Pardon me, sir, would you hold my wallet...

Florence Italy - by unknown photographer

     We do not have very expensive cameras. They are point and shoot digitals.  But, if you add the cost of the trip to the value of memories, those cameras mean a good deal. We often find ourselves somewhere that seems to call for a photo of the two of us with something important in the background.  We turn to a perfect stranger and asked them to take our photo. Or, as a means of getting our photo taken, I ask a perfect stranger if I can take their picture so that they will take mine. It surprises me how someone will hand me their expensive camera at such an offer. I can think of many times this has happened: Conner Pass in Ireland, Buckingham Palace in London, atop a pass in the Alps, the arena in Verona, a lake in Seville. What if they take my camera and run? Not sure what I'd do.  We do find that most often we ask someone from France - we do not speak French, but they understand what we want. A few times we have been surprised that we have asked an American. Many times lately we have chosen someone speaking English for no other reason than we can explain what we want. A sure bet for a good picture is asking someone from Japan. We have met some very nice people that way. You would not ask, "Pardon me, sir, would you hold my wallet?" But, we will say, "Here is my camera, would you take a photo of us?"