Home Life and Customs (continued)
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The Camera and the Amish. One of the major objections of the Amish people to tourism is the snapping of photographs. In the words of one young Amishman, “I just don’t enjoy living in a museum or a zoo, whatever you would call it.” According to another, “They invade your privacy. They are a nuisance when I go to town, for I can’t go to any public places without being confronted by tourists who ask dumb questions and take pictures.”

The camera is an object of intrusion and prevents normal reciprocity between the photographer and the Amish. Objections of the Amish to the camera are widely known. The reasons given are based on religious grounds, ranging from the prohibition of the graven image (Exod. 20:4-5) to a vanity. To take photographs or pose for pictures is specifically forbidden in Amish law. The tourist who wishes to capture some of the scenery, people, and lore of the Amish persons for permission to photograph, they are obliged to decline politely. The graven image principle does not prohibit patients in hospitals from having x-rays taken of their body, and children are not prevented from drawing pictures of nature, including birds and animals, or even crude sketches of persons. But homemade dolls in some traditional Amish communities lack facial details.

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