What is the most famous present-day object that can be seen only in person (no photographs exist)?

[SpyOne]

@j66

Capturing images generally depends on detecting light; there are plenty of circumstances in which one could capture a technological image where sight is not possible, but I cannot think of the reverse ..

Someone mentioned this above, but it bear repeating: a strong radiation source.

If you are using a standard film camera, radiation will “fog” the film long before you’ve been exposed to enough to make you sick, and while there are ways to protect the film from radiation, if you still want to be able to take pictures there are limits. (Glass with lead in it isn’t lead, if it lets in light it will also let in radiation, etc.)

If you are using an electronic camera, again long before doing you long-term harm the radiation will flummox the camera. It may be easier to harden the camera to radiation than with film, but … in really heavy radiation exposure, the best we’ve got would last for a few minutes I believe. A human could take in the same view, and while he probably wouldn’t survive, he wouldn’t show symptoms for a while.
You can survive brief exposure to radiation strong enough to make you see fireflies (the particles hitting your retina make little flashes of “light” in your field of view), but that will ruin most any attempt to capture an image of what you are looking at.

I am sure there are some strong sources of radiation in the world that rely on most people not being suicidal as their primary line of defense, so if someone truly wanted to physically look at them one could. Whether any of them are strong enough to destroy shielded cameras is in doubt, but possible I think.

I was leaning towards the “holy site” folks: somewhere where anyone CAN go, but those who do have the respect not to photograph what they shouldn’t photograph, but … people are jerks, cameras are everywhere, and I agree we can’t say with certainty that no such picture exists.

Talk about the security used at … Lenin’s tomb, for example, doesn’t address the possibility, just the probability: I could get a hidden camera built into the frame of a pair of glasses, and I’m sure I could figure out a way to sneak some sort of camera past guards and get it pointed in the right direction for a while. The question is would my images have enough worth (monetary or otherwise) to make it worth all the effort. And in a lot of cases my answer to that is probably “no”. I just don’t see the National Enquirer paying big bucks for exclusive photos of Mao’s corpse, or whatever.

[GreasyJack]

@SpyOne

Talk about the security used at … Lenin’s tomb, for example, doesn’t address the possibility, just the probability: I could get a hidden camera built into the frame of a pair of glasses, and I’m sure I could figure out a way to sneak some sort of camera past guards and get it pointed in the right direction for a while. The question is would my images have enough worth (monetary or otherwise) to make it worth all the effort. And in a lot of cases my answer to that is probably “no”. I just don’t see the National Enquirer paying big bucks for exclusive photos of Mao’s corpse, or whatever.

That’s why I think Kim Il-Sung is probably the best answer. There’s huge restrictions on photography everywhere in the country and ridiculously stringent security at the mausoleum with pat downs, x-rays, a weird anti-lint wind-tunnel thing and of course hordes of guards. At Mao or Lenin you might get thrown out or fined sneaking in a spy camera, but you’d be in deep, deep shit pulling something like that in North Korea.

[j666]

@SpyOne

Someone mentioned this above, but it bear repeating: a strong radiation source.

.
I did. The inside of the Fukushima Daiichi reactor is certainly famous enought to qualify, and now I have your expert opinion that the radiation would damage both film and electronics. The only question is, could someone get in to get the picture?

[AmbushBug]

How 'bout certain parts of the interior of the US Mint in Denver, Colorado? Free public tours, they’re very strict on the photography. When I went last, no camera phones at all were even allowed in the building but they changed the rules (apparently due to ubiquity).

[jjimm]

@AaronX

In Singapore, the military bases don’t allow photography, but all the males have to go through them, so I guess they’re a good candidate.

Coincidentally one of the two times in my life I’ve been arrested was for taking photographs on a Singapore military base (of some incredible WWII bombers that were just rusting away in the jungle by the runway). I got away with keeping the film, too.

[robert_columbia]

@Siam_Sam

Well, not quite. You can find postcards over here showing buck-naked hilltribe children running around their rustic villages. They’re not meant to be prurient, but rather, I guess, to show the happy little natives in their home environment. The wife thought the cards were cute and almost sent some to friends in the US until I pointed out it could technically be classified as child pornography.

I attended a high school that had an entire shelf dedicated to National Geographic magazines. Completely uncensored, as far as I recall. That’s a major point - not all nudity is sexual.

[Snickers]

@Siam_Sam

As mentioned, we saw Uncle Ho, but we didn’t bother to see Mao. My first time in Beijing, the Chinese man who was accompanying me, a native Beijing resident, was adamant that Mao was not real, just a mannequin. Whether it’s true or not, this person adamantly believed it, so I’ve just never gotten around to taking a peek.

Heh. We made the same jokes about Lenin - “How do we know this isn’t just a wax figure?” It would make more sense, really, then having the actual body, and be easier to maintain. The Russians are pretty practical, so…

[GlennRayinTroy]

All the volumes of The Book of Kellsat Trinity College in Dublin seems to qualify. Images from some pages are available, but if you want to see the actual manuscripts in toto, you have to visit the exhibition. The rules on photographyseem quite strict – the word “never” is emphasized.

[Anticounterrevolutionary]

@Snickers

Heh. We made the same jokes about Lenin - “How do we know this isn’t just a wax figure?” It would make more sense, really, then having the actual body, and be easier to maintain. The Russians are pretty practical, so…

There are pics of them cleaning the embalmed corpse of Lenin from fairly recently. It doesn’t look like a wax model.

But it does look pretty gross.

[Lukeinva]

Some of the rarest stamps in the world are frequently on display, but photographing them is forbidden. The collectors/owners do not want them exposed to bright light.

[Sarabellum]

@GreasyJack

That’s why I think Kim Il-Sung is probably the best answer. There’s huge restrictions on photography everywhere in the country and ridiculously stringent security at the mausoleum with pat downs, x-rays, a weird anti-lint wind-tunnel thing and of course hordes of guards. At Mao or Lenin you might get thrown out or fined sneaking in a spy camera, but you’d be in deep, deep shit pulling something like that in North Korea.

Anyone care to volunteer for this mission? Fight a little ignorance for the SDMB? Fifty years in a “re-education camp” shouldn’t be too much to ask! Seems more likely to me they’d just toss you out of the country, or maybe Bill Clinton would have to come fetch you, if things got hairy.

It is a little surprising that nobody has tried it, come to think of it. Seems like a visiting American capitalist would relish the chance to pull one over on Best Korea.

[APB]

@GlennRayinTroy

All the volumes of The Book of Kellsat Trinity College in Dublin seems to qualify. Images from some pages are available, but if you want to see the actual manuscripts in toto, you have to visit the exhibition. The rules on photographyseem quite strict – the word “never” is emphasized.

That doesn’t qualify, as several photographic facsimiles have been produced over the years. Which will be why TCD can be so absolute in their ban on new photography.

[Sarabellum]

Looks like someone has managed to find a picture of Kim Il Sung’s mummified body:

http://atlasobscura.com/blog/atlas-obscura-s-guide-to-communist-mummies

It’s about halfway down the page. Although, it doesn’t seem to match the descriptions that I have read of his mausoleum. (Darkened room with very high ceiling, spotlights, etc.) Anyone know if this is for real?

[Annie-Xmas]

Mummified Zombies!!

[Sarabellum]

Embalmed communist dictator zombies!

[Fish_Cheer]

@Alka_Seltzer

Pipped on both counts. I’ll just add that, unlike Ms Spears, I don’t think Ms Johansson puts hers on public display, which disqualifies them under the terms of the OP.

Hmm…

[GreasyJack]

@Sarabellum1976

Looks like someone has managed to find a picture of Kim Il Sung’s mummified body:

http://atlasobscura.com/blog/atlas-obscura-s-guide-to-communist-mummies

It’s about halfway down the page. Although, it doesn’t seem to match the descriptions that I have read of his mausoleum. (Darkened room with very high ceiling, spotlights, etc.) Anyone know if this is for real?

I think that’s actually Mao.

[bucketybuck]

Not a perfect answer because no doubt many people will have ignored the custom, but Uluru would be one of the most visited tourist sites in the world, and there are sections of it where photography is prohibited out of respect for cultural beliefs.

The Aṉangu also request that visitors do not photograph certain sections of Uluru, for reasons related to traditional Tjukurpa beliefs. These areas are the sites of gender-linked rituals, and are forbidden ground for Aṉangu of the opposite sex to those participating in the rituals in question. The photographic ban is intended to prevent Aṉangu from inadvertently violating this taboo by encountering photographs of the forbidden sites in the outside world

Uluru | Photography

[Wheeljack]

@Beware_of_Doug

The naughty bits of Miss Scarlett Johansson.

I can’t believe this thread got zombified for something besides this.

[Boyo_Jim]

Osama bin Laden’s corpse.

It would take some research to find out where it is, but there is nothing AFAIK preventing anyone from diving to it and taking a look.

But also nothing from stopping the first person who gets there from taking pics and sharing.