Captured And Kept

On the Grand Tour the rich nobleman could buy a piece of sculpture or a painting in Paris or Rome, or a book of architecture with classical illustrations after Palladio. When George Eastman invented his cheap camera and photo developing service the sales slogan "You push the button and we will do the rest" let everyone capture a scene and take it home. It was as if the traveller had physically removed a view and added it to their personal possessions back home. Now, digital photography lets us take a hundred photos where we used to take a dozen. Video recording adds movement, changing perspectives and soundtracks, as if whole events are being snatched from the scene encountered. Real life is being turned into a permanent, personal record on tape or disc. Sociologists have pointed out that taking photos or film is often the central activity of visiting, even more than studying the view direct, since some travellers want to speed around a destination and leave the studying until they are back at home - boring the pants off the neighbours invted round to see the show.

Taylor, John (1994) A Dream of England: Landscape, Photography, and the Tourist's Imagination, Manchester, Manchester University Press