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Robert Dickes

SPE Member since 2007
Member Chapter: Midwest

Picture Spots

Have you ever been on a trip and come across one of those wonderful "Kodak Picture Spot" locations? During my trip to Northern California in 2011 I saw one of these signs down on the famous San Francisco Wharf. People walked up within feet of this sign to get the picture that was deemed the the right place to photograph from.

This curious event got me shooting and made me start thinking about how easily people are manipulated to take a picture from a certain angle because a photographer (or photography company) determined that this position was the best angle. So I set out with my own experiment.

For these images I sat in one location most of the day with a camera on a tripod and my computer in hand. Sometimes I may have done other things to convince my subjects to photograph from this location. Once they took their picture I asked to download the image on my laptop and told them about the project. On average I collect between 10 to 20 images on that day.

These images are combined with others found online through websites like Flickr, Google Image and more to see how many people are taking approximately the same image.

Brooklyn Bridge

Buckingham Fountain

Chicago Theatre

The Bean

Great American Ballpark

Golden Gate Bridge

Palace of Fine Art

Yosemite Half Dome

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