s probably unfair to paint all Chinese with the same brush. That said, I’ve noticed the trash thing too. It blows me away that it does not naturally occur to everyone entering a pristine natural area like a national park that tossing your trash on the ground is inappropriate.
Sorry Tom, we spoke to several of them, they were polite and well mannered, just numerous!
What I also worry about is the wear and tear this takes on the parks. From wearing down the natural formations of nature to trash and graffiti.
I too like come to places like this to photograph and enjoy God’s creation in peace without a lot of commotion.
Time will tell!
I know what you mean! Don’t even get me started on the Antelope Canyon situation 😉
http://www.thephotographyhobbyist.com/VACATION-AND-SHORT-TRIPS/PARKS/Grand-Canyon/i-gxRNsdQ/A
Yes, it is frustrating! I’m glad others are getting to enjoy these wonders and the vendors are making a profit, I just miss the days when these were “pleasant” experiences!!!
I wholeheartedly agree about the crowds. It is crazy! We experienced the same thing last September when we visited the parks in Utah…and I concur with Jon about Arizona Antelope Canyon. It was frantic….and I was supposed to be on a “photography tour”. The Grand Canyon was equally as crowded, even during the “off hours”. People were shoulder to shoulder…and it only takes a few disrespectful visitors to put a “damper” on the atmosphere. I was amazed at how many did not take heed to warnings about crossing boundaries, etc.
I am looking forward to a less crowded and more serene experience with you and Jack on the Oregon coast.
That it will be!!!! Thankfully the masses have yet to discover Jack’s “SPECIAL SPOTS”
Can’t wait!
Oh no! I hope you guys were able to get a shot!
We did! And a little Photoshop!
I’ve seen the same thing in many places and it is frustrating. We try to travel off season as much as possible to avoid the crowds. There are litttle known places just as pretty as the National Parks. June and I will avoid the Smokies at peak times and go to gems in the National Forest lands in our area.
Sounds like a plan! Early March was never this busy in the past!
I wonder if you just happened to hit spring break week. I don’t know that this would have much bearing on the Japanese visitors you encountered but I bet it affects overall crowding. My wife is a teacher so we often travel the week of spring break—usually to the desert Southwest. If our Oregon spring break happens to coincide with California’s, Death Valley can be a zoo.
I am going for a different take on this.
I’ve seen this many times and have similar frustrations BUT add to them this.
One Sunday morning — cold, peaceful and quiet in the winter — I was at Yoho National Park in British Columbia. Not a soul stirring besides me. Then the buses hit and the flock empties out for a few minutes of photographic frolic and then it’s back on the bus and gone. Same thing in Yosemite, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Grand Canyon, etc. These folks paid a hefty chunk of change to come here and really didn’t get much benefit from the experience, never really having the time to appreciate what we do. Hit and run and gone. As frustrated as I am I also feel some sorrow for them.
They miss a lot!!!
I think it is going to keep getting worse until it gets to the non-workable stage and then Mr Berra’s vision will come true — “Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” And then slowly the traffic will start to slack off and the true photographers can go back to enjoying the site. Unfortunately that is probably going to take longer than I’ve got 🙁
We will see!
There’s a lot to be said for exploring other venues. We all see the same locations photographed again and again – not that there’s anything wrong with making those shots! But we know there are many other locations, perhaps not so easily accessible, that are worthy subjects, too! Perhaps we’ll have to end up being a little more adventurous and seeking out the spot less photographed to make our pictures. And, not that it applies to any of us, but I’ve seen and heard instances when the “serious” photographers have ruined photo experiences for the “amateurs.” The situation isn’t going to get any better, so, like you’ve indicated, we’ll have to be more creative (and remember to be aware of others).
I agree, they have every right to be there, I’m seeking great places somewhat undiscovered now!
I visited Arches & Canyonlands a couple of weeks ago. I think it was early enough in the season that crowds were not too big of a problem. The exception was Mesa Arch at sunrise. It was a madhouse with well over 50 people and nobody wanted to give an inch. I squeezed into a spot as best as I could. I asked if I could share a space with someone tall (since I am so short), and all I got was dead silence and dirty looks. Sigh. I shared my tiny little space with some other photographer friends in our little tour as soon as I got a few clicks off.
Politeness is a rare virtue these days, regardless of one’s home country. I agree that Capital Reef and Goblin State Park are terrific locations with very little crowding.
I WISH more people were as courteous as you, Donna!!!
Bill,
Check out Valley of The Gods (Valley of The Gods Road) a fabulous place and they day I drove it I had the entire place to myself. A great base would be in Mexican Hat, Utah with plenty of shooting opportunities. I did have a pleasant day Friday evening and yesterday photographing Texas Wildflowers all by my lonesome…. I did not see one other photographer……what a joy, just me and a couple of coyotes who were tromping through the wildflowers all on the country roads with no other folks.
I thought about yesterday when I stumbled upon a guy who rebuilds antique windmills and boy does he have a lot of old unique things to photograph and as I tromped through his weeds shooting an old Studebaker Pickup from an old Dairy Farm, old license plates, oil signs and gas pumps and buggies.
I will be back there again for sure….. come on overcast-misty day.
Good suggestions!!! My life and I are in Marco Island Florida, she at as medical conference, me recovering. This place is slammed too!!!! Spring break, so you can’t escape the crowds! My wife reminded me today that I have become the Grumpy Ole Man of Saturday Night Live, it just may be true!!!!!
Unfortunately there are few good solutions regarding the popular venues. The good that will come from it is the somewhat forced exploration of new places. The beauty and wonder of God’s Creation is not limited to the national parks and finding new places can be an exciting and rewarding process. As the crowds inevitably press into the well-known grand vistas, exploring at the macro-scale is also a viable way to photographically reveal the invisible attributes of God. To Him be the glory.
Being a Nikon shooter, perhaps I should have said “micro-scale” rather than macro. 😉
These people…….regardless of nationality…….will all meet the same fate. The Content Aware and Clone tools.
LOL! Indeed.
Yes, much more humane than a .308!
Ha!!!!
I am working on that right now, the big possible down side is many people will not sign up for a workshop to a place they are not keenly aware of, but I think I will be doing more workshops in hidden “gems”!