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Major Museums Start Banning Selfie Sticks
An anonymous reader shares these articles about museums banning the dreaded selfie stick. "Selfie sticks, the logical 'extension' of an already irksome activity, were recently banned in Premier League soccer stadiums. Now museums around the world are starting to do the same over worries of accidental damage to artwork. The Smithsonian barred their use effective last week as a 'preventative measure to protect visitors and museum objects,' especially on crowded days. Meanwhile, a formal ban is pending at Versailles palace and Centre Pompidou in France, and visitors are now being told to stow their sticks by guards at the Louvre. Both Pompidou and the Louvre will continue to allow regular photography and selfies."
On my visits there, I remember signs prohibiting photography...not that anybody paid any attention to them.
It's been a while...maybe it was just flash photography.
I'd really love to have one of these things, it sounds incredibly useful. Has anyone found any plans for 3D printing one at home?
Who the hell "dreads" a pole with a camera on it? You are seriously deranged if that's a clinical phobia you suffer from.
John
Just another culture war.
Up until I just googled the phrase seconds ago: "Selfie Stick" I thought it was just something people joked about (hyperbole of where selfies are going) and wasn't actually a real product. I just looked them up and wow...
We visited the Sistene Chapel and the tour stops right outside the room and the guide is very clear "Be quiet and absolutely no flash photography" and then you walk in and its absolutely packed with people being loud and taking flash pictures.
//TODO: Insert catchy phrase
Now there is an illness that needs a custom disease to wipe out those who take them...
When I was in the Louvre last year, I was amazed at what was going on in front of the Mona Lisa. Most people had their backs to it.
There were more people preoccupied with getting a photograph of themselves in front of it than there were people looking at the damn thing.
Same story at Venus de Milo statue.
An observation that I made (and this is nothing more than an observation) is that everyone wielding a selfie stick and not looking at the art was Asian.
Um, I thought a selfie was taking a picture of yourself WHEN YOU ARE HOLDING THE CAMRA. using this stick would mean it is not a selfie.
Or the eye of someone else or a priceless painting. Old memes never die they just get recycled.
Selfie sticks, the only thing that can rival drones in their speed of being banned.
Some would argue that they have the added benefit of not requiring you to actually be in any way sociable with those around you.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
In Northern Iraq, long sticks are positively encouraged in museums.
But monopods are still allowed, right?
Log in or piss off.
I don't think ISIS much cares if they damage a piece.
Is it just me, or does the summary icon look like a golden statue of a guy trying really hard to grunt out a turd?
captcha: immature. Fitting.
I was at the Museum of Natural History in DC a few weeks ago and got hit in the face more than once with those stupid things. I complained to the curator's office before I left, and I'm glad I'm apparently not alone in doing so.
Nobody's going to run off with your camera. Just ask someone nearby to take a photo of you.
Stupid Monday?
http://www.acetonestudio.com
.
THIS is why the aliens won;t come visit us ;)
If selfie sticks keep out aliens, then perhaps the US Republican Party ought to offer a tax credit for buying a selfie stick as a "stimulus" in order to solve the immigration problem.
Argh!! Taking selfies in the Louvre was my favourite thing about Paris! Just behind the deaf youths with their petition things, the friendship bracelet guys at the Sacre Coeur, the mother with the note in English asking for money to feed her kids, and the old lady who finds the gold ring on the ground.
Did I miss anything?
I can't speak for all these places but I know my local museum has a policy against monopods and tripods. This seems to be a logical extension of the policy that some people may need to have clarified.
... required asking a stranger to hold and click your camera while you posed.
Of course, you always got a crappy photo that way, because everyone always thought you primarily wanted a photo of yourself, instead of a photo of something interesting that just happens to have you in the picture...
If you disagree with me on social issues, then it's pretty clear that you are a narrow-minded bigot.
I just attach the camera to my dick. But I need a looooong lens.
I bet if the popular term for these devices was "Autophotographical Portrait Tool" or something internerds would be all over it. Since it's a cutesy term invented by a non-nerd you want to shit all over it.
For assault purposes, is there much or any difference between a selfie stick and a copper pipe? Any bets on how soon they're banned from being carried onto airplanes?
Since the world is full of idiots, you can only attempt to idiot proof the world with rules like "no selfie sticks". Just like they had to ban countless hiking trails because the self proclaimed 'nature lovers' would leave mounds of shit and graffiti all over the place.
Normally I'm pretty libertarian and say leave people alone. There are limits however, these being two of them.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Meanwhile, a formal ban is pending at Versailles palace and Centre Pompidou in France, and visitors are now being told to stow their sticks by guards at the Louvre.
Yeah, if someone brings one of those stupid things to my house I'll help them "stow their sticks" where the sun don't shine.
Do you have ESP?
There were already too many comments to read through. Thought y'all might be amused by this though; nicely sums up selfie-sticks.
"Our opponent is an alien starship packed with atomic bombs," I said. "we have a protractor"
Too much recording everything; too little experiencing it. This isn't old person moaning about youth and throwing sticks at the moon, but really... Look at stuff, enjoy it. Really want an image? Buy a postcard. It'll be better than your photo anyway. Want a few? Buy a book. There's a rather gorgeous Sassoferrato in the National Gallery in London. I've been in with friends just to find the one picture. Could have a terrible image of it on my phone... Yes, that'd be easier but sometimes less (often) is more (of an experience).
I fail to see the difference between asking a stranger to take a picture of you in front of something and taking it yourself. Somehow taking it yourself has drawn the ire of hipsters and columnists, in an adolescent "ohmygawd selfies are soooooo annoying" whinge. They justify it with dishonest, self-serving rants about a self-obsessed culture that would somehow be better if people would only ask strangers to take pictures for them. The selfie-stick backlash is what's important...a perfect example of a self-entitled internet culture whose members think anyone cares what they have to say.
1. Offer to take pictures of visitors, in front of green background, at the museum entrance. This step is (a) free, and (b) entirely optional. If you choose to do it, you can take your time to pose, arrange yourself in a group with your friends - however you like it.
2. On exit, offer the visitors a "souvenir pack" containing their photo 'shopped onto various (high-quality) backgrounds showing the most famous pieces in the museum. Sell this for $20 or so. (Include a download code to get the pictures in digital form, and maybe some other bonus content.) At the end of the day, just destroy any pix remaining unsold.
My local zoo does this, it's a huge earner for them.