Does it interrupt the photographer when I pay them no mind and walk in front of them? Their muttered curses say yes. Therefore, photographers interrupt everybody else in the area who, unlike me, feel compelled by some social convention to give photographers a cone of exclusion in front of the camera.

Multiple examples from the article:

> Making TikTok by playing loud music creates a nuisance for pilgrims from all over the world who come to the birthplace of Gautama Buddha

> Over recent months, there have been reports of TikTok creators storming farms and trampling crops, and even causing traffic jams while shooting. Chamomile farmers in Morang in eastern Nepal were forced to harvest their crop early, as some TikTokers trampled on their crop. In Kathmandu, a popular street that was decorated with colorful umbrellas to attract tourists after the Covid-19 slump went viral on TikTok, and authorities were forced to shut it down as creators flocked to the area, leading to traffic congestion.

>How does it interrupt you for someone else to be taking a photo of themselves?

Blocking one's path for once, even more so with telescope sticks and of course taking pictures with one in the background without consent. I live near one such touristic area where there's a rather narrow sidewalk. In the summer it is like running the gauntlet. I'm too often too nice by first letting people finish their posing and taking pictures, only that frequently even 5 selfies seem not enough because they didn't get that perfect angle right for the 'insta'.

I used to work down the road from a big tourist attraction in London. Every lunch hour, I’d need to walk past a mass of people congregating outside the building taking photos, among other things (like forming a circle around a busker, taking up even more space).

I could try wait for a dozen people to finish taking photos (and it’s never just one photo, selfie or otherwise).

Or, after a couple weeks of this, I just stopped caring and would walk past them irrespective of interrupting someones shot. Now if they made an effort to leave an easily navigable gap behind the photographer so I could walk past without interrupting, sure, I did that. Most didn’t.

There’s still a lingering uncomfortability knowing I might be recorded forever in someone’s social media feed or whatever they do with the photos. Yes I know, it’s a public space and all.

For me, I try to be polite and not get in the way of someone trying to take a picture of someone on a bridge across a sidewalk for example. But it can get to the point where I'm just rude and pretend I don't see them. At least selfie sticks seem to have become less common--probably because smartphones are often available with wider lenses today.