A reflection on how travel photographs seem to have shifted from showing the attraction to showing the person experiencing it.
Instagram users increasingly seem to want photographs of themselves in an extraordinary environment rather than photographs of the attraction itself.
That distinction is subtle but profound. Traditionally, when visiting a remarkable place, the instinct might have been: “I want a photograph of this place.” The Instagram-era instinct often seems closer to: “I want a photograph of me in this place.”
The attraction is still important, but the photograph is now often about proving that we were there and placing ourselves inside the experience. It is an interesting shift in what the photograph is actually of: the place, or the person experiencing the place.