As some of you might remember, I have this ongoing photo-series project: I take pictures of coin-operated binoculars and public pay-telescopes. As I don’t know of any proper name for them, I coined the term ‘Touristscopes‘. They fascinate me because of their appearance: they resemble faces, robot-like. The effect is called pareidolia. It is a human habit to recognize a face in the strangest things.
When I was in France last summer, in Normandy to be precise, I was able to collect some more touristscope photos. I used to shot them in a very standardized manner, filling the frame like head-on portraits. I always use the same 24mm lens and preferably a 100 ISO black and white film. The touristscope-types do not vary a lot, there seem to be three major models in France, which I have seen in Germany, too. That’s why I decidetd to also take pictures of the surrounding, the context of the touristscopes, in the future.
Below, I present you five of the touristscopes from Normandy. I choose to show them as a list, because that was the January Monthly Special: Lists at Take Out Photo. Finally, I managed to participate in a monthly challenge again. 
Arromanches-les-Bains (overlooking the beach where the allied invasion landed on D-Day. Arromanches was where the allies build a temporary harbour to offload supplies for the troops.):
In Arromanches, too. Note the similar posture of the tourists :
Fecamp:
Le Havre:
Villers-Sur-Mer (Situated right next to the Greenwich Meridian, obviously.) :
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Schöne Fotos! Benutzt du die Teleskope dann auch? Grad das letzte schaut so traurig aus, das würde sich sicher über jede Münze freuen.
Danke. Ich muss leider zugeben dass ich sie nicht benutze, ich will sie ja so fotografieren wie sie herum stehen und daher nichts verändern. Vielleicht kommt der traurige Ausdruck aber wirklich daher. Nächstes mal kann ich ja eine Münze einwerfen und ein vorher-nachher Bild machen. Mal sehen ob das die Stimmung aufhellt.
Ich habe es Dir schon einmal gesagt, Marcel, aber ich wiederhole mich gerne, wie sehr ich diese Serie & Deine Leidenschaft für die einsamen Touristskope liebe. Und ich mag Deinen Blick für das Menschliche in all den Dingen um uns herum. Variationen von Einsamkeit, Melancholie & Anmut. Das ist keine Serie mehr, das ist eine Form der Philosophie, die mich jedes Mal wieder beeindruckt. Vielen Dank dafür!
Viele Grüße & weiterhin sichere Straßen, Fritsch.
Thanks for participating. I love your touristscope series. I think of your photos every time I see one. (There’s a great one on top of the Arc de Triomphe) I think it would make a great book project.
All I can see when I look at those pictures is short circuit!
#5 is alive! That’s a really bad line from a really bad 1980’s movie about a robot, and these, to me resemble that robot’s “head”. I like the shots individually and together they also work very well. My favorite is probably the fourth in the series. Take care.
Thank you all for your comments.
Marc: a touristscope on the arc de triomphe? That is a great hint. I hope I can make it to Paris this year again. And I do indeed think about making a Book out of this. But this will be a long-term project.
very nice series with beautiful b&w, I like those funy face with some kind of wall_e inside!
Wundervolle Aufnahmen, erinnert mich an Nummer 5…
@Dustin: “#5 is alive” is a nice movie, you must be kidding with bad!
Tolle Idee und Umsetzung !