Visiting Neuschwanstein Castle

On the last weekend of April 2016, a wintry low-pressure system lay over Bavaria, bringing unusually cold temperatures and snowfall for the time of year. The stunning panorama of Neuschwanstein Castle, which looks fantastic even in winter, remained hidden from visitors that day behind snow showers and clouds. To bring home a nice souvenir photo anyway, even if they didn’t experience the visit that way themselves, many tourists use their smartphones to snap the pictures on an advertising poster at a souvenir shop just below the castle entrance.

What is the motivation behind reproducing these typical, well-known and often kitschy shots to take away on a smartphone? As a memento – but what do you think of when looking at it later? To show off – I was here, even if the reality was a completely different experience? As documentation of what it can look like here – aren’t such images just a click away in the internet age? How can you stage Neuschwanstein Castle, which seems to have been photographed a zillion times from every perspective, in a new or unique way, or create an authentic photo?

Turning away from one’s own perception

One approach is to engage with the reduction to the supposedly romantic cliché of the fairy-tale castle and the attitude of tourists. Photographing tourists taking photos is nothing new in itself, and the depiction of stereotypical kitsch surrounding the castle has often been a theme. What is new, however, is the role of modern smartphones, which allow for practical snapshots of technically acceptable quality while passing by, are always with you as photo storage, and have in most cases replaced the classic camera. In this context, the shot above plays on several levels with expectations and the pressure to experience and capture incomparable highlights on a journey. Instead of a direct, mindful experience with one’s own senses, the depiction of the experience with a smartphone takes centre stage. Here, the illusion created by the landscape photographers’ staging of a reality leads to a double turning away from reality – even triple and literally turned away, as the castle lies directly behind the people’s backs.