5.14.2008

WFMW - Pictures for two

Craig and I love to hike and camp or take day trips to see things. But with it being just the two of us, taking pictures can be problematic. We end up with lots of pictures like this -

Wow, nothing screams "scrapbook material" quite like a double chin. Or Craig takes a picture of me, then I take one of him, like we did at this arch last weekend.
It's a little more flattering, but still not something I want to frame. Sometimes we get another person to take one of us but its tiring to always ask and often times on hikes there isn't anyone around. But halfway through our trip to Arches, I realized I had this mini flex tripod.
It came with my camera and I had never used it much but it is great. It's small and light, I just screwed it into the bottom of my camera and left it there for the rest of the trip. The flexible legs mean I can balance it on an unsteady rock or branch and unlike when I used to just put my camera on the car or a ledge, I can adjust the legs to tilt the camera upwards so we don't end up with pictures of our feet. Here is a picture I took using it...much better, don't ya think? You can't see up my nose but you still think we like each other.
As I said, I got mine with my camera but they aren't expensive at all. I could only find my exact one at this British website but B&H camera has a number of them, most for less than $20. This one looks particularly neat, and so colorful too.

Oh, and for those special shots when you want a real person to take the picture, try looking for another couple struggling with the same problem and offer to take their picture. Most of the time they will reciprocate afterwards.

Pictures for two. That's what works for me.

4 comments :

  1. Just last weekend I thought that I should figure out the timer function on my camera. I usually am quite happy to just take the pics but figure at some point my daughter might wonder if she attended events with me or if she went alone or with her dad. The little tripod looks like it would enhance the timer shots.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like your pictures! Perhaps I should send you some of the sites here! Just kidding. I am sitting in Iraq right now, and was able to get on a computer and was able to pull up your website. I am glad I will be able to keep up with the latest this way even from the other side of the world.
    Signed,
    Dad (hea, I have to use the anonymous button because I don't know how else to do it off a community computer).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a flexible tripod on my wish list. :) Great tip. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have this problem all the time. I usually am the one taking the photos so I hardly even get a bad one of me. I never get a "good" one, but hardly a bad one.

    ReplyDelete