Tacky Tourist Photos

SUBMITTED BY: Erik Paulsen   LOCATION: Times Square, New York City (2012) When posing for a Tacky Tourist Photo, it is usually customary to embrace the quirky statue or mascot as if you are best friends. Yet, there is something rather skeevy about getting intimate with a Naked Cowboy you just met. Enter the brilliance [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Kathie Fife   LOCATION: Hillsborough, NH (2011) Remember when educators carried rulers and would crack your wrists for chewing gum or misspelling a word? Well, in addition to shining the silverware of President Franklin Pierce, the Hillsborough Historical Society loves to romanticize mean old school teachers. (Kathie Fife is a nature photographer and greeting [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Debra Furlong, Mike and Christine     LOCATION: Sedona, Arizona (2011) Dance for me, puppet! In the mystical New Age paradise of Sedona, Arizona, where crystals and “positive energy” is sold at every gas station, there’s a small prancing tribe of gnomes who will perform on command.

If the hushed chatter in the hallowed halls of Tewksbury Public Library is any indication, it looks like “Tacky Tourist Photos Live” is a bona fide smash sensation! If you happen to live within 300 miles of the Greater Tewksbury area, load your family up in the station wagon for a photography exhibition that will [...]

Sorry to go all regional on you, but if you happen to live in New England (or are vacationing there), come on out and meet the Tacky Tourist founders, curators, and administrative staff! TEWKSBURY TACKY TOURIST PHOTOS NIGHT 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 7 Tewksbury Public Library 300 Chandler Street Tewksbury, MA 01876 978-640-4490 Join founding [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Noelle Boc   LOCATION: Charlestown, Mass. (2011) When you kiss a fish, it is better with your eyes closed? Rumor has it that smooching with this Fish Sentinel, the official guard of City Square Park near Boston Harbor, will make you grow fins. (Noelle Boc is a hip children’s librarian and movie reviewer [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Steve Uzdanovich   LOCATION: Caerphilly, Wales (2011) Caerphilly Castle is known for its 13th Century military significance, especially its role in preventing South Wales from being invaded by the imperialistic North Wales (actually we have no idea which Welsh were the good guys or the bad guys). In any case, marble bathroom vanities [...]

  SUBMITTED BY: Noelle Boc and Isabelle    LOCATION: Orlando, Florida (2011) Just like Buzz Lightyear’s muscle flexing sessions, Peter Pan teaches Walt Disney World visitors how to be confident and sassy. The key is making a fist as you put your hands on your hips and stick your chest out. Captain Hook would be very [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Kyle Garnick and Sarah Ekbatani   LOCATION: Westford, Massachusetts (2010) There’s no better way to impress the ladies than to engage in some old-fashioned butterfly role play. (Kyle Garnick and Sarah Ekbatani are hip college students at the University of New Hampshire).

SUBMITTED BY: Tim Chapman   LOCATION: Hayward, Wisconsin (2009) These cute little anglers assume that this giant Sunfish will be satisfied with the worm and not go after the bigger treats at the end of the line. In addition to fulfilling fishing fantasies, the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame also lets you crawl inside [...]

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: Kaeli Conforti   LOCATION: Nassau, Bahamas (2011) Young women just dig guys in silk ruffled shirts and unscrupulous morals. But an honest gorilla looking for love? — Forget it! (Kaeli Conforti is a New York City travel writer with a weakness for wax museums).

SUBMITTED BY: Peggy Dillon and Adrienne Lopes   LOCATION: Ellis Island, New York (2010) A brilliant exercise in historical product placement, Mattel and Ellis Island have teamed up to let you explore your ethnic heritage through cocktail dresses and itsy bitsy pairs of shoes. “Wouldn’t Barbie have had a pink boat, complete with a hair [...]

SUBMITTED BY: Darren Garnick   LOCATION: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2010) Everyone knows how to retrace the historical steps of Sylvester Stallone. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a lot more accessible to tourists than the snowbanks of Siberia — if you have your heart set on recreating Rocky IV. But did you know that you can run [...]

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 [...]