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“When you’re travelling solo, who takes your pictures with you in them?”
I get asked this question quite often by people. As someone who travels solo most of the time, I’ve had to get pretty creative when taking photos of myself while on the road. Since I’d rather be behind the camera than in front of it, I realized that it is nice to actually have travel photos with me IN them.
I’ve listed a few tips and tricks to taking some great travel photos while travelling solo…traditional selfies not included!
Read more: How to take better travel photos – Tips & Tricks
Ask A Local/Tourist
More times than not, a stranger will happily oblige to take a photo of you. I did however have a weird scenario happen while in Norway. I had asked a tourist to take a photo of me and he literally placed his hand up in the air yelling, “No photo…no photo!!” Ok…as if I was asking HIM if I could take HIS photo. Umm, no! Someone saw what had happened and politely asked if I would like him to take a photo of me. Yes please. Photos taken by strangers could end up being either great, or not so great. If all goes well, the photo taken by a stranger will be top notch and be everything you could ever want, but the true answer is (and we’ve all been there) the stranger takes the photo, gives you back your camera, or phone and umm… it’s blurry as hell, or crooked and NOT flattering.
“Does it look ok?”
“Ya, looks awesome! Thanks!”
NOT!!
Nobody is going to have the heart to be like, “This pic is shit… take another one!” Lol If this happens, just wait a few minutes for the person to walk away and just ask someone else. Simple, done and no hurt feelings.
Tripod + Self-Timer = Thing Of Magic
This isn’t a new trick. I actually prefer this way of taking travel photos of myself more than any other way. If you have a remote shutter release device, it’ll even make the tripod + self-timer trick a lot easier because you can get in the shot and release the shutter via the remote, saving you from running into the shot, time and time again. I’ve brought and used my tripod on trips before, but my large tripod took up SO much room and added extra weight in my luggage and to be honest, it was a pain in the ass to set up in some areas depending on the terrain.
Well, I’ve fixed that now! I went and bought a Joby GorillaPod tripod and it’s amazing! It’s small, it’s portable, it’s flexible and best of all, it can literally wrap around anything from a tree branch to a pole. I used it in Malta and fell in love with it. Soooo happy with it. The particular tripod that I purchased can hold a camera up to a DSLR in size and can withstand 6.6lbs. Not too shabby!
Be Creative
You don’t need your whole body in a shot for it to be a shot of you travelling. Get creative with how you take your photos and don’t be afraid to try new angles, or ideas. Something even as simple as your feet hanging off the ledge of a dock on a lake, or your hand holding a map of the city you are exploring will make for an interesting and unique travel photo.
Read more: The Ultimate Guide to Street Photography – Tips & Tricks
Ask Fellow Travellers To Take Your Photo
News flash…just because I travel to countries alone, doesn’t mean I’m ALWAYS alone. Sometimes I’ll join a tour group while I’m away on my own and having other travellers to take your photo becomes the most convenient thing ever. You can reciprocate by taking photos of them in return because chances are that they’ll want visual memories of their travels as well.
Read more: Throttle Therapy – Exploring the Island of Gozo on an ATV
The Unconventional Selfie
I friggen HATE selfies. I’m not good at them, I’m not good at looking good in them, they are just awkward as hell to me! If I’m going to take a selfie, you better believe it’s going to be the most ridiculous photo ever. Enjoy!
How do you guys take photos of yourselves while travelling solo? Any tips you want to share? Let me know in the comments below! Happy snapping! xo
