Scenic Fatigue

Scenic Fatigue
Recently I've had occasion to think again about an idea for an article that I've been meaning to write for a long time. The title I've had in mind is "The Problem of Prettiness." The trouble is that I've never quite been able to completely formulate my thoughts on the matter. Nevertheless, prettiness remains a problem for me, and I think for hobbyist photography in general.
What instigated these thoughts was that I recently spent several hours poking around on a large picture-posting site (I won't name it explicitly, to try to avoid hurting anyone's feelings). For the most part what I looked at are amateur pictures, and not even polished, finished presentations — just a large mass of random pictures that people have taken, and, for some reason, liked. So it wouldn't be proper or fair to criticize too harshly just because what's presented isn't always art.
When I first start looking at large numbers of snapshots, I can get excited about possibilities, and...