Do you every feel like a tourist at home?

[chocy]

Hey guys I have been thinking about this for a while.

I carry around Camera EVERYWHERE, even to super markets.
The thing is I live in NYC and when ever I carry my camera around I have this inescapable feeling that my fellow locals are staring at me like I am one of those tourists.

Any thoughts?

[SolaresLarrave]

Happened to me a loooooong while ago. I stopped carrying the camera when I realized I was taking the same photos over and over.

Now, when I go to Chicago (which is only 65 miles East from my town), I don't mind looking like a tourist. :)

[georgef]

I know what you mean; I do the same..some times it does feel like it, some times it does not.
Depends on the locals; I found on this planet, I seem to get away with it for the most part :)

[SolaresLarrave]

Now... is it a problem that you feel like a tourist, or that people assume that you are one?

In my case, I'd rather feel like one: then, everything's new...

Is that what you meant?

[jky]

Never feel like one, but do get asked where I'm from. I then tell them that I'm just 15 mins away...

[denkrahm]

what's the feeling like without a camera? How can you feel like a tourist if you're never normal (i.e. without a camera)? Personally I'm happy not to feel like a tourist, a stranger, at home ...or maybe I just don't undersatand tourists .......

[jrichie]

funny you should bring this topic up, as when I was in NYC [with my camera, being a tourist] I got asked for directions quite a few times by Americans......... I am English and live in New Zealand.

Define a tourist as tourists don't seem to be able to!

[sonofdanang]

Hey guys I have been thinking about this for a while.

I carry around Camera EVERYWHERE, even to super markets.
The thing is I live in NYC and when ever I carry my camera around I have this inescapable feeling that my fellow locals are staring at me like I am one of those tourists.

Any thoughts?

I too, carry a camera, always. The camera chosen reflects many considerations.

With regard to your question, the answer really requires context. Where are you? In Harlem, the Bronx, Staten Island?

The big question might be: Why do you carry the camera? To, a)photograph things; or, b) to advertise yourself as a photographer?

"Appropriate camoflage for the op," a top once told me. I listened. He chewed me out because I wore sunglasses all the time. "They reflect light all the time..." he pointed out.

Wearing a camera or not, the question is, rather, 'what are you wearing?' Many people who wander about their own cities look like they come from some suburb of another city, possibly from another planet. Look at your clothing. Does it fit? Does it fit you? Does it fit the neighborhood? Seriously. Use a longer strap and wear the camera under the jacket (3/4 length or better) at your side - hidden, but with enough slack that you can bring it to bear quickly, and then drop it back into hiding. Don't wear it (the camera) as a badge. Nothing more distracting than "I'm a PHOTOGRAPHER (OOOHHH!!), hear me roar..." I don't mean to suggest that is what you're doing, but a self-check of motivation/behavior is essential.

Either that, or hide in plain view. I've often set up my 4x5 on a tripod in a public place (and in some amazingly ratty places, too) and then just waited, with a sense of the framing, 8' cable release in hand, sitting perpendicular, ready.

I'm being a bit of an hard *ss here, but the above statements hold true, in general. A lot of folks who would make images do not look too closely at themselves, and their dress, for many reasons - most of which are beyond my qualification to discuss. Want to do "gritty street work"? Look at the denizens that you want to photograph and think of a way to fit in. I know a guy who wrote a book on poverty in Canada in the '60s. Lived with the street folks for a year. Didn't go home to shower. Cost him a marriage. Got him a book. A really good book. A real book. You don't need to go to that extreme to have a camera and remain invisible, but a little obscurity might help. Hiding the camera and a little scale focusing helps.

Of course, this is all academic if you've been through all of this and are still identified as "der auslander". We then probably need to discuss behavior, and that, as stated above, is beyond my qualification.

Seriously, check your camo. It's half the battle. Horses for courses, and all that. A tux at the ball, a field jacket in The Bowery, and leaf shutters at weddings.

A wise person once said something to the effect of: "We are deluded if we think that we can document without becoming involved, without finding ourselves on one side or the other of an ethical line, without becoming part of something. We must choose our perspectives without an eye for the outcome, but rather, for the right, the true, the matter evaluated on its merits, no matter the cost."

[ClaremontPhoto]

If I don't carry a camera one time people in my city stop me and ask if I've forgotten to bring a camera to the supermarket / bank / cafe today.

[manfromh]

Once when walking around in Tallinn's Old Town I got offered a book about Tallinn (my hometown). She asked in english, and for some reason I replied in english. Kind of a reflex. So yes I feel like a tourist when carrying a camera. Sometimes I dont like it and sometimes I dont care.

[Bobfrance]

Looking like a tourist in your home city is good cover.
I just wish I could speak a few other languages to confuse the locals with and complete my disguise.

[kshapero]

I wish I could feel like a tourist in my hometown. I find that when I actually am a tourist, I take more photos and better ones. I seem to see things as new and novel. My problem with having a camera with me always is bulk. Lately I have resorted to always putting a small P&S like the new Ricoh GX200 in my pocket all the time. Frankly I am in love with it.

[ClaremontPhoto]

You carry a wallet and mobile phone don't you?

So take a 35mm camera when you go shopping or to the bank.

[alexz]

What's the problem ? I also carry my camera on my shoulder everywhere (nearly literally), to work, supermarket, local grocery, taking kids off kindergarten..everywhere. Chances some people around indeed take me as probaly a foeigner, but I just don't care. The most improtant is that how I feel about myself and I'm pretty much comfortable with that. I got asked few times whether I'm a professional which was quite hilarious bearign in mind my old beaten up M3 hanging off my shoulder...

Having said that, I noticed I tend to take better images once being in less familiar environment...proably tahnsk to some kind of third-party side observation...

[Paul C. Perkins, MD]

Someone wrote: "I'd rather feel like one: then, everything's new... "

Works for me.

Paul

[furcafe]

We get a lot of tourists here in DC, especially during the summer & other holiday seasons, so I'm often mistaken for a tourist.

As others have posted, sometimes it makes for a good cover, sometimes it's a PITA, but either way, not the end of the world.

As far as feeling like a tourist, I normally don't, but I do try sometimes. I agree w/SolaresLarrave: it's often nice to be able to see things in a new light. In fact, I 1st got into photography when I noticed that I only took photos when on vacation & realized that I could be doing the same @ home.

[Steveh]

I find looking like a tourist and being in touristy places is an advantage when you're taking pics, because nobody looks twice. That's true where I live, which is packed with tourists from spring to autumn, and in most of central London, particularly places like Covent Garden, where more or less everyone is a tourist, and as long as you look generic and inconspicuous you can snap away with the rest of them.

[furcafe]

I agree, especially when it comes to avoiding scrutiny from overzealous security personnel & police, something I'm sure you're familiar w/in London.

I find looking like a tourist and being in touristy places is an advantage when you're taking pics, because nobody looks twice. That's true where I live, which is packed with tourists from spring to autumn, and in most of central London, particularly places like Covent Garden, where more or less everyone is a tourist, and as long as you look generic and inconspicuous you can snap away with the rest of them.

[michaelbialecki]

Hahahahah........I always feel like a tourist.....I live in Bangkok and even though I live in a predominantly Thai neighborhood with very few foreigners and I know that most of the people that I see in the close vicinity of my apartment know who I am......I still feel like a tourist....the fact that I usually have a camera with me when I leave the house doesn't really help.....do I mind? NO.....even when I lived in San Francisco I would always carry a camera with me, so I can relate to the original post.....once again, it didn't really bother me....I am a photographer....I carry a camera.....I could care less what people think.......oh, one more thing....the King of Thailand loves photography, so...Photography is sooooooo cool in Thailand

[blazeicehockey]

Happened to me a loooooong while ago. I stopped carrying the camera when I realized I was taking the same photos over and over.

Now, when I go to Chicago (which is only 65 miles East from my town), I don't mind looking like a tourist. :)


I feel like a tourist sometimes, but could never eat a whole one :D

Seriously though, being a tourist is a great excuse for being seen but ingnored when taking pictures. Unfortunately for me, when I commute to London I have to wear a suit. Image a smart guy with a laptop bag trying to do street!

[Steveh]

I feel like a tourist sometimes, but could never eat a whole one :D

Seriously though, being a tourist is a great excuse for being seen but ingnored when taking pictures. Unfortunately for me, when I commute to London I have to wear a suit. Image a smart guy with a laptop bag trying to do street!

I've done exactly that a few times in London and blended in fine - if you're wearing a dark suit in the city you become semi-invisible I think. I suspect some people also assume you must be a surveyor/architect/designer taking pics for work reasons, so give it a try next time!

[chocy]

Hey guys!! great responses

Yeah not that I mind about what others thing or not, I just wanted to talk about it here because it is an interesting issue. I really don't care what others think but this is what happend to me in Soho, I was taking a picture of a shadow behind a red door, and this one guys comes up and ask me for a direction. I give him the direction, then he looks at my camera (Leica mind you) then he reluctantly "Are you guys from around here? You look like tourists" Well What am I suppose to say? he is the one who asked a direction to a tourist looking guy!! anyway that really made me think about it.

For me it really doesn't matter so much and yes there are cetain advanage being passed off as a tourist. But sometimes it also could get in your way...

But I would love to feel like I am a tourist everywhere also

[jke]

I pretty much feel like a foreigner in my own country, but that's with or without a camera, so I don't think that's what you are talking about.