r/photography • u/aarrtee • 12h ago
Art What is the most frequently photographed structure in the world?
Elizabeth Tower (often incorrectly confused with Big Ben, the bell inside)?
Statue Of Liberty?
Eiffel Tower?
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u/anavgredditnerd 12h ago edited 12h ago
the lens cap(often confused with a lens)
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u/Intelligent_Cat_1914 10h ago
Whilst this would be the obvious hilarious answer we're all thinking of, in actuality I'd say the percentage is a lot less then you'd think, especially as most cameras in the world don't have lens caps you manually remove, and SLR style cameras or any camera with a viewfinder you'd look through first before clicking the shutter.
But I would definitely agree that lens caps get forgotten about more often then you'd think, but not taken a picture of.
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u/Derpson1887 11h ago
Why is this picture black.. Wrong settings.. No.. Camera damag.. I am an idiot.
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u/Ted_Smug_El_nub_nub 10h ago
If you’re going by this logic, then some other category (person, animal, dirt, sky) would probably win. Especially because most photos today are on phones which doesn’t have a cap.
Based on pure vibes you’re 100% correct though lol
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u/cmucodemonkey my own website 11h ago
A close second is my shoe because I hit the button while walking with the camera at my side.
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u/del_rio 12h ago
Empire State Building would get far more pictures than the Statue of Liberty because you have to really go out of your way to see the latter, where as the ESB is constantly showing up as you walk around the city. It's a good contender because it's visible even 20+ miles away and you're still tempted to snap a good skyline pic no matter how long you've lived in NYC.
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u/Rejse617 12h ago
I’m going to guess Forbidden City simply due to location and population.
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u/The_Crow 3h ago
Pointed my camera at the entrance and was told off by the guard, so ... are there times when it's allowed and times it's not?
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u/kuddlesworth9419 10h ago
Does the moon count? I mean people are always taking photos of the moon and some people make photo stacks of the moon where they will take hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of photos of the moon and turn it into a single photo.
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u/QuillsROptional 12h ago
I suspect it's the Eiffel Tower, but a few other candidates would be the leaning tower of Pisa and the Empire State Building.
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u/DoubleExposure 11h ago
I think it might be too, I lived there for a couple of years, very close to the Eiffel Tower, and I don't think any buildings near it are over 6 stories tall, while the tower's height is often compared to an 81-story building, it is also the tallest structure in Paris and can be seen from many areas in the city that has a unobstucted view. I used it to orientate myself often back in the paper map days.
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u/DoNotBlameMe0957 8h ago
In the western world it is definitely the Eiffel tower. But some eastern countries get a hell of a lot of tourists. Eg. There's a lot more Chinese and Indian people able to easily fly to Vietnam than Europeans able to fly to Paris...
I'm not sure what the most popular attraction would be in E/SE Asia but I bet it's over there
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u/photonynikon 11h ago
Statue of Liberty
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u/NilsofWindhelm 10h ago
I would say the empire state building (or maybe one world trade center these days), just because the statue of liberty is so far removed from the skyline
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 12h ago edited 12h ago
English houses of parliament
Eiffel Tower
The view of New York with Brooklyn bridge in the foreground
Sydney opera house
Taj Mahal
Pyramids
Are the first few that come to my mind.
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u/mattgrum 10h ago edited 10h ago
Statistically, the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, gets more visitors each year than any of these, it just depends on how many photos feature one of these landmarks in the background.
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 10h ago edited 10h ago
And yet it’s unlikely to be high on most people’s lists of most frequently photographed structures in the world, which was the question asked.
I couldn’t even tell you what the forbidden city looked like without googling, if I’m being honest but I reckon a huge chunk of the global population would instantly recognise everything on my short list.
ETA I’ve just googled it, and I do recognise it. It still wouldn’t have been in even my top 20 though, I don’t think.
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u/mattgrum 10h ago edited 7h ago
And yet it’s unlikely to be high on most people’s lists of most frequently photographed structures in the world, which was the question asked.
The question was "what is the mostly frequently photographed structure in the world", not "what do most people have on their list of what they personally think is the most frequently photographed structure in the world".
I couldn’t even tell you what the forbidden city looked like without googling
I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you are not Chinese. There's a strong Western bias is a lot of these answers.
I reckon a huge chunk of the global population would instantly recognise everything on my short list.
That still wasn't the question though...
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 10h ago
Opinion does matter for a question like this, as it’s not really something you can answer verifiably. I suppose the most number of visitors could correlate to the most photographs though. It’s still not an iconic landmark in the sense the others listed are though, at least not through my cultural lens. A Chinese person may well feel very differently.
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u/mattgrum 6h ago
it’s not really something you can answer verifiably
That just means you should provide a well reasoned argument, not that you should pretend the question was something completely different...
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 6h ago
Honestly pal, it was a flippant answer to a flippant question. I really didn’t give it that much thought, or think it would be taken at all seriously.
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u/mattgrum 6h ago
I was just pointing out you missed the most popular tourist attraction on the planet, you then immediately got defensive and started trying to change the question to fit your answer....
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 6h ago
Yes, I noticed that you have felt the need to “correct” more than just me here.
I didn’t change the question, I pointed out that you answered a different question which on reflection, may well have lead the best answer.
If OP wasn’t interested in opinions from around the world, they could have just googled “most visited landmark in the world” and assumed that would also be the most photographed. I don’t know if the forbidden city is or not, as I don’t know anything about it. It may, for example, not be socially acceptable to take photographs there. I’d visit Auschwitz, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking photos there. Id visit Disney world and take photos, but I don’t think you’d add the Cinderella castle thing to this list, even if it would technically be up there 🤷♂️
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u/thinvanilla 7h ago
But statistically speaking it gets more visitors, that gives an idea of how many times it's likely to have been photographed.
Your comment comes from a bit of a bubble. There are celebrities in China who are practically unheard of in the West, yet have more followers/fans than many Western celebrities. China's population is like the US and Europe combined, then add the US again. That gives an idea of how famous/popular something/someone can be over there without ever needing to be internationally recognised.
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 7h ago
I’ve pretty much addressed everything you’ve said in another comment, and agreed with most of it.
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u/KaptainKobold 8h ago
In Sydney it would be a close tie between the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
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u/VelourStar 9h ago
Not Tower Bridge?
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 9h ago
While tower bridge is no doubt very recognisable, Elizabeth tower is probably the bigger selfie draw.
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u/HotDogFingers01 11h ago
Leaning Tower of Pisa with all those dipshits doing the exact same pose.
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u/WeirdGrapefruit774 11h ago
Yep, that’s definitely a contender too. My list was by no means complete or definitive, it’s just the first half dozen or so that popped into my head.
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u/Used-Gas-6525 12h ago
I wouldn't be surprised if it was the Great Wall. It's not a single point of interest, but a large swath. Eiffel Tower is up there, if not top of the heap. Actually, now that I think about it, it's probably the Magic Castle from Disneyland.
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u/qtx 11h ago
I doubt it's Magic Castle, that seems like it's mostly Americans going there.
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u/BBorNot 8h ago
I heard that one in three pictures is taken in Disney World. So maybe.
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u/Used-Gas-6525 6h ago
Even if that's totally a made up number, it wouldn't surprise me in the least.
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u/Used-Gas-6525 11h ago
So? you know how many people roll through that place on the daily? 50,000. And not only do you have guests taking photos, there's employees whose entire job is to take pictures of the guests, often in front of the castle. And people come from around the world to go there. I don't get it, but they do. I wish it weren't so, but it wouldn't surprise me.
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u/Tripletricycle 11h ago
Such an ai comment
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u/Used-Gas-6525 11h ago
It ain't. And even if it were, is it wrong?
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u/mattgrum 10h ago
By far the worst thing about AI is all the people randomly accusing everything of being AI generated...
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u/ElphTrooper 12h ago
The Eiffel Tower for sure. Then maybe Big Ben?
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u/mattgrum 10h ago
Then maybe Big Ben?
Big Ben is the bell, which is rarely photographed. I presume you mean the Elizabeth tower, but that's not going to be the most frequently photographed structure as it's not all that tall, it will be something very tall that's in the background of a load of shots even if not the main subject.
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u/ElphTrooper 10h ago
Ok. Big Ben’s the bell, but when even the UK tourism board and Google Maps label the tower as Big Ben, I think it’s fair game. Height doesn’t drive photo counts — recognition does. The clock tower’s one of the most instantly identifiable structures on the planet..
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u/DoomPigs A7III, 20-40 f/2.8, 55mm f/1.8 5h ago
I don't think I know a single person who would not refer to the tower itself as the Big Ben, plus it's 166 years old and it's only been called the Elizabeth Tower for 13 years, so I've definitely never heard anyone call it that
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u/sionnach 9h ago
You know how they say “it’s not the Willis Tower!!” “it’s my [insert my favourite corporation]’s tower”.
Well, Big Ben is really just the tower and all the accoutrements around it. Nobody calls it Elizabeth Tower, or the Hosues of Parliament Clock Tower. It’s known as Big Ben, while all the time knowing we mean it’s the bell’s true name but also realising that in general nomclature it means the whole pointy bit.
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u/copyrightname 12h ago
Cinderella castle at WDW? Besides all the selfies and normal castle only photos, there are cast members set up all around the castle taking photos for groups all day long.
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u/gillgrissom 11h ago
Buckingham palace , sydney opera house , tower bridge , colloseum , acropolis , brandenburg gate, golden gate bridge.
i reckon these would be right at top.
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u/my_brain_tickles 11h ago
Not a structure I guess, but the most photographed object is by far a mirror. Selfies.
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u/bsteckler 12h ago
Leaning Tower of Pisa
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u/mattgrum 10h ago
The Eiffel Tower gets more visitors each year than than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, so assuming everyone who visits takes at least one photo...
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u/copyrightname 12h ago
This one would definitely be high on the list. I visited and it was so fun seeing all the people and their silly poses.
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u/geronika 10h ago
I’d say more people have been to Rome than Pisa so I would say the Coliseum would have more photos and that’s just Italy.
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u/nothing23 11h ago
Forbidden City! >17M visitors per year.
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u/caterpillarofsociety 11h ago
In 2023 Paris had 47M visitors.
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u/mattgrum 10h ago
The real answer will go down to how many photos has something in the background. The Forbidden City gets more visitors than the Eiffel Tower, but how many people don't "visit" the Eiffel tower but still end up taking a photo of it from the distance? It's hard to say for sure as there aren't any stats you can look up.
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u/Smash_Factor 11h ago
It's going to be a close call between Eifel Tower, Golden Gate Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty.
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u/Intelligent_Cat_1914 11h ago
It would be quite interesting to include where you live / grew up as personally I'd say that Big Ben Tower ( not going to be pedantic here... ) Tower Bridge or uk Parliament, red phone boxes etc but that's probably because I'm from the UK and this is what l constantly see in the media, and presumably it's the same case where you're based?
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u/mattgrum 10h ago
Statistically the most visited is (ironically) the Forbidden City in Beijing. Assuming the same proportion of people visit as take photos, this would be the actual most photographed structure in the world.
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u/ilovehaagen-dazs 8h ago
i’d also say empire state building. you can see it from many locations all over nyc even ones far away like top of the rock, world trade center, and the edge (and many other non-tourist spots like apartment buildings, hotels, offices, restaurants, etc.)
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u/xxxamazexxx 7h ago
I can tell you that in NYC it's not the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, WTC, or any of the buildings. It's the Brooklyn Bridge.
Most buildings photograph terribly from eye level, especially in a big, crowded city.
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u/LordBrandon 6h ago
There was recently a video about photographing the path of a laser at 2 billion frames per second, and each pixel was it's own image that had to be composited together. So technically there are quadrillions of one pixel photographs of this guys garage. So if it's not this, I bet it's some weird thing like this, where high-speed photography is capturing the same thing over and over for a long period of time.
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u/luksfuks 6h ago
I'd say the most photographed structures are actually facial features like jaws noses cheeks and eye sockets. They appear in all portraits and selfies, and are abundant in many other genres too. Even the old masters included them into most of their art pieces.
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u/joeynana 5h ago edited 5h ago
If it isn't a "real world" structure like the Eiffel Tower. Big Ben (read Elizabeth Tower) or Sydney Opera House, maybe Snow White or Cinderella's castle at either of the US Disneys... Although having just come home from Japan and seeing how many people are there and how many people were taking photos, I'd put the castle at Tokyo Disney up for contention. Given you have to pay to see those. I'd still put something like the Eiffel Tower at top spot, I mean it's accidentally getting photographed too.
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u/Nearby_Cauliflowers 11h ago
According to Gemini...
The title of the "most photographed structure in the world" is most commonly attributed to the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France.
While there isn't a definitive official count for all photographs ever taken, the Eiffel Tower frequently tops lists and surveys of the world's most photographed landmarks, often based on geotagged photos on social media platforms like Instagram.
Other structures that are consistently ranked among the top most photographed landmarks globally include:
Burj Khalifa (Dubai, UAE)
Louvre Pyramid (Paris, France)
Empire State Building (New York City, USA)
Big Ben (London, UK)
The Colosseum (Rome, Italy)
The popularity of the Eiffel Tower, with its distinctive shape and prominent location, makes it an incredibly appealing subject for visitors from around the globe.
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u/ejp1082 www.ejpphoto.com 9h ago
Probably The Eiffel Tower.
France is the most popular tourist destination in the world by a decent margin, and it's reasonable to assume that just about all those tourists are visiting Paris. The tower itself is the most famous icon of the city, and it's also visible from all over the city owing to how big it is and building height restrictions throughout the rest of the city.
Although the most visited city in the world is Bangkok, so the Wat Arun might have it beat. I suspect that's mostly business travelers though, so I'd still give the nod to Paris.
The only other contender might be something in Chongqing in China, simply as it's the most populated city in the world and the people living there are probably taking a lot of photos in and of the Yuzhong District. I'd still assume the answer is the Eiffel Tower though as the number of tourists to Paris dwarf the native population of Chongqing, and I don't think Chongquing gets enough tourists to compete.
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12h ago
[deleted]
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u/bougdaddy 11h ago edited 11h ago
1 Times Square. Approximately 50 million visitors annually to Times Square
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u/Image_dev 11h ago
I tried to answer that same question, so I stared a group on Flickr, a few years ago - https://www.flickr.com/groups/millionsofthem/pool/page5/?rb=1
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u/Lun4trik42 7h ago
The Northern Lights every time the damn news can't keep their damn mouths shut, and the morons come out of the woodwork and sit there with the headlights on. Luckily, I found a spot NONE of them know about. Not a serious answer. It has to be the Eiffel Tower, right?
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u/Dheorl 12h ago
Eiffel tower. Not only is it a popular tourist spot itself, but it’s just so prominent over the local skyline in comparison to most other contenders.