Selfies and Selfie sticks

Selfie sticks are so dangerous (people swinging them around without care for others in the area) that they have been banned from several sites in both the US and Europe. Should they be banned from cruises as well?

Selfies are a different problem. Folks with their cellphones blocking access to views that photographers wish to use. Equally bad is the ignoring of photo rules: no flash or no photographs (e.g., the Hermitage, the Sistine Chapel). Should they be banned as well?

I have a cell phone. I have taken a few pictures with it. Photographs by my mirror less camera are so much better.

Glenn:cool:

I kinda chuckle at this...

Is an "amateur's" selfie stick as dangerous as a "pro's" giant zoom lens bashing into someone's skull? Is a selfie stick a trip hazard like a tripod?

Is a "photographer" more entitled to stake a claim at a prime spot and camp out, over an enthusiast wanting to preserve the same moment? If "first come, first serve" is the argument, than the equipment doesn't really matter, does it?

What does that make me, you, and all the other people that take images with both cellphones and camera's?

I think the point overall is: common courtesy is long gone and in today's "me first" society, this is the behavior we now seem destined to endure.

Using any equipment or accessory where it is expressly banned should be met with expulsion or confiscation - I think most photography enthusiasts would agree.

On a ship - I expect to take "selfie's" of me and the wife at sunset, at activities, and even going down the waterslides. Where allowed, I expect to be able to hold my camera high on a monopod (it's a selfie stick too, right?) to gain a different perspective of the surroundings - a ban would basically kill that freedom too. Better ban tripods too then - a trip hazard of monumental proportions.

Should I always feel comfortable risking the handing of my prized equipment to a complete stranger, just so I can be in the image once in a while - rather than offend someone that has decided the "selfie" craze is the most evil, vile activity of the 21st century?

Nah, I'll just smile and say "cheese"!:D

This has been a common topic here:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2183079

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2247811

Personally, I own one and use it to elevate or otherwise change perspective while using my camera. I've never used it with my phone to take a picture of myself so maybe it's really a "Liftie" stick. ;)

Anyway, they have some value but as with anything, it's how they are used or misused that colors our opinions.

I just hope the asteroid hits before someone makes one that will hold one of the new giant iPads!

Dave

I'm not the only one who objects to selfies:

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150121-the-scourge-of-the-selfie

Glenn:cool:

I'm inclined to agree with Shootr. I'm sure some selfie stick users are annoying. A good percentage of people in any sub-group will be selfish and inconsiderate of the needs of others. Another group entirely are the ones who get my goat. It seems as if every user of a backpack jams it into others regularly without a thought!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Where will it end?????

Hard to resist a tidbit like this!

Selfies have caused more deaths than shark attacks this year

Anyone surprised?

Dave

Hard to resist a tidbit like this!

 

Selfies have caused more deaths than shark attacks this year

 

 

Anyone surprised?

 

Dave

I'd like to see the source on that one

https://www.yahoo.com/travel/so-sad-so-dumb-selfies-kill-more-people-than-160318578.html

Glenn

:cool:

I'd like to see the source on that one

Believe it or not, Snopes did a fact check...:)

"So it is true that more people have died in 2015 from selfie-related deaths than from shark attacks, but in a strictly pedantic sense as nobody this year has actually been killed by a selfie."

http://m.snopes.com/selfies-of-death/

You can't blame the selfie, but you can stand back and shake your head in wonder at how those people lasted as long as they did. ;)

Dave

[quote name=pierces;47827704

You can't blame the selfie' date=' but you can stand back and shake your head in wonder at how those people lasted as long as they did. ;)

Dave[/quote]

Kinda "Guns don't kill people; people kill people"..

Aaaaaanyway, let the narcissists keep on doing their selfies:) "These new studies show that there is a consistent, if small, link between narcissism and selfie-posting, especially for men, but there is still a lot more to learn about who posts selfies and why."

I'm so bummed I didn't get a pic of this, but last weekend we're hiking some fairly rough trails - and there's a gal trying to prop up her stuffed sheep trying to get a pic of it and her in front of the most beautiful waterfall Arizona has to offer...

Too amazed to remember to pick up the camera...

Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk

I don't hate the selfie stick...I just dislike many of the users wielding them. But I see it as a necessary technological evolution - sometimes we need to develop technologies or engineer machines and devices that help weed out the weak and stupid from our society - introduce some element of danger that only the most stupid will pursue, and pass out the Darwin awards. Taking a selfie on the edge of a 500 foot waterfall and stepping back to get it all in the shot? Here's your Darwin award...so long! Just as some theorize nature wields natural disasters and germs to automatically trim back humankind from overpopulating and destroying our world, our own technology advancements can do the same. Selfie sticks are a great example in today's world - just as cellphones and tablet computers were before them. Self-driving cars are another great upcoming Darwinian technology evolution - surely there will be some of the lower tiers of human life that will think it a good idea to go to sleep or read a book while their self-driving car does all the work and more Darwin awards will be handed out.

I think selfie sticks are probably one of the better tools for this - because they almost exclusively weed out the stupid without residual casualties...self-driving cars, cellphones, etc unfortunately also claim some more highly evolved humans who end up victims of the gape-mouthed small-brain set. So keep churning out those selfie sticks, and when you see one, just step aside and let Darwin take the controls. ;)

- and there's a gal trying to prop up her stuffed sheep trying to get a pic of it and her in front of the most beautiful waterfall Arizona has to offer...

Don't ask, don't tell.... :confused:

Dave

It's a sign of how society has changed.

I do not do selfies. I am happy behind the lens and let the image I take speak for me. However there are so many now that due to social media think they are stars.

What amazes me is the number of people who do not experience things as they are too fixated on their phones recording it. It's a different slant on the old saying from the 60's "If you can remember it, you weren't there" now it has become "If it's not recorded on your phone it didn't happen"

I blame the Chemtrails and all the dead angels myself. :D

I only do selfies with high-end gear. :D

Ah, who am I kidding. I don't need to be in a photo to prove I'm there. And I certainly don't need to fish for others' praise.