Over photographed places!

R

Ricardodaforce

Self requested ban
Suspended / Banned
Messages
18,340
Edit My Images
No
Which places or things are the ones you've already seen too much? I'm already fed up of seeing images of the Shard place. Are there any that make you roll your eyes?
 
ChrisGilbert said:
The list is endless, but bear in mind that for many, collecting iconic views and emulating thier heroes is an important part of thier hobby.
Click to expand...

This is true! I did see some great from the top of the Shard though. I think they were in the Sunday Times.
 
I can sort of see where you are coming from, but if I went to London no doubt I would take a few of the Shard. May be over photographed but not by me.

I might post something on here if I got a different angle.
 
I don't have a clue what the shard looks like, don't think I have seen a single photo! Guess it depends on what you look at as to what you will see as over photographed :)
 
There was a time when I couldn't pick up any photo mag without seeing a picture of Bamburgh Castle in it. All taken from the same spot on the beach. Not so much lately. But if I were in the vicinity I have no doubt that I would take exactly the same photo myself.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
I'm already fed up of seeing images of the Shard place
Click to expand...

Sorry about that Ricardo. :|

In my defence I've been photographing its construction since 2007, before most people had even heard of it.

It's nearly finished and I may get another subject for your Flickr Yesterday thread soon :LOL:
 
The lake district. Everyone takes the same photos of the same lakes from the same spots.

If I went there I'd do exactly the same :D
 
I guess many places are over photographed but it's always interesting to see different interpretations of the same thing. You can really define different photographers' various visions. However it's just as amusing when identical, boring photographs are taken by many different individuals aswell. The eiffel tower is one. Occasionally a shot wows me, usually they don't.
 
Bamburgh Castle
London Eye
Corfe Castle

And at home

Lochan na h-Achlaise
Buachaille Etive Mor
Cuillin from Elgol
Rannoch Moor
Balmaha tree Loch Lomond

I'm as guilty as anybody but it's so hard sometimes to drive on by and look for something else even when it's obvious that conditions are just going to give you yet another similar shot.
 
Round here it's The Orwell Bridge or Christchurch Mansion I suppose.
 
IamAshlyRose said:
I guess many places are over photographed but it's always interesting to see different interpretations of the same thing. You can really define different photographers' various visions. However it's just as amusing when identical, boring photographs are taken by many different individuals aswell. The eiffel tower is one. Occasionally a shot wows me, usually they don't.
Click to expand...

Exactly! When I went to Paris I tried very hard not to do the classic Eiffel shots.
 
There's always going to places that are done to death, I'm happy to see shots of this popular locations if there's something different. Getting an unusual shot from a over shot place is a fantastic challenge.

Buachaille Etive Mor as mentioned above is a real over used location, beautiful though it is, I'm sure not a month goes by where it's not featured in one of the photo mags, from the same position.
 
Last edited:
Forgive my ignorance but I've only just found out what The Shard is by googling it. Guess I don't take the same photos as everyone else seems too.
 
So I suppose the next question is now if folk are fed up of seeing/going to take photos of places that have ben done to death, where are all the photos the places that have never been photographed before ? :)
 
Places change, light changes, weather changes and the photographer can do a lot to take a different photo. To say that somewhere is over photographed is to have a closed mind on the possibilities.
 
frank said:
So I suppose the next question is now if folk are fed up of seeing/going to take photos of places that have ben done to death, where are all the photos the places that have never been photographed before ? :)
Click to expand...

Will be all the ugly places like Milton Keynes, Swindon, Stoke etc :D

Perhaps that should be a TP challenge. Make Swindon pretty!
 
Tryfan from Ogwen Bridge
Llynau Mymbyr looking towards Nant Gwynant
Anglesey Barracks
The Crowns, Botallack.
Lake Windermere from the jetty
Lake Vyrnwy cntrol tower from the hotel
Bamburgh castle (although I still like seeing these shots!)
Durdle Door
Malham Cove
That folly thing
Llanddwyn
 
menthel said:
Places change, light changes, weather changes and the photographer can do a lot to take a different photo. To say that somewhere is over photographed is to have a closed mind on the possibilities.
Click to expand...

Exactly!

As I have been unemployed for a year (I started my new job last Wednesday!) I have been photographing Liverpool extensively. I go to some of the same locations numerous times in a day just to catch the light differently on a certain building. I suppose if a photograph is good or saus something to you it doesn't matter how many other people have done it before.

Another way of looking at it would be what if the giant dolphin ants finally take over and then after many millennia of fighting, we gain a foothold again. We then stumble across all the thousands of photographs of the Shard, Durdle Door, the Liver Birds etc and realise how beautiful the primitive folks of the twentieth and twenty first centuries made our cities :)
 
Buachaille Etive Mòr

Eilean Donan

Edinburgh Castle

Forth Rail Bridge
 
menthel said:
Places change, light changes, weather changes and the photographer can do a lot to take a different photo. To say that somewhere is over photographed is to have a closed mind on the possibilities.
Click to expand...

Exactly, hence my post about the different interpretations from different photographers out there. Different visions & individual techniques are essential to see the same thing from different view points.
 
menthel said:
Places change, light changes, weather changes and the photographer can do a lot to take a different photo. To say that somewhere is over photographed is to have a closed mind on the possibilities.
Click to expand...

Quite. I work just round the corner from what is probably one of the most photographed views in the UK, over the Thames to the City of London, just to the west of Tower Bridge. Thousands of tourists probably take variations of these photographs every week.

It's constantly changing. This is just a selection from over a five year period. Ten years ago, many of the prominent buildings in the scene (the Gherkin, Willis Building, Tower Place) weren't there and there's another springing up right now at 20 Fenchurch Street. Factor in time of day and weather and I'll get wildly different images.


Nov 2007


The City of London by cybertect, on Flickr


Oct 2009


Dusk over The City by cybertect, on Flickr


March 2011


The City from The Queens Walk by cybertect, on Flickr


April 11, 2012


City Skyscape by cybertect, on Flickr


April 20, 2012


Stormy weather over London by cybertect, on Flickr


Less than a mile away, I wonder if the underpass on Jamaica Road has ever had a photograph taken of it by someone other than me. :)


Give us this day by cybertect, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
A location or whatever can only be over photographed if the photographer themselves takes repeated photographs of the same thing.

I have no issue with as many photographers as possible wishing to taking an image such as the shard.

As far as I am aware there is no rule that says someone else has already photographed it so I can't.
 
The thing is everyone will bring their own touches to a photograph, even if it is a well photographed location.

As an example a few of us met up here in Scarborough for a sunrise session, as it happens the sunrise was a washout, fog, heavy cloud etc. We were all stood at the same spot and yet we all took different photographs.

Unless you're an astronaut or serious explorer the chances are someone has taken a photo of what you're fancying taking a photo of, you've just got to add your own style to it.
 
dinners said:
Corfe Castle
Click to expand...
I think Corfe Castle sums up over-photographed locations quite nicely.. it's not that the location can't be interpreted in different ways by different people.. it's just that so many misty dawn images of Corfe Castle appear to be taken from the same three tripod feet sockets. I imagine a deli counter ticket machine, take a ticket and wait for your sunrise slot.

I wouldn't put the Shard into the same cateogory, yet. Much as a dislike the building, it does have many vantage points it can be shot from and I don't think we've yet got to the point where there's a dip being worn anywhere in the pavement where everyone queues up to get exactly the same shot.
 
In the 80's I used to have a mini-lab and studio in Greenwich, I was absolutely sick of all the photographs of the Cutty Sark. Right up until the fire a few years ago, I had seen it from every angle but that's because I was seeing it all day and every day. That was overexposure !

That said, things change over time. I'm always interested to see how photographers interrupt common themes and buildings, the changing weather systems etc. It all adds to the interest. It's not a bad thing in my opinion.
 
Last year I visited Marrakech and sat out near the Koutoubia mosque for a couple of hours. It was constantly being photographed.

I had an idea that if there was a way to collate all the photographs taken of a place you could create some kind of multi angled timelapse thing (the idea has not been thought through properly!) - there's a project in there somewhere!
 
Do see what you mean
I saw one of my own fav shots, the same waterfall from the same spot, in a magazine a while ago but dont think it really matters as long as the photographer is doing his or her own thing and is happy:)
 
surely if you think something is overphotographed :| it should inspire you to try and get a different perspective of it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top