Adam Schallau
Offline
• • •
Upload & Sell: On
|
goto_dengo wrote:
Sounds good to me. I have very little sympathy for people overusing, misusing, or monopolizing public resources, which belong to all of us, to make a living. Find something else to do, or do it in less popular, less iconic locations.
i'd take it even further. Why should a commercial photo "tour" be allowed to completely monopolize all the good spots some morning at, say, mesa arch? Imagine you came from half a world away, had limited time, and repeatedly ran into that. It just doesn't seem right.
260 CUAs in Arches! Incredible. Ed Abbey is rolling over in his grave (even faster than usual.)
...Show more →
First, in the interest of full disclosure, I'll note that I hold a CUA to conduct photography workshops and photo tours at Grand Canyon National Park. I work very closely with the National Park Service (NPS) team in the concessions management office at Grand Canyon NP to further develop the Photography Workshops CUA with the goal of having as little impact as possible on other park visitor's experience. I began to do this after seeing the impact some of the larger workshop groups (16 students, 2 instructors, plus a driver) have on the park. For the record, my groups are limited to 6 participants, and I often cut off registrations at 4. This has lead to many new rules that I believe in, including limitations on group size and the maximum number of tripods that may be setup at one location.
As a condition of maintaining a CUA, the park service requires CUA holders to cover NPS regulations and visitation considerations with all of our workshop participants. This includes 'Leave No Trace' principals, wildlife observation considerations, a multitude of topics covering respect for other visitor's park experience, and the park's list of approved equipment and activities (e.g. max number of tripods, what locations we can work from, and the use of lights, models and props). Lastly, it is made very clear that we do not own the spots. I know there are some workshop instructors that definitely believe that their needs and those of their clients come first. This isn't how we operate and I'm always reminding my students that we will share the spot. My point here is that workshop participants are getting constant reminders of what is allowed, and how to conduct themselves.
I have seen my share of individual photographers behaving badly. Unfortunately we are seeing more people, not just photographers, who do not consider how their actions will impact other visitor's experience. This does seem to be especially prevalent when it comes to night photography with lights being pointed all over with little consideration for what it's doing to other people's experience. I see it all the time in the parks. It's easy for the NPS to apply rules, regulations, and restrictions on CUA holders. It's much more difficult to do the same with the individual visitor.
I do agree that there are to many CUAs being issued (the 260 in Arches is not just workshop CUA, but also covers bus tours, backpacking guides, and other commercial activities) in Arches, and I'm sure in other parks as well. It's easy to blame workshop and tour groups for monopolizing a site such as Mesa Arch. The reality is that all of the people in the group have just as much right to be there as those traveling as individuals not in an organized group, and they most likely would have visited the site on their own at some point . Many of these locations are frequently overrun with photographers who are traveling on their own, and yet they all end up at the same place the same morning. Unfortunately our parks are being loved to death, there are many people visiting our parks, and many of them have a camera and tripod.
At the end of the day, this is about protecting our parks. Workshop leaders can take the lead by setting a positive example to follow. We all need to work together while being good stewards and having as little impact as possible.
Edited on Jan 20, 2017 at 10:07 PM · View previous versions
|
