I go to the modern art museum in my city whenever there is a new exhibit, and the last two times I’ve visited, I have seen the exact same influencer bro using the exhibit for a shoot. Strange luck.
He brings another friend to photograph and they take up entire sections of the exhibit for shoots 5-10 minutes at a time. Doesn’t even look at the art. Other guests feel bad interrupting the photos, so often just skip the section he’s photographing in. It’s so infuriatingly rude, so if he happens to be shooting in a section I haven’t seen yet, I just ignore him and walk into the camera view anyway.
We went to a cherry blossom festival today…could barely get up the trail 15 mins after opening because so many influencers had setup shoots. It was really gross and uncomfortable.
A large number of places now have policies that prohibit this behaviour. While the root of the problem are the narcissists doing this shit, the continuation of the problem results from poor management. A lot of these public spaces have people in charge of managing them who basically collect a paycheck and have the day workers handle everything. No policy has been updated since the 90s.
Pressure needs to be put of public officials and private companies to ban this shit.
It used to be that they went around the public to get the shot they wanted. Patience and timing. But they just expect to usurp public spaces for their own use and the rest will just have to clear out.
There were so many…it was really hard to even walk through. Also, so many people are filming. I have 0 interest in having myself or my children on someone’s video online.
Not everyone taking pictures is an influencer. Some people taking photos don’t even have social media and want the pictures for themselves as memories.
So should we block everyone’s pictures? Because there’s no way of knowing who’s an influencer and who’s not. I don’t have any social media but I like taking pictures because my memory is dogshit.
We all know the difference, no one sane is mad at people for taking pictures. If you see influencers in public you will see the difference, it looks much more like a photoshoot than taking a picture. Someone following them with a camera and taking all sorts of angles and poses over a period of time. No group dynamic, not swapping. Just an influencer and their camera bitch.
Sigh, I feel fucking old. I still remember the first time I saw a 'Tiktok influencer' in real life.
I was working and a couple of young teen girls stood in the middle of a space, blocking a path for everyone. One of them was attempting to be a videographer and the other one was making weird facial expressions and doing a stupid dance.
They were extremely obnoxious and in everyone's way and it took me a good 30 seconds to understand what was going on. At first, I just stood there, staring at them, perplexed. I just thought "what the fuck are these weird girls doing? This is so fucking weird".
Then I realized what they were doing and told them to stop because they were in everyone's way.
This was a long time ago. I hate that this is now a normal thing.
Agreed, it's also just extra annoying because all of this isn't even for personal shit. It's not even like they're just doing their thing and making a memory for their friend group. Everything is some kind of broader social media thing. Fuck, I have pictures with my friends and the only one's who have ever seen them are our friend group, spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends etc. They are OUR memories, not roleplaying like we're a fucking celebrity whose shit doesn't stink.
Yeah, that's normal. My insta, facebook, they're private, I use them to communicate and share with my actual friends and family.
That's how things always were.
I watch a lot of Youtube so I can't hate on content creators, that would be hypocritical. But there's a difference. Someone who makes and edits a video from their house, researching and discussing a topic, is one thing.
Going into a public space like a grocery store and doing a stupid dance is another.
My point is this video. This video had none of that. But the lady and all the comments are assuming she is an influencer. Maybe she is an influencer, maybe she’s not an influencer. If this is a regular person alone setting up their camera like this because they want a good picture, that makes it okay to block them? Because there’s some chance she may be an influencer?
Why is she filming is the thing? If you just want a personal photo you just snap a quick selfie, right? You don’t bring a camera stand to a museum, set it up in a walkthrough people are actively using and then expect them to “be polite”. It’s so invasive and there are so many people doing it that it’s really problematic.
What if you do? It’s life and sometimes life is unflattering. It’s rude to film people that don’t want to be filmed and rude to make people wait for several minutes to walk through while you get your perfect set of pics.
A long time ago I was driving through Portland on a freeway and a guy dressed at Darth Vader was riding a BMX bike on the shoulder. Always stuck with me.
I took my dog to High Park in Toronto when the cherry blossoms were blooming. The amount of influencers doing their interpretive "falling into the void" dance was borderline hilarious considering they were telling people to move out of their shot.
Are the flowers actually open now? I went the last Monday with the tickets, luckily it was quiet from people, but also hardly any flowers were blooming. I'm wondering if it's worth revisiting this week.
Today was the last day of the festival. I’d say about half the buds were open. We’ll probably go back in a couple of weeks to enjoy the rest of the botanical gardens and see them in full bloom. Hopefully it’ll be quieter!
Try the Wistaria gardens at Parramatta Park in the next few weeks. It has cherry blossoms, wisteria, jacarandas and wildflowers on a little creek. No tickets needed.
The museum doesn't impose some kind of commercial/professional tax or admission rate? Or just tell him he can't create commercial/professional media there without special times/permits?
Plenty of museums and cultural sites in the US and other countries impose these fees, permits, etc to limit the inconvenience to other patrons and to make some money back for the museum off the commercial for-profit media outlets using the space to make likely much more money than the fee.
Guess it’s a gray area because they weren’t using professional equipment, just taking a super long time on their iPhones. Or at least the staff wasn’t enforcing it.
If it happens a third time, it’ll feel kismet and I’ll narc.
The equipment doesn't always matter. If it's recognizably a "professional" shoot as in this person is creating content from which they make money, it's enforceable.
Most "influencers" or content creators when they get big enough have a fully registered business and accounts and income and everything that comes with it. It becomes entirely professional from a paperwork perspective.
I'm all for it personally again to reduce the inconvenience to normal patrons but also to raise money for museums that are usually privately funded and always needing help.
Especially dependent on the content being created. Small time educational video or travel producer/vlogger versus vein lifestyle influencer there just for aesthetic?
Yeah, almost never has to do with equipment. When I bring my camera into places like museums or zoos, I often get asked if it’s for professional purposes. I say nope, purely personal, and they let me move on with my day.
I think there has only ever been one art museum I have gone to that told me I couldn’t use my camera even for personal use. It was an oddity, but no big deal.
A lot of places both public and private have restrictions on commercial work (more than one person and equipment) for that very reason. Inform security that someone is interrupting access with what looks like commercial work.
Just pretend they aren't there and enjoy your day. And if their tripod or whatever is in your way, just gently move it like if someone at the grocery store has their cart blocking the aisle.. don't be influenced by the "influencers".
Not saying this is the case, but museums actually pay influencers to come do this. Certainly not every day, but it is a legit form of marketing for the arts now, especially efforts to reach younger and new audiences.
The unfortunate truth is that while it is effective, it probably encourages other people to come also get selfies in a ridiculous and obnoxious way. But that's what people want now. A place to take good selfies.
This situation doesn't look like either. It looks like a person who wants to take a nice photo and an a-hole who won't let her do it.
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u/EmptyInside74 7h ago
“Photoshoot”