Posts Tagged “D-Day”

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.):

Black and white photo of a touristscope overlooking Arromanches le Bain in Normandy, France.

Black and white photo of a touristscope overlooking Arromanches le Bain in Normandy, France.

In Arromanches, too. Note the similar posture of the tourists :-) :

Black and white photo of a touristscope overlooking Arromanches le Bain in Normandy, France. This photo includes the surrounding and some visiting tourists.

Black and white photo of a touristscope overlooking Arromanches le Bain in Normandy, France.

Fecamp:

Black and white photo of a touristscope overlooking the beach of Fecamp in Normandy, France.

Le Havre:

Black and white photo of a touristscope obove the harbour of Le Havre in Normandy, France.

Villers-Sur-Mer (Situated right next to the Greenwich Meridian, obviously.) :

Black and white photo of a touristscope on the Greenwich Meridian looking at the beach of Villers Sur Mer in Normandy, France.

Black and white photo of a touristscope looking at the beach of Villers Sur Mer in Normandy, France.

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