Photographs and tourists.

Tourists.
Natural phenomena from every corner of the earth venturing to every corner of the earth.

One thing that unites us tourists is the camera. Pictures are taken of anything and at all locales. Today, I laughed at an Asian man taking a picture of a totally normal-looking squirrel. Moments later, I took a picture of a plaque that said "Charles Dickens" on it. Just because.

But sometimes, it's not just pictures of stuff that are desired, but evidence that you were actually there. When traveling solo, there's not much to be done about this besides taking an awkward my-arm-is-extended-as-far-as-possible self-shot. These are both terrible and embarrassing. I advise against them. (It's for this reason that you'll seldom find me in pictures on this blog). When traveling with a companion, however, there are a few approaches to take:

1. If it's a remote enough location, and there is something convenient nearby, use the self-timer. It takes some trial + error, but is generally a good method.
2. Take turns getting shots of each other.
3. Decide to trust that passersby will not run off with your camera, own up to being an annoying tourist, and ask someone to take your picture.

Number three is what my friend and I opted for yesterday, since our whole intention was to get proof that we met up, and because we were at Parliament and the place was not ideal for setting up a self-timer.
You'd think that in a sea of tourists, an ocean of people like yourselves, with cameras raised and monuments being captured, that SOMEONE ELSE WOULD KNOW HOW TO TAKE A PICTURE!

Nope. This is not the case. It took four tries, in four different locations, for someone to snap a shot of the two of us—with Big Ben in the background, not chopped off, not crooked, and in focus. I never considered that to be a near-impossible task until yesterday. Oh well, persistence paid off and we finally got one!

Or did we?

Come on. Really?!

-M

PS- Now, I'm not some fancy photographer, and the camera I tote around is a point-and-shoot from '08, but this picture—taken from across the River, whilst aboard the London Eye—might give you a better feel for the landmark:

Haha, I guess it's a lil crooked now that I look. Foot now being inserted into mouth.

(More photos from that excursion to come. Sometime. I kind of promise.)