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Overused Viewpoints

Will

Strata Poster
So - I'm not talking stuff like 'Taron is good' or 'RMC make the best coasters' - this is about those pictures that you feel the need to take on nearly every visit to a park, even though you're well aware that you have around 100 identical images at home. I've noticed it's become something of a running joke lately :p

Those that come into mind for me are the view of Inferno from outside the station, Stealth from basically anywhere in the queue, Fury's banked turns, The Towers from the top of Towers Street, the pagoda fountain and of course... the picture I've been taking for over two decades now...
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Intrigued to hear if people have other photography rituals, or the popular viewpoint of parks I don't visit quite as often...
 
It's interesting that you brought this up, as I was thinking along similar lines when it came to Alton Towers at the weekend.

There are definite trends when it comes to the photographs I take of roller coasters in general. So many of my photos involve a train either heading down a drop, taking an inversion, cresting an airtime hill, or turning a corner. It could be just about anywhere in the world, if it's a photo of a coaster train, I've probably got a dozen similar pictures of other coasters doing almost exactly the same thing somewhere else.

As for the Merlin parks, given how often I've visited, yeah, I've ended up with lots of similar pictures over the years. During the Tussauds era, a lot of though was clearly given to the sight lines, and how best to show off attractions from places where riders and spectators are likely to be stood. Merlin sometimes have some of their ride hardware a bit more out of the way, but most attractions still have some fairly impressive signature locations that your eye is naturally drawn to. This tends to make for some great photos in those locations, but also leads to everyone getting the same, or similar photos, albeit sometimes with varying degrees of success.

Over the years, I've taken so many nigh-identical photos at Alton, mostly with a lens that's somewhere in the 24-120mm focal length range, and there's definitely a lot of repetition, to the point where, unless there are some particularly entertaining reactions from riders, I'm beginning to feel like I'm running out of new pictures to take. At the Live, I didn't really bother taking many ride or area photographs. I kept seeing people taking photos or video of some of the iconic locations, felt I'd already been there and done that, and wasn't feeling particularly inspired or motivated to break out the camera for those sorts of shots. I still took some snapshots of people and antics, but that was about it this time around.

That's not to say that you can't have an interesting time taking photos at the Towers, though. During Scarefest last year, I was trying to keep my eyes open for things that were a bit different or unfamiliar, and ended up with some nice, and sometimes unusual photos that were a break from the norm. The gallery from that weekend is at http://mouseat.co.uk/albums/october-2021-alton-towers-scarefest.

The day before the Live, I decided to try something a bit different at Alton. Instead of the 24-105mm lens I usually use as all-around go-to, I decided to take a 70-300 telephoto instead. I ended up taking a lot fewer photos than I normally would that day, and I wouldn't say it was convenient or entirely successful, but it certainly changed things up a bit and forced me out of my comfort zone. A lot of the wider angle shots I'd normally take weren't possible, but some of the shots I got of Rita, Oblivion, or the Skyride from down in the valley were a bit different from what I'd normally take. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
 
Maybe it’s just because it’s the trendy new ride, but I think I’ve seen about 50 different photos (ok, probably more like 7) of the velocicoaster top hat at night with a long exposure, so the train looks like a neon blue streak bouncing around various places online.

Gosh, that sentence structure is a tragic. I’m leaving it because that’s what happened in my brain.
 
Can anybody remember the Kodak spots that were dotted around the (what are now) Merlin parks? I swear my mum has multiple photos of me at Thorpe and Chessington taken in the same spot taken every year in the late 80’s/early 90’s.

Taking a photo of the same thing isn’t a new trend. It’s just that people now acknowledge it and take the piss. For example, I’m looking forward to going to Belgium later this year and taking that same old shot of Kondaa across the water that everybody has. It’s a way of confirming attendance, marking the spot. The modern day social media equivalent of writing “I woz ere” graffiti.
 
Can anybody remember the Kodak spots that were dotted around the (what are now) Merlin parks? I swear my mum has multiple photos of me at Thorpe and Chessington taken in the same spot taken every year in the late 80’s/early 90’s.

I don't know when they started and when they stopped doing thia, but the 2003 Thorpe map lists a Fujifilm photo trail:
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Spots include:
-Dome balcony
-Bottom of Depth Charge
-Colossus' cobra roll
-Colossus' corkscrews
-"The" Loggers Leap spot (where Princess Diana was photographed)
-Middle of Inferno
-In front of multiple rides (Detonator, Rumba Rapids, Vortex, Zodiac, Eclipse)
-Model World
-Tidal Wave splash zone

I'd imagine the Loggers, Rapids and Model World photos were standard photo points long before then too
 
Have seen a lot of similar shots over the years, but I still had to take this photo!
 

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I must have seen umpteen different pictures of this same shot over the years, across various Disney parks; I’d possibly argue that this is the most famous theme park viewpoint:
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I still felt like I just had to take it when I went to Magic Kingdom, though!

Disney parks have quite a few of these, though; I’d also nominate:
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I could go on… those are just a few of Disney’s more famous viewpoints that I felt like I had to take a picture of when I was there!
 
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Have at least 100 pics from this spot. Always cool to catch Helix in the inside top hat or Valkyria on the drop or Immelmann. Super rare to get both.
 
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This is one of my favourites. I took many photos from this point!

Not sure why the image has rotated… any way to change that?
 
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