A group of tourists, travelers, backpackers check the fourteen colors (yes, fourteen) of the mountain range Hornocallocated in Jujuy25 kilometers from Humahuaca. Its height is 4761 meters above sea level. These are coordinates that ensure dizziness and discomforts that can be smothered with just a few sheets of paper. cocacandy or tea made from this herb also known as “government official” because “new properties are discovered every day,” says a mountain guide who, despite being from the area, does not stop chewing coca. height it’s serious business.
The initial moment of seeing that natural beauty in which a dozen colors are seen at first glance has the force of a spell. To see the remaining two colours, you have to go down a hill (and then up), something that not everyone is willing to do. There is a silence necessary for observation, only interrupted by the whistling of the icy wind. But not everyone is paying attention to the natural painting that is unique in the world. To the right, to the left, behind, wherever you look, there are groups of teenagers and older people posing eternally to get a perfect photo. There is laughter, shouting and also complaints. Are they referring to the extraordinary landscape? No, thank you. They are “producing” selfies Group photos, photos that one designated photographer takes at a time. It’s not just one or two, they can reach hundreds until everyone is satisfied. Are these photos to send and share with the family? No, they are to post on social media. InstagramDoes the background matter? No, that’s not important either. The only thing that matters is getting the image that reflects the perfect expression, light and pose.
Very few people hear that the Jujuy mountain is mostly made up of rocks from the Yacoraite Formationa calcareous geological unit of Upper Cretaceous age, which extends from Saltacrossing the Humahuaca Ravine and then the altiplano Bolivian up to Peru. You only hear things like: “Please delete that” or “I like that one, I’ll upload it.”
The digital photography It forever changed the way we take everyday (and professional) photos, and the inclusion of cameras in smartphones made it more practical and democratized. It also created the illusion that “we are all photographers.”
“Now jump!” says the guide in the middle of the salt desert. Large Salt Flatsthat white mirror that is located so much in Jujuy as in Salta at 3,450 meters above sea level and is the fourth largest salt flat in South America. For climatic and visual reasons –and as a tourist resource– they are more attractive on the Jujuy side, since they look “whiter”. They are located 66 km from the very pretty town of Purmamarca and is easily reached by the RN 52The guide, born in the area and coming from many generations of the region where families from various indigenous peoples live, leads the group of cars in a motorcycle.
Of good moodbefore starting the tour, he calls us into a semicircle and tells us what we are going to see and do. He leaves for the end a comment that seems banal, but is highly anticipated by part of the group. “I take photos of them jumping over the salt pools and in the water mirror, don’t worry.” Indeed, that was the case. At the two stops on the tour, after the explanation of what we were seeing, the guide gave instructions on where to walk, but fundamentally on how to position oneself in relation to the light, the reflection, when to jump, or also when and how high to raise one’s arms in pairs. A very complete service that lives up to the demands of Instagram.
At dusk, the bars in the base villages from where the walks depart, such as Purmamarca, Tilcara o Humahuacaare filled with those returning from some expedition. At each table you see a computer with concentrated people who seem to be doing home office. Well, no. They are selecting, cropping, retouching the photos they took during the day and in which only faces are seen, very few take into account the background. At night, the photos are already uploaded to the platform of the “happy people”, the network that rarely depicts conflicts or sad or unpleasant moments. Nor do you see poorly taken photos or photos with poor lighting that prevents you from appreciating the image.
Selfies on trips…
Ingredients such as: influence of the food photoso difficult to achieve professionally. Users upload anything they order in a restaurant even if it is not recommended by the chef’s mother. Once again, it is about telling or pretending “how good I am having it.” The idea is to show that there is no possibility of having a bad time in a restaurant and much less in a place where you traveled spending a lot of money in times of abstinence from purchased pleasures. Instagram makes us believe that each dish and the vacation They were perfect and no one will find out that we got dizzy from the altitude, that the menu was not what we expected, that we had vertigo on the cornice path or that we got dehydrated on each walk.
The competition is tough and every user feels it. Sometimes they are ashamed of their post, to the point of deleting a photo that does not meet the minimum quality standard required by others. instagramersI found a comment about this, inside an article by the Canadian travel journalist Kashlee Kucheran which refers to this “anguish” in this field: “…I realized how many traveler influencers there were, how many incredible photos they constantly uploaded and how many “likes” they received. When I compared their posts (and the reactions they received) with mine, my self-esteem plummeted. Why were my photos not as incredible as theirs? I got worried.” The competition for images on social media is fierce, and it is joined by image professionals who take images with far superior equipment and sophisticated technical editing capabilities with which they achieve artistic photos. However, they do not manage to be admired, only envied.
Oriental wakame salad. Photo: iStockPhotos. Dishes with seaweed are vegetables from the water and have medicinal and therapeutic properties meals to make with seaweed
On the other hand, one effect generated is that if we do a search on the Internet for images of a particular place, we will find an infinite number of identical photos. That is, in the same place or landscape there are people posing in exactly the same way, making the same faces, jumping, doing exercises yogafootball celebrations, making the V with the arms, the fingers…
This photo taken on April 9, 2018 shows tourists taking selfies at Maya Bay on the southern Thai island of Koh Phi Phi. Photo: AFP / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA
The scenes are repeated: while the Diaguita family guide tells the origin of the name of the incredible and reddish Ladies’ Gulch (Uquía), someone is planning a selfie. At the waterfall of the Devil’s Throat (Tilcara), a couple pretends to receive water in their hands ten meters away from the water jet and asks the volunteer photographer to take at least twenty photos to ensure a good one, at least, to post.
In summary, Instagram spoiled our encounter with the spectacle of the natureIf the photo didn’t turn out well or didn’t get a decent amount of likes, then it wasn’t worth going that far.
