Photography at the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Photo: Heather McDougal’s daughter

Taking a photo of someone "holding up" the Leaning Tower of Pisa is like a tourist’s rite-of-passage. If the angle is right, then the silly pose makes sense. But if the angle is wrong … the photo comes out even better!

Heather McDougal of Cabinet of Wonder has the story:

In Pisa my elder daughter became fascinated by all the people taking pictures of their friends holding up the leaning tower, or pushing it over – it is never easy to tell from the wrong angle. At times there were four or five people in a row all holding their hands up – which, when taken out of context, looked like some kind of mass-hallucination tai chi class.

She asked me for her camera and disappeared for a half hour, and then came back with these, which I think vie with many of the conceptual art pieces in the Whitney Museum. I found them hilarious and strangely compelling.

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