If you’ve been following this blog since we left home over nineteen months ago, you’ll probably have noted the many photos of us sat in thermal springs around the world. I love going to open air spas with a view, and taking a few photos to remind me of the location. And recently, I like to take a photo just because I can: fortunately for us, Dave bought me a water-proof camera before we left home, so I could capture our many in/on water experiences. I’m glad he did. It means we can beat the ever-present activity companies who try to sell us pictures of us doing anything and everything. New Zealand: It’s getting ridiculous! I will be the first to admit that I have bought photos of me falling out of a raft on the Zambezi, or microlighting over Victoria Falls. But I do not need a ludicrously priced, posed picture of me about to board the Christchurch cable-car, or sat in a hot pool. I can get these shots myself! I was amazed to find that even our helicopter on the glacier had a photo printer on board. Aside from the cost, it makes us angry because of the amount of paper and ink wasted. For every image captured, the activity company will print out an information pack, containing at least one large photo, two postcards and some details of your ‘experience’, rather than showing you your picture on a digital screen first and asking if you want it printed. There are so many companies doing this all day everyday that there most be some environmental impact. How many people actually buy them at a cost of between $20-40 (Americans and Japanese aside!)?

Please let me know if you have ‘official’ photos of you about to board a ferry, sitting on a beach, or doing some other fairly routine activity. I need to know who’s fuelling this obsession. Until then, New Zealand, as ‘the world’s greenest country’, you should be considering the uneco-friendly consequences of your profit fuelled actions.

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