With no cameraman in sight, what’s a girl to do?

5 options for photo-taking: The Solo Traveler Edition  

Ah, the forever quandary of all solo travel-lusters who want those precious moments captured with an Instagram worthy picture. (if you didn’t take a picture, did it even happen?) How on earth are you supposed to capture those shots that show the gorgeous landscapes or famous locations with you in them without someone there to take the picture for you?

Option 1:

Oh, of course, ask someone else close by. Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I always have a mild internal panic attack when I hand off my phone or camera to someone else. I mean if they run, there’s like a 20% chance, based off their build, age, and their overall status of health, as to whether or not I’ll be able to catch them. And really, no offense photo takers, but 8/10 times, the pictures are sub-par. The lighting is usually off, or the angle is weird. There have even been a few times that vital body parts were clipped out of the picture. I mean, my head is pretty necessary in a frontward facing picture. I’m just saying.

So that leads us to….

Option 2:

One of your co-traveling friends or family members. This is what I normally do, but if you paid attention, this was a post about solo traveling.

And we go spiraling into….

Option 3:

The selfie. Well I don’t know about you guys, but the selfie is really only good for it’s namesake. You get minimal background, and if you revert back to the top, we were trying to capture those gorgeous landscapes.

Moving onward….

Option 4:

The selfie stick. So this is a modification of the selfie, with more distance – allowing for, taa daa, more of the background. Often times this can work based off the style of photo that you want to achieve, but there are those darn photos that just don’t capture it all. What’s a girl to do?

And finally….

Option 5:

The transportable tripod. Okay, so I finally broke down and bought one of these. I used to cringe at those people who had tripods. But let me tell you, they are a WONDERFUL. I bought one that allows my smart phone to attach to it. I go ahead and line up my shots, and with the assistance of a Bluetooth clicker in hand, I just have to insert myself into the envisioned photos. I will say I have not yet learned how to master the angle game (of myself) – that is still a work in progress, but the lining up of pictures has gotten substantially easier. I sometimes have even accidentally gotten an angle that I wasn’t even really thinking of, and ended up loving the picture.

Now, when traveling by myself, I often head to locations that generally have a decent amount of traffic around. I’m still learning how not be a complete dork when lugging around my tripod. It’s a work in progress. Also, I’ve managed to create a few shots where I, too have removed vital body parts. Touché bystander photographer. Touché.

Wanderlust Travel Tip:

Buy the tripod. Thank me later.