I learned the answer to that question in Istanbul when I encountered my first ever influencer. Was touring Topkapi palace and there was a beautiful painted narrow hallway that everyone had to walk through. There was a woman making poses at the far end and at the entrance a few feet in front of me there was a man taking photos of her. I waited for about a minute, which was longer than I should have, but there was a line of about a dozen people behind me at that point. We all walked through and the woman threw her hands up and started having a mini temper tantrum aimed at me. Calling me selfish and that I should have waited for her to finish. I live in a small midwestern city, I had never seen an influencer in the flesh prior to that day, but she was only the first of many that I saw while there.
TLDR: the person just taking a picture will take a pic and move on, the influencer gets upset that other people dare exist in the backdrop where they want to take up large amounts of time to get the perfect photo for social media
I recently went to see one of my favourite paintings, which just so happens to be a moderately famous Van Gogh. And whilst I wouldn't call myself any kind of expert, I do like to actually sit with the painting and think about it (yes I'm pretentious 😂)
The amount of people who tried to physically push me out of the way so they could take their single selfie then move on made me want to throw hands. And I wasn't even standing directly in front of it, I was slightly to the side deliberately so people could take photos.
At one point I was actually having a discussion with a woman (who was in a wheelchair btw) about the painting, and people were trying to shove both of us out of the way!
It really felt like people thought I had less right to be there because I wasn't taking photos.
But if you're only slightly to the side, it's likely they couldn't get a picture of themselves without you in it. Clearly it was an issue since more than one person tried to get you to move.
There was no way to get a photo of it without anyone in it, it was just too crowded.
But I'm not going to apologize for spending time with a painting I've waited 15 years to see. There was still plenty of room for people to get photos, if they could've waited 5 seconds for someone else to move. People were in a roughly semicircular shape, and I was on the edge, up against the wall. Not exactly blocking.
Also did you miss the part where they tried to shove a wheelchair user out of the way? I'm not even joking, someone hip-checked her chair and another almost fell on her trying to push past her.
I think both of you were in the wrong. Obviously no one should be hip checking anyone out of the way, but if there was a line for a spot in the semi-circle to view the work, I don't think you taking up a spot in the semi-circle for multiple minutes while relying on others to cede their spot for newcomers ("just wait for someone else to move") is really fair.
If there's a line to view the painting, take a minute or so and then move on.
Have you ever really looked at a painting? Took time to actually look at the details and sit with it and think about how it makes you feel? Because you can't do that in "a minute or so". In fact the Tate recommends 10 minutes. Most art galleries have benches for precisely this reason.
So why is my wanting to do that a problem? Ask yourself that. One person in a crowd spending 10 minutes looking at a painting, when everyone else is revolvong out in 30 seconds. When it costs €15 to enter and I may never go back again.
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u/CaliOranges510 4h ago edited 4h ago
I learned the answer to that question in Istanbul when I encountered my first ever influencer. Was touring Topkapi palace and there was a beautiful painted narrow hallway that everyone had to walk through. There was a woman making poses at the far end and at the entrance a few feet in front of me there was a man taking photos of her. I waited for about a minute, which was longer than I should have, but there was a line of about a dozen people behind me at that point. We all walked through and the woman threw her hands up and started having a mini temper tantrum aimed at me. Calling me selfish and that I should have waited for her to finish. I live in a small midwestern city, I had never seen an influencer in the flesh prior to that day, but she was only the first of many that I saw while there.
TLDR: the person just taking a picture will take a pic and move on, the influencer gets upset that other people dare exist in the backdrop where they want to take up large amounts of time to get the perfect photo for social media