Can you take a picture, please?

I guess I don’t live in a popular tourist attraction or somewhere that people visit and want their picture taken in front of. So when I was travelling around the country, it stood out to be asked by random people to take a picture of them with their camera.

They asked a complete stranger! Forget about handing over a piece of equipment that costs at least a hundred bucks, if not more, and trusting they won’t just run off with it (it must happen), or worse drop the thing (broken lens, ouch!). But then you have the composition aspect to taking a photo. Some people have no idea how to take a picture. They are thrown into the spotlight to learn where to “press the button” and other aspects of the unfamiliar camera in 15 seconds or less. Sure, it’s not that difficult once you get the hang of it how a camera works, but you’d be surprised.

Did it take a picture? “It didn’t flash. Try it again!” I’ve had some people press the button only slightly, which focuses but doesn’t actually take the photo. If you get the wrong lighting, worst case, your face is washed out or too dark. Ioften end up asking them to take one more, just in case the first wasn’t good.

So how do you get a good photo? Take it yourself. I started taking pictures of myself by extending my right arm out as far as possible and snapping a few. Useful when no one is around to ask. It’s also a fun game oftrigonometry, figuring out the right angle to get the shot that you can’t see. I swear I’ve stretched my right arm longer than the left, making this possible.

This habit has led to a large collection of shots with me on the left in the foreground with the place I’m at in the background to my left (photo right). And there’s no embarrassment if I don’t take my own picture right. Well…