Stuff We Rike #6 Photography

There are certain moments in life, places in the world or people in our mist that we want to not only ingrain into our memories but to commemorate with a timeless photograph or at least save a digital copy of on our computer hard drives; moments such as college graduation, places such as the Eiffel Tower, or Lindsay Lohan sightings at the chic new restaurant in downtown L.A. that just scream, "Take A Picture! Actually Take Two!" Then there are Asian tourists who believe that there is no moment, no place or no person that does not deserve to be photographed and photographed often. There is a famous saying that goes, "A picture is worth a thousand words." If that is indeed true, then Asians have provided tomes upon tomes worth of literature to the world. In short, Asians really like to take photographs.

At one point or another there has been a time in our lives where we have overinflated the value of a certain time, place or person we were with and took a few too many pictures of an event. We get swept up in the moment, and let our photo taking finger get a little button happy and we end up having 19 photos of the Statue of Liberty from 19 different angles or we take 19 group photos because Mandy can't quite keep her eyes from blinking. Asians however, know no bounds. There are never too many angles, never too many retakes and never a photograph that should not be taken and retaken. Asians are not too shy to arch their backs, crane their necks, or utilize advanced tai chi moves in order to capture the quote unquote moment in film as exampled by this lady.

The most egregious example of the Asian love of photography has to be location based photographs. The world is a splendid place with many remarkable locations that are more than worthy of being photographed. The vastness of the Grand Canyon, the majesty of the Empire State Building, the shear power of the crashing waves at Niagara Falls, the mysteriousness of Stone Henge among a slew of other noteworthy sites all merit the proverbial "Kodak Moment" tag. Asians must have a heightened sense respect for these vaunted sites because not only do they take pictures of the sites themselves, they take pictures with the stop signs, mailboxes, fast food joints, rocks, and other objects that loiter the main attraction site as well. You know what I am talking about. Asians are infamous for taking picture of the completely unspectacular, unremarkable and completely obscure; so much so that casual tourists think to themselves, "If so many Asians are taking pictures of the rock by the Eiffel tower, it must be a famous rock. Maybe a revolutionary died on the rock?"

Let's look at this picture for example. There are four people taking pictures in this picture, all who happen to be Asian. Two of the four are taking pictures of Asians taking pictures. This is a vicious cycle indeed. Also take note of the number of checklist requirements that are present in this picture.

You may be thinking that tourists come from all different backgrounds and that Asians are not the only ones who are guilty of overindulging in photo taking. You are right. The problem is that not every group of photographers stand out as much as Asian photographers In fact here is a quick checklist to help you spot Asian Photography Zealots.

1) They are Asian

2) They have a knapsack with various camera accessories

3) They have a camera that does not fit into the pocket of a pair of jeans and are using the camera neck strap

4) They may or may not have a tripod with them

5) They may or may not have multiple cameras with them

6) They are taking pictures of stuff that nobody else is photographing

7) They are taking a photo in a position other than standing

8) They are traveling in a huge pack

9) Each member of the group has their own camera.

10) Each member of the group wants their own version of the same picture.

11) They are oblivious to other people around them because they are so hellbent on taking the perfect picture

12) They really seem to like peace.

I am going to elaborate on point number 12 on the checklist because of its great importance in the execution of Asian photography. In fact the Asian V Sign or the peace sign goes hand in hand with Asian photography as peanut butter does to jelly. The V Sign is the major byproduct of the Asian love of taking pictures. As much as Asians love taking pictures, they love to seemingly promote world peace in their pictures as well. Following in the footsteps of other famous photograph hand ornaments as the Star Trek Vulcan sign, gang symbols, sorority hand logos, and the shocker, Asians have made the Asian V their own.

While the true popularization and origins of the Asian V are constantly debated, what is known is the fact that nary an Asian group photo is taken without the presence of the Asian V. There is a distinct difference between the Asian V and the universal symbol for peace. Although they both generally take the same shape and form, the Asian V is almost exclusively held up by the face region and slightly angled either towards or away from an ear to ear teeth bearing smile. In the following two examples take note of the angular nature of the Asian V and the utilization of both hands.

Here is an example of an Inward Asian V:

Here is an example of an Outward Asian V:

Both the Inward and Outward Asian V sign are fully acceptable in the grand scheme of Asian photography. Both can also be modified from the preferred two hand version to the less widely adopted one handed versions of the Inward and Outward Asian V sign. Like most everything else, leave it to the second and third generation Asians to bastardize the sacred Asian V with their one handed versions. We just don't do things as well as we used to.

As mentioned earlier the peace sign is not the same thing as the Asian V. For example this is a peace symbol. The first sign that this is probably not an Asian V sign is the fact that he is not Asian. A more subtle sign that this is not an Asian V is the one handed nature of the pose. The telltale sign that this is not an Asian V sign but rather a conventional peace sign is the complete uprightedness of his peace sign. The positioning of his peace sign and how it is completely parallel with his head is also worthy of note.

Smile!  You're probably in the background of an Asian photo as we speak.