No trip is complete without pictures

Photo: http://www.kinfolks.info/arner/reunion/2004/Don-1.jpg

For some reason, visiting a place of interest is never enough. It's got to be documented--excessively, by photos.

When we return home, we need to be able to prove we were there. A cheesy picture of one of our mugs in front of some statue, waterfront, or crazy panhandler will do just that.

In fact, all we really see on a trip is the back of our camera. At least that's how it is for my wife and me. It'd be easier to just stay home on the couch and look through a kaleidoscope for a few days.

And then there are the occasions where we try to get both of us in the picture. Popular travel destinations really ought to have people you can rent that will follow you around all day and take pictures of you. Photo caddies, essentially.

Not that I'd pay for it, though. I've figured out that the world is a place full of makeshift tripods. A parking meter to one person is a tripod to me. Finding these tripods is one skill, and using them is another.

There are some variables to cope with when using a makeshift tripod. The most dangerous one is wind; a stiff breeze can knock your camera right off it's perch on a fence post, all while you're standing back with a stupid smile.

Then there's the self-timer to deal with. Our camera has a so-called "10 second" timer, but it's only called that. In reality it seems to go off anywhere between 5 and 15 seconds, capturing either me in stride as I'm making my way to my post, or me in anger as I'm marching toward it to see why it's not going off.

Every once in a while you have to resort to the hold-the-camera-in-front-of-you-at-arms-length maneuver, where the camera faces you. I've found one out of ten shots taken like this result in both my wife and I landing in the picture frame. Of that one in ten, a chin or forehead is usually sacrificed. Plus the arm holding the camera looks really big (desirable for guys, not for women).

You can always have a complete stranger take a picture for you, but there are certainly some risks to face with that. First of all, you've got to pick out a person that looks like they won't take-off with your camera once you hand it to them.

I've always imagined filling out a police report for that situation: "How'd he get your camera, sir?" "Well, I handed it to him, then we took 10 steps back and smiled."

Assuming they don't swipe your camera, you've got to deal with the picture they took. They'll always ask you "is it OK?"

Even though you want to say, "No, it isn't. Can you please take another where you don't zoom in on our knees?," in reality you have to say it's fine. Otherwise, if you hand it back to them for a second picture you'll likely be filling out one of those police reports I just mentioned.

So should you leave your camera in its case and just enjoy your visit, capturing the images in your memory? Or should you blow a couple flash bulbs on every trip?

It's a tough call to make: the images in your mind will likely look better than the ones you take with a camera on a makeshift tripod. You'll just never be able to share them.