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Temporal Triptych

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Andy Thorpe under People

039 Antwerp Tourists All LR

The connection is “tourists”…in a slightly busier place and, I suppose, on block paving again.  The three photos are from Antwerp Market Square and, according to the photo metadata, taken about 10 seconds apart.

I thought a triptych would be a good illustration of how tourists can be gripped by the sight of something for a short time, having just arrived there, after which they turn their attention to other parts of the scene around them. I don’t know if 10 seconds in such a situation is a typical period over which tourists pay full attention to something before they are distracted, get bored or simply want to look around.  A psychologist must have studied this.  It will depend on the scene/subject of course.

I liked the fact that in the photo above the people aren’t recording the scene with cameras en masse.  They seem to be genuinely taking it all in.  The photo below however, from Florence, is slightly different, as if proof of visiting is needed or because visiting time is limited or there are so many other places to visit…or the scene is so amazing. Possibly the latter as it’s Florence Cathedral with the famous Duomo.  The fact is the initial sight of what was behind me prompted mass photo-recording.  I’m not sure if they then turned a corner to go elsewhere or if they walked closer…or went inside the cathedral and up the Duomo etc.

039a Florence Tourists

Below is another example of some people taking-in a scene together, this time the Menin Gate at Ypres.  The names of fallen soldiers with no graves carved into the building is an awe-inspiring sight and, although the building is impressive in scale and construction (compare the model in the foreground to the building behind) there are clearly other things on the young men’s minds…and they didn’t move very much for some time.  Although the buildings in Antwerp’s Market Square (and Florence) are impressive and ornate etc, they can’t compete in terms of attention span with the Menin Gate even though in physical terms there’s less to see at this very sad place. The triptych and the photo below seem to bear this out.

039b Menin Gate and Model

The attention span of people at tourist locations can of course be influenced.  The people at Stonehenge below are listening to audio recordings describing the site and waiting for an instruction to progress to another vantage point at which further information will be imparted.  Alternatively, if they were friends of mine, they’d be wondering if I’d finished taking the photo and could they get on with their visit/life!

039c Stonehenge Tourists

The last photo below, a portrait of a land/seascape from the Lizard in Cornwall, suggests the sort of timelessness and freedom of doing what you want when you want when visiting somewhere that we would probably all like to achieve.  The three people sat for quite sometime just taking-in the scene.  In retrospect I feel a bit jealous because I invariably have a camera with me that I feel compelled to constantly record things of interest to me, meaning that I never fully relax!  I might need to just sit down and look around more.  Perhaps I’ll see something more interesting than the initial attention-grabbing scene/person/thing/geometric shape.

039d Cliff Edge Visitors

 

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