bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

This is my response to new member IRIS from Toronto, who yesterday mentioned she was new to DSLR and was interested in using it for vacation photos.

I told her that viewing other's vacation photos doesn't have to be an unpleasant experience. Unfortunately, previous situations cause many people see "vacation photos" and "root canal" as synonyms. I'm certainly not saying my photos are top notch, but at least I believe most people would choose them over a dentist visit.

In my opinion, when dealing with wide expanses and vistas, too many people line the subjects up too far away and facing forward like a bunch of Leprechauns awaiting a firing squad. The first photo is what I consider a pleasant alternative.

Don't forget to capture the unusual or out of the ordinary times. My son's girlfriend took her stuffed elephant "Fred" along and they made a point to include Fred in a photo of where ever we might be. The 2nd photo is them shooting Fred at Mt Rushmore.

Vacations are supposed to be fun and try to capture those times. #3 is such an occasion. Sure, the image quality leaves much to be desires, I was a bit low on light, etc but this image certainly captures my son's sense of humor.

Sometimes there are vacation moments when not everyone is happy. #4 is such an example. Like her mother, my daughter gets fussy when she's too cold, too hot, too hungry, too tired and on and on. While this image could have been cropped to improve the main subjects, including the patches of snow and mountain tops makes it obvious she is cold and grumpy, but received no sympathy from her brother.

#5 is one of those times when you just want to capture the moment regardless of how well the photo comes out. At Yellowstone my daughter just about stepped in this very runny buffalo pie. As you can see by her expression, she was not particualary impressed with Mother Nature at that moment.

I guess in short, it boils down to the fact that people go on vacations, so make sure you include them in plenty of photos doing whatever they do, be it laugh, cry, fuss, cuss, wince or whatever. Many years I dumped my motorcycle after hitting a large oil trail from a leaking pickup. I made sure I got photos of the skid marks on the pavement, my skinned up elbow, holes ground through my jeans and later, a great big bandage patched onto my butt. The scars are long gone, but I still have those photos and they are still good for a laugh.

Badlands


Fred


Bever boy


Grumpy girl


Oops poops!

sarge69 Loc: Ft Myers, FL

Now those are the shots I want to take home on my next vacation. Relaxed and honest.

Sarge69

1eyedjack

I can take photos of my family at any time, so I do not include them in 75% of my vacation photos. I use vacation photos to record different things that we don't see at home..
Different strokes for different folks.
Your photos are well taken and present a good scene..

bikinkawboy Loc: north central Missouri

Don't worry 1eyed, I still take plenty of scenery photos without people. But since we don't have any mountains here in north Missouri, it's nice to have family photos with genuine mountains in the background.

Beetlebug05 Loc: Scotland

Thank you bikinkawboy for sharing your photos, and putting together the story to go with them :thumbup:
Jeanette

Bmac Loc: Long Island, NY

The photos made me chuckle, a good thing. Thanks for posting. 8-)

john blue Loc: Lowndesboro, Al

Thanks for sharing and pictures to prove you point. Hope all your vacation are fun.