This is What Hundreds of Overlapping Photos of Chichen Itza Look Like

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  03.10.11 | 12:48 PM ET


Swiss artist Corinne Vionnet combined hundreds of digital images of the same famous landmarks to create what Boing Boing calls “metaportraits.” Like Chichen Itza above. Madeline Yale looks deeper into the project:

What is remarkable about Vionnet’s findings is the consistency in online iterations of the travelers’ gaze. It makes one wonder, how do we determine the optimum spot to photograph landmarks? Maybe we stand at the gateway to the Taj Mahal to render its architectural façade in perfect symmetry, or we stand where we can frame all four American presidents in equal scale at Mount Rushmore. Perhaps we instinctively choose how to photograph known monuments as we are socially conditioned to take pictures we have seen before—images popularized through film, television, postcards, and the Internet.

I found Vionnet’s project goes hand-in-hand with Doug Mack’s audio slideshow, Not-So-Flattering Views of Famous European Landmarks.



2 Comments for This is What Hundreds of Overlapping Photos of Chichen Itza Look Like

Darrin 03.15.11 | 1:29 PM ET

That’s an interesting idea about the social conditioning as to what would be the perfect shot.  I confess I’ve got many of those kinds of shots in my collection.  But some of my favorites are up-close texture frames—the peeling paint on a sun-beaten, wooden train door from an outdoor museum in Chile; the porous stones of a castle in Cyprus slowly disintegrating, with a sliver of blue sky at the top.  But my friends usually speed past those to get to the “whole enchilada” pics that show the whole structure nicely centered, like the Chichen Itza shot (er, shots!) above.

Laura 03.31.11 | 1:07 PM ET

I agree with Darrin…it’s a really interesting question: How do social expectations and conditioning shape our photography and travel experiences?  I can’t even count the number of “pushing-The-Leaning-Tower-Of-Pisa” photos I have seen.  This is something that will remain in the back of my mind next time I travel and, hopefully, I will see something I would have otherwise missed!

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