schnookies - are you me?

The timer on my camera takes mine ;)

I love to take special pictures of my sister when we are traveling, in a sidewalk cafe, or at some special moment when I can capture a special time and save it for the memories.

Other than that, I think photograps of oneslef taken in front of some monumet or an other are generally uninteresting and hokey. Sorry. Don't mean to b rude, but do those photographs really do something special for you? They are rarely flattering.

PS: One of my favorite photos from Paris is of my friend Judy and me. I asked someone on the street to take our photo. I cringed to myself as she took our picture: She was holding the camera at an angle. She took the picture, handed me my camera and walked away. I knew she did that on purpose! And I knew I would end up with such an off, but fun photo. Every time I see it I laugh!

Monica ((F))

Schnookies, don't forget to let the gladiator near the coloseum take your photo with the other gladiators for $5.00. It might seem hokie at the time, but I really like mine. It may be the only souvenier that I still have from my first trip to Rome.

I never actually thought this to be an issue before Schnookies brought it up. Then again, I am a male and am in my 20s, so I would most certainly chase the perp to retrieve my property.

I've done some travelling in Asia and I rarely asked locals to take photos of me; I found it easier to single out fellow travellers and ask them.

While standing in front of the Trevi fountain,a woman handed my husband her very expensive looking camera and asked him to take her picture. She then handed me her purse to hold! I guess I should take it as a compliment that we looked honest and wouldn't run off with her belongings.

I don't think it's just a matter of looking for somebody who is reliable, but also somebody who will make a nice picture, and not one where your head is cut off !

So that's why I usually look for somebody with a quite sophisticated camera themselves, because usually they know how to make a decent picture.

That last point is a good one. I usually travel with pretty nice SLR cameras, and many times people ask me to take their photos and make comments that I seem to know what I am doing. I think that is a good strategy. It doesn't ensure that the person knows how to take a good picture, but it lowers the odds against a bad one. I also worry about people taking my camera (not as fast on my feet as I used to be), so I use the strategy of asking obvious tourists. They often want a shot of them in return, and that works great. I also usually ask someone to photograph my wife and me together after they ask me to photograph them.

I use a disposable camera. You can even take self-portraits with a bit of background with practice, by extending your arm full-length. When people see you doing this ridiculous move, they often approach and offer to take your picture.

To answer your question: my husband. My husband uses a very old, manual camera that I hate and he loves. I think that when people see him carrying around what looks like major camera equipment, they assume that he must be an actual photographer. When we were in Italy he was asked to take SO MANY people's pictures!