TOURISM AND THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE

Abstract

It has become relatively commonplace to discuss the different ways in which travel and tourism are bound up with photographic practices. In going beyond existing literature, it is our aim in this chapter to explore these interconnections in more depth. First, we shall establish general links between photography and the debates surrounding the role and significance of ‘the visual’. The photographic practices and discourses which serve to represent tourism and travel are shown to be variants of more far-reaching and influential themes within Western social thought. Second, we examine some of the sources of photographic discourse and especially how the desire to photograph came to be historically established. Third, while there has been much speculation about the relationships between tourism and photography, there has been little empirical investigation into their connections. In setting the photography/ tourism relationship within a wider debate, we draw upon our recent qualitative research into the practices of professional photographers and the influence of photographic images on tourists’ perceptions of place.

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