I wouldn’t worry about it, I don’t think that Shag’s actually been certified as an arbiter of social graces.
people take their own photo of scenes because that is what they saw and it aids memory. a professional photo would likely be a different distance, angle, lighting then you saw; looking at them reminds you of looking at a magazine.
How would it be better, though if he was in the photo? “this is me at the Eiffel Tower. The French call it…”
Boring pictures are boring regardless.
I shared something like 210 photos from our last (multi-city) holiday. I didn’t click on ‘share’ every time I uploaded, because I didn’t want to spam people’s Facebook walls, but the album as a whole is shared. Some people actually are interested and those that aren’t can just scroll down.
It wouldn’t. But for me it’s a negative association. Pictures of landmarks just conjure up feelings of mind-numbing boredom. I could probably reverse the association by watching slide shows of landmarks while eating donuts and cheese cake , but that would be fattening.
Maybe a nice Swedish massage?
Compared with those slide shows of the distant past, one of the nice things about loading travel photos onto Facebook or Flickr is that your friends can choose whether or not to look at the pictures. Even if they click on “Like” in Facebook, you don’t really know if they looked at them or are just being polite.
On the other hand, with a site like Flickr, if you make the travel photos public then anyone can find them who is interested. They can even find the pictures on a Google images search if you provide an adequate description in Flickr. I have a few pictures that have been viewed more than 10,000 times on Flickr, and I certainly don’t have that many friends – they are being viewed by people looking for pictures of the subject matter on the web.
That is what I do as well. The people that like my photos will look, and the people that don’t appreciate them don’t have to look beyond seeing one post.
I am diametrically opposed to the OP. I believe posed pictures are the most boring, unimaginative way to take a picture at any time, whether it’s while traveling or not. Additionally, in the vast majority of those posed pictures, the person that’s posing is too small. I actively hate posed pictures, and have contempt for those that take them. Of course, ymmv.
Here is one of my most recent travel albums - there are 2 self portraits.
I’ve travelled without a camera, and really enjoyed the experience of not having that “I’ve got to get that shot” thing nagging at me. It really adds another level of immersion into the experience.
But travelling with a camera is fun, too. It’s kind of like a treasure hunt- a little additional thing to add depth to your trip. I tend to travel solo, and I’m not big on sights. I’m in it more for the food, getting to know people, and exploring. But you can only eat so many meals in a day, and you can only spend so much time wandering through alleyways…eventually you are going to want to go see the sights, if not just as an excuse to get out and about. Without a companion to ooh and ahh with, it’s pretty tempting to rush through the temple or palace or whatever you are seeing. But the quest to get a good picture encourages me to slow down and observe, and gives me something more to do than say “Yep, that’s pretty.”
Anyway, I don’t need a ton of photos of myself, because I know what I look like. And there isn’t really anyone else for a solo traveller to take photos of, so it’s going to end up being photos of stuff. I try to include local people whenever I can, but I’m sensitive about taking pictures of people when they do not consent, and I’m a bit shy about asking randos if I can take pictures of them. I’m not a great photographer, but get the occasional good shot. And I think it’s appropriate for an amateur artist to want to share their work, even if it’s not up to professional levels.
For sharing, here are some photos that don’t include me in China, Nepal, Tibet, Bangkok, and Zambia.
Hey, here’s my photo of the Venus de Milo!
For Christmas one year, I sent out Christmas cards that were calenders of some photos from my travels. My friends were saying, “Darryl, what a great photographer you are!” Well, I’m a crappy photographer, but almost any idiot can get 12 decent photos after 18 months of traveling.
I’ve always gotten the impression that putting yourself in particular travel photos is a bit vain. That you’re somehow saying you’re more important than the centuries old masterpiece you’re standing by. It depends. If it’s a public place that has lots of people, it’s okay, but for rural, possibly sacred relics, not so much.
But that’s my particular bugaboo, and I don’t particularly like getting my picture taken at all. I have no problem with other people appearing in travel photos, but I try to avoid it because I think people will say I’m vain.
Am I the only weirdo that takes 2 pictures of stuff, one with me and my traveling companions in it and another of just the thing itself? We went on vacation this weekend and our album goes gorgeous tapestry, gorgeous tapestry with us standing in front of it, lighthouse, us standing to the side so you can see us and the lighthouse at the same time, etc.
Considering how cheap digital photos are, there’s nothing weird about that: you get the best of both worlds.
I just wanted to mention that I really like that second picture, of the little girl dancing down the sidewalk.
I took a photo of her stump . . . and the floor of the Sistine Chapel.
Administered by George Clooney? That would probably work 
That’s a great shot of a fine old building. (I’m definitely in the “No, neither I nor anyone else needs 500 pictures of me standing in front of things” camp.)
This. I like looking at peoples holiday snaps. In moderation, but still. Most of such snaps are much more like it was. Amateur photographers don’t cut out the unsightly stuff that was actually there. For instance, I didn’t know that the slum-like outskirts of Cairo crawl so close to the pyramids, untill I saw a friends picture of them with the Pyramids in the background.
I also like the details people pick out to photograph. Usually those are even more interesting then the landmark pictures and vista’s.
I love how this thread has changed into a forum for sharing pics. No sarcasm, I really do. 
My wife refuses to take a travel photo without someone in the picture. So there are pictures of me rolling my eyes or looking impatient in front of many landmarks and works of art on Picasa.