About half-way through my stay in Europe, I visited my two best friends in Barcelona. This weekend getaway allowed us to drink sangria, cruise around on a boat, eat delicious food, and most importantly discuss all of the weird observations we had made while living abroad.
Us laughing at the fact that British TJ Maxx is called TK Maxx
During this informal forum, one of my friends named Haley brought up a concept that has not left my mind when since she described it.
When visiting popular cities and attractions, you are bound to see a multitude of tourists. Each tourist has their own style and method for traveling, but the main focus of this conversation was a certain manner of picture-taking which Haley described as “Evidence.”
There is no shame in wanting to take pictures and document your adventures, especially in the beautiful places throughout Europe, however witnessing someone take a photo that could be classified as “Evidence” is extremely odd and extremely hilarious once you start noticing.
At its most basic form, Evidence is when a tourist stands in front of an attraction, or even just a random brick wall, without smiling or posing and has one of their family members take a photo of them. The term Evidence so perfectly describes this phenomenon because while you are questioning why a person would want a stoic photo of them standing in front of a random trashcan next to the Sagrada Familia, they are simply trying to get photographic evidence that they did, in fact, visit Barcelona.
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Proof that this random man actually touched the Great Pyramids (or maybe just a wall of rocks)
Rather than trying to capture candid moments of family fun and treasured memories of the awed faces that come along with seeing world wonders, these no-nonsense travelers are efficiently obtaining tangible proof that they were physically at these sites before moving on to the next site.
Occasionally, those participating in “evidence photography” may be feeling a little wild that day and even throw up a peace sign or a thumbs-up, but they will never smile because that would just be TOO crazy.
After discussing this concept at length and laughing about it for a very long time, I could not help but notice this trend throughout every place I visited. There were seemingly apathetic tourists outside of Buckingham Palace, indifferent visitors at the Eiffel Tower, and even deadpan sightseers standing in front of the “Iamsterdam” sign waiting for their photos to be taken.
If you look a little closer…
You will see that this man NAILED IT.
During our family vacation, my brother and I attempted to try this method but failed miserably because we were simply not cut out for the cruel world of “evidence photography.” Next time you are visiting a new place, try and spot some “evidence” photos taking place because it can turn into a very fun, and entertaining, game.
If anyone even tries to question that my brother went to Notre Dame, they will get a face-full of this photo
Kiley J. Price 
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