Tacky Tourist Photos

We’ve previously showcased some great improvisational acting on the Great Wall of China, such as TTP star correspondent Brian Henderson’s “Where Can I Find a Decent Chinese Restaurant?” pose.  But YouTube dance star Nonstop really kicks things up a notch!      

SUBMITTED BY: Ursula K.   LOCATION: Lake Champlain, Vermont (2011) Oh yes, there’s been a century-long battle to claim the World’s Largest Chair, a virtual arms race amongst fake oversized furniture makers.  Gardner, Massachusetts, aka “The Chair City,” has been making grown tourists look like Munchkins since at least 1910, based on this vintage postcard. [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Ari G.  LOCATION: Glen, NH (2011) New Hampshire, home of Story Land‘s Sphinx, is a helluva lot safer than Cairo right now. (Ari G. is a frequent Tacky Tourist Photo contributor who has munched the World’s Largest Box of Popcorn and bench pressed the Liberty Bell. His favorite ride is Splash Battle: Pharaoh’s [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Ben and Sarah Cole   LOCATION: Glenwood Caverns, Colorado (2011) At the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and Historic Fairy Caves, all is not magical.  The best part of this classic Tacky Tourist Photo? — it’s the acting, of course! Great job, Ben!  Looks like you could be the next James Franco. (Ben and [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Dana Prey   LOCATION: Cairo, Egypt (2009) Wanna recreate the sensation of getting sensual with the Sphinx?  Go kiss a bucket of sand! (Dana Prey is a bacon-loving Southern belle living in New England, who documents her competitive cycling addiction on her “Wall of Pain.”) CURATOR’S PICK — Do you LOVE photographing ancient [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Raymond Hoffer    LOCATION: Paris, France (1972) Backpacking through France after his freshman year of college, Raymond hopped from youth hostel to youth hostel in his disco duds and his copy of “Europe on $5 a Day.” “As for my clothes, these were standard issue among college students at the time,” says Raymond. [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Wendy Keefe   LOCATION: Liberty Island, New York (2011) As Tacky Tourist Photos has dutifully documented, it is a proud American tradition to pick the noses of our heroes. Years ago, elementary school children needed to be taken by helicopter to scrape out the nasal passages of Miss Liberty.  But today, thanks to a [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Tacky Tourist Photos Goldfish have no arms, of course, and their cracker incarnations don’t even have any fins. So how did this enterprising photographer recreate the classic “Holding Up Pisa” photo-op? With the magic of Play-Doh, of course. Pepperidge Farm World Treasures crackers are a goldfish mine for snack-based tourism dioramas. Other photo-ops [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Vinnie Raponi    LOCATION: Cairo, Egypt (2009) While peaceful Egyptian mobs are beating the crap out of American journalists, TTP is sharpening its focus on the cuter side of Cairo. If Vinnie’s sharp fingernails get any closer, he’ll soon find out if the Great Pyramids of Giza are real or if they are cheap [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Mariel Backman     LOCATION: Berlin, Germany (2010) People used to run away from the Berlin Wall out of fear of getting shot. Now every last chunk of concrete is a coffee shop prop. The 1989 license plate date, of course, is when the Wall came down, making it safe for hipster artists [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Brian Henderson   LOCATION: Mutianyu, China (2010) There are some places where a GPS won’t help you. (Photojournalist Brian Henderson is one of our most prolific Tacky Tourist models, entertaining people from San Francisco‘s Golden Gate Bridge to Uganda‘s Imaginary Equator Line!)

SUBMITTED BY: Tacky Tourist Photos     LOCATION: Washington, D.C.  (1965) Here’s compelling evidence that goofy vacation photo-ops were commonplace during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration. See the fancy black photocorners, boys and girls?  Long ago, there was a thing called “film” that you would put in your camera to be “developed.”  And the photos would be [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Kevin Ray and Nasty-O   LOCATION: Washington DC (2010) Any sideshow yokel can swallow the pointy side first. It takes guts to get your jaws around a granite slab! (Kevin Ray is a hip hop singer, writer and dancer whose “raps are monumental.” You may recognize his music from the movie, “Stomp the Yard.”)

SUBMITTED BY: Ari G. LOCATION: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2010) Any chiropractors in the house?

SUBMITTED BY: Beth H. LOCATION: Chicago, Illinois (2010) Nothing’s classier than modern art that spits in your hand!