Thoughts on how the Internet has changed photo-tourism

One thing I noticed about my recent New Orleans trip is that I took hardly any photos. The ones you saw yesterday in my “NOLA trip – Food and Drink” post were about the only ones I took. On the other hand, up until a few years ago when I traveled, I took hundreds of pics. It made me think – what changed?

I think there are two main reasons people take photos when they’re on trips/vacations:

1) So they can look at the photos later and re-live the memories of being there. I could have taken photos of Bourbon Street, the dive bars, the restaurants, and other places I visited in New Orleans… but you know what? I didn’t need to. Anytime I want to go back and see the places I went, all I need to do is get on Google StreetView and take a virtual walk around.

2) To offer proof that you were there. “See, I was at Disneyland, here’s a photo of me with Mickey Mouse.” “See, I was in DC, here’s a pic of me at the Lincoln Memorial.” The thing is, though, with the advent of iPhones people now have different ways to prove they were there. When I went out in New Orleans, I checked in on Foursquare every place I went. My Foursquare account is connected to Facebook and Twitter, so most of my friends saw that I was there.

I kinda like it that I kept my camera in my pocket most of the time… it made me look less like a tourist, and it was one less thing I had to keep up with.

Speaking of Foursquare… I was worried that my four-day out-of-town trip might be long enough to cost me the mayorship of the Flying Saucer, but I managed to hold on to it. I don’t see myself missing any days in the foreseeable future, so I’ll have that mayorship locked down for a while. I did lose Bardog Tavern while in NOLA. I guess I’ll have to go in this week and work on getting it back.

My next check-in at the Saucer will be tonight… trivia, 7 PM.