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12 Clever Uses for
Your Digital Camera
Posted by Mike Richard
on November 8, 2007
http://www.vagabondish.com/clever-uses-digital-camera-traveling/
(Reprinted with permission from
vagabondish.com.)
Your digital camera
can be a lot more useful than you might think,
especially while traveling. Here are twelve novel
uses you probably never thought of for your digital
camera:
#1 - Post a Digital Reward Flyer
Draw up a reward flyer on with a standard piece of a
paper and magic marker. Include your e-mail address
and a reward amount, if applicable. Take a picture
of it with your camera and use your camera’s options
to “lock” this file and prevent accidental deletion.
It’s a small precaution, but if your camera’s ever
lost, its finder will at least have a way to contact
you.
#2 - Subway Map
Find a large, complete map of the local subway
system and snap a picture of it. It’s like your very
own Google Maps for the subway. You can zoom in and
out of it. And, if you get lost, you can easily find
a local bystander, zoom in on your destination
station and point it out to them on the screen.
#3 - Stadium and Arena Map
When we arrived in Montreal on a recent trip and
found that U2 was in town, we knew we had to pick up
a pair of tickets on the streets. We used our
digital camera to capture the complete seating chart
of the Bell Centre. We felt much more at ease
talking to ticket scalpers outside the arena because
we knew exactly where the seats were for the tickets
they were trying to sell us.
#4 - Mirror
Depending on the ambient lighting, you can both use
the blacked-out LCD to check out your reflection or
simply take a picture of yourself and review it.
#5 - Keep You Company
If you’re traveling alone for any length of time,
you’ll no doubt experience bouts of loneliness.
Before you leave, take pictures of your loved ones,
pets, car, XBox … whatever conjures pleasant
memories of home. You also might want to lock these
photos to protect against accidental deletion.
#6 - Snap Your Luggage
Face it: your luggage probably looks just like 90%
of the luggage out there. Let me guess: it’s black
with a few zippered pockets? Snap a few pictures of
the bags you’re toting around before you leave. If
they wind up in Tahiti when you’re headed to Taiwan,
it’ll be much easier to show the airline clerk a
photo rather than trying to explain how “It’s big
and black with zippers.”
#7 - Recalling Where You’re Staying
With a digital camera, you can take a picture of
your hotel and the nearest street sign, as well as
any nearby landmarks, and then show those pictures
to your taxi driver or to anyone from whom you might
need to get directions. For English-speakers this is
especially helpful in Asia, India, and any country
where the language may be difficult to pronounce and
read.
#8 - Photograph Your Child
Perhaps the quickest, easiest precaution you can
take while traveling with children is to take their
photo everyday. If they get lost, you’ll have an
instant visual of exactly what they were wearing to
show local law enforcement.
#9 - Avoid Rental Car Scams
Use your digital camera to take your own photos of
your rental car the minute you pick it up. As an
added safeguard should you ever wind up in court
disputing when any damage occurred, you might want
to get your cell phone in the photo too since the
date and timestamp is difficult to fake.
#10 - Remembering Where You’ve Been
This may seem obvious, but I personally admit to
taking a dozen or so pictures of newfound friends
while traveling and then having no idea where I met
them or where the photo was taken. Oddly enough,
this happens most often at bars and pubs. Hm.
As mentioned above, this is also particularly useful
far off the beaten path, where English is not likely
to be spoken. You may have only symbolic signs to
show where you’re eating and visiting. And the
pronunciation of locals may be of little help. Snap
a photo of the outside of your favorite restaurant,
club, etc. and later you can show someone where
you’d like to go back to or where you’ve been.
#11 - Photocopy Flyers
Urban centers are riddled with flyers promoting club
goings-on and events at local bars and pubs. If you
see one you like, snap a photo of it rather than
carrying the tattered remnants of a flyer in your
pocket.
#12 - A Backup Light
If you find yourself waking up in the middle of the
night in a dark hostel somewhere, use your digital
camera as a makeshift lantern. Flick through your
recent travel photos to a nice, bright outside shot
or simply keep a photo you’ve taken of a washed-out,
sunlit sky. The light from the LCD screen on most
digital cameras is bright enough to work as a backup
flashlight/lantern in a pinch. |
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5 Tips for Writing
Better Group Emails about Your Travels
25 Apr 2008 in Travel Writing, Photo, and Video
by David DeFranza
http://thetravelersnotebook.com/photography-q-a/how-to-write-better-mass-emails-about-your-travels-to-keep-people-up-to-date-on-your-travels/
(Reprinted with permission from
thetravelersnotebook.com.)
With a few simple tricks you can make mass emails
more reader-friendly and generate better discussions
and comments. Group emails are a great way to
quickly update a lot of people with what you have
been doing. The only problem is that they often come
off as a bit impersonal and can be very difficult to
read. More often than not, you will spend an hour
writing a detailed update, send it off, and get few,
if any, responses.
1. Protect people’s privacy
This first tip is actually not a suggestion; it’s a
rule. You should not place everyone’s address in the
“to:” field because it will allow every recipient to
see all the other addresses.
While there may be no problem with this for some,
many people don’t appreciate it. Instead, place your
own address in the “to:” field and everyone else’s
address in the “bcc:” field. This will block out the
addresses, while at the same time delivering a copy
to yourself for review.
2. Pick one story
It is tempting to write long, detailed, updates
every time you sit down in the internet cafe. This
is an understandable impulse, but it tends to
produce an email that is very difficult to read.
Instead, pick one story or anecdote that stands out
and focus on telling it well. Keeping it short, not
more than two well formed paragraphs will make the
email easier to read and help sharpen the writing.
When thinking of a story to send, try to pick
something that is interesting and will encourage
people to ask more about what you have been doing.
Hopefully, your friends will read the email and then
write back asking for more.
3. Use photographs
Everyone likes to see pictures and a group email is
no exception. Pick a single, favorite, photograph
that illustrates something you have done recently
and attach it to the email.
When it comes to the message, try to think of the
email as a postcard. A short, descriptive, message
accompanied by a well chosen photograph can say
significantly more than a long, overly detailed,
update.
4. Ask questions
Email is about communication and, ultimately, you
would like your messages to engage your reader
enough that they will respond. A great way to elicit
a response is to ask a question or two.
Of course, typical correspondence questions fall a
bit flat and sound impersonal when read in a group
email. Instead, draw some questions out of your
experiences that might spark conversation.
For example, you could ask a speculative question
like “I wonder if I’ve been missing an amazing ski
season back home?” or something about more universal
experiences like “why haven’t I been drinking wine
with dinner all my life?”
5. Set up a blog on Matador
This allows you to share
all of your favorite stories and photos, give
thoughts and opinions, and engage a like-minded
community. It gives your friends the freedom to
check in on your progress whenever they want, and
the ability to comment on each entry.
A great place to
create a free travel blog that you can share with
existing friends and use to make new ones is
Matadortravel.com. Set up a profile, start a blog,
and send out your last group email providing a link
to the blog and RSS feed!
Reference:
Travelnotebook.com |
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Ohio University
Heritage
College of Osteopathic Medicine
Grosvenor Hall,
Athens, Ohio 45701
Tel:
740-593-2183 FAX: 740-593-9557 |
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