Smile for the camera

It is very rare to get a photo of yourself when you are traveling solo, at least one that isn’t arms length from your face 🙂 So in the wind-down to Christmas in Strasbourg I booked a photo walk experience (with Anastasia through Air BnB), to create a record of my travels. It was a really rainy day, but that creates good mood for photos and I’m not put off by a bit of water. I met Anastasia in a café where she was huddled over her laptop editing photos from a previous tour. She is a bundle of smiles and chatter, and we spent 45 minutes or so sharing a drink, and talking about holiday plans (she was leaving the next day for a long journey back to Moscow with her partner and their puppy to see family for Christmas). I told her I don’t like being in front of the camera, and that I prefer natural shots rather than posed. ‘That’s just perfect’, she said. Then we went walking and it was a really enjoyable couple of hours. I almost forgot I was being photographed because we were talking and laughing; until she asked me to twirl or turn around. This morning she sent the photos through (there are 90, but I have saved you from seeing the full set 🙂 ). Such good value for around $120 NZD. Highly recommend if you are traveling by yourself or with others that you check out some of these photo walk opportunities. There are several in every places I have visited so far. You’ll meet lovely people, they know the best spots to take great pictures, likely have better gear than you, and will edit and send them to you a few days later.