Solo Travel Self-Portraits a Thing of the Past?
Over the years, I've become really adept at the self-portrait. Stopping to smell the roses at the Glasgow Necropolis in Scotland last year...
It’s one of the big challenges of solo travel: most times, there’s no one to take your photo as you stand before some of the world’s most famous monuments, sites, and landmarks. What to do?
So you improvise. There’s the take-your-picture-with-a-self-timer technique. Or the hold-your-camera-at-arms-length-and-hope-you’re-in-there-somewhere. There are quite a few creative approaches to help you with this often awkward task, but there’s really no two ways about it: taking a photograph of yourself can be a hassle.
More often than not, I’ll employ one or two of the methods mentioned above if there’s no one around but if an obliging person is nearby, I’ll just ask them to do me the favor of taking my picture. This usually works, except when the person in question isn’t quite savvy about the principles of photography and I end up with close-ups that should be wide shots, portraits that should be landscapes, the top of my head cut off, or other crimes of composition.
I’m an ungrateful wretch, I know.
So I was totally amused to read this article about people actually hiring professional photographers to document their vacations. Apparently, business is booming for these types of photographers and the trend is clearly a luxury for travelers who have the funds to secure services like this in the age of photo sharing through social media channels like Facebook and Instagram.
Is this the ultimate amenity for the solo traveler who has everything or what? If you had the money, would you hire a photographer to accompany you on your solo travels to document them for posterity? Or is this a frivolous practice that simply reeks of vanity or narcissism?
Thoughts?
Love the article and love your self portrait. Always good to smell the roses. I most often do the one-arm at-arms-length self portrait but it usually gives a weird angle to the face and a bit of the arm or shoulder in the pix. I think the asking someone to take your pix and vice versa is in the true spirit of solo travel and travel in general!! Keep up the good posts.
I totally agree that meeting people by asking them to take your photo is one of the best parts of solo travel! Thanks for the compliments!
Great photo! My arms always seem way too short! How about taking a snap of your reflection? Lacking hired camera people:-),I tried it once a few years ago and since then have made it sort of private tradition to have one self-portrait from a trip. Anything is good really – mirrors, shop windows..
Hey there, Joanna–thanks for chiming in! I agree with you–I love having self-portraits of myself from when I travel, especially when they’re a little goofy–I think it’s all part of the fun!
I think hiring your own photographer is going a bit far. Photographs are great to have but really and truly I think that sometimes we need to put the camera away and actually appreciate what we are seeing.
Hannah recently posted..How To Travel The World: Part Two
THIS. Hannah, you are so, so right.