Caching Memories

My good friend, Kris, is an avid scrapbooker as well as being a geocacher. Even though I swore up and down it wouldn’t happen to me, she’s gotten me hooked. She has since moved on to digital scrapbooking but I like working with paper, adhesive, and stickers.

You are probably asking yourself what scrapbooking and geocaching have in common, right? It might not sound like they have much in common, but they’re both really about memories.

So, the next time you’re out caching, be sure to pack a camera to record your trip. Here are seventips to make sure your pictures come out well.

    1. Have your subject look into the sun- the light will be behind the photographer. Yes, the subject might squint a bit looking into bright light, but you know that the entire face will be evenly lit. It just makes a better photo.

      The light was behind us. See how dark our faces are? NOT a great photo composition!

  1. Get close to your subject so it fills the entire frame in the camera. I prefer to do a combination of physically moving closer and the zoom.

    I didn’t crop this image at all. I created the close-up effect with the camera, not the computer.

  2. Take a few landscape shots that show the area around the cache. Try to photograph what the terrain is like: shoreline, water, trees, and the distant background. In Arizona, the background usually has big mountains in it!

    You can really see the landscape and cacti in this photo. It gives scope to the whole cache location.

  3. Get a least one photo of somebody holding up the cache, logbook, or cache contents.

    I love the jumble of items that came out of the cache.

  4. Photos with people in them are generally more interesting. Try to get at least a few shots with your group members in them. It’s always fun to look back on how fashion and hairstyles have changed.
  5. Ask somebody to take a group picture. Otherwise, you’ll get great memories of the trip, but no pictures of you! (I learned this the hard way on a solo vacation to London. When I got the prints downloaded, there were no pictures with ME in them. Very disappointing!) You can also bring along a tripod and use the camera’s self-timer feature.

    You’ll always remember who you went caching with: Raven from Up With People

  6. Do something with the pictures. Put them on your blog or website, email them to family, create a scrapbook, print and frame them. But, don’t feel you need to keep every single photo! Some are blurry, some are boring, etc. Pick out the ones that best tell the story of the adventure and share them.

 

Geocachers Weigh In:

  • Do you usually bring a camera along on your caching trips?
  • What are some of the best photos (memories or cool compositions) you’ve taken while caching?
  • What was one time you wish you’d had your camera and didn’t bring it with you?
  • What do you take photos of when you’re out caching?