Vacation sensations … say cheese!

I am married to the world’s most accomplished self-timer photographer. I first learned this on a trip to the North Cascades about five years ago. Eric and I found ourselves on the edge of the most mesmerizing lake I’d ever seen. No one was around for miles. And I wanted a photo of the two of us with the stunning mountain backdrop.

“Stay right here,” he says. “Don’t move.”

He takes off and turns around about 15 feet in front of me. He pulls the camera out of his pocket, and puts it on top of a fallen log. A peek at the screen tells him the camera’s not high enough so he puts a rock on top of the log and puts the camera on top of the rock. Perfect.

“O … K … here we go …”

He pushes the button, runs back at me, turns around and “Cheese!” Picture perfect.

Every once in a while we’ll ask a passer-by to snap a shot of us, but we’re almost always disappointed with the results. Really? How hard is it to fit everything into the frame? Missing heads. Missing scenery. Missed opportunities.

Eric’s taught us to embrace the self-timer. We almost always end up with a smile on our face by the time the picture’s taken, because the camera’s almost always perched precariously in a place that requires a hurdling sprint back into the frame – and that’s some funny stuff.

Here’s one self-timed family portrait from a couple of years ago, again in the North Cascades. (We love it there. If you haven’t been, put it on your to-do list, seriously.) Eric had to set the camera on the top of our tent, which was about 25 feet away, then jump across a stream, a boulder and a stump, and THEN climb up on the log bridge … all within 7 seconds.

Here’s what we ended up with. Probably not worthy of a Spokane 7 photo contest prize, but I’m cool with that. Because this memory’s a winner.

Got something better? You have until September 2 to prove it. Submit your favorite vacation photo by clicking here . Be sure to include a caption or explanation, too, just in case we can’t figure out why you thought it would be a good idea to let your little brother bury you in the sand with the tide rolling in.