STOP, SNAP AND ROLL

A bicycle is the best way to see a countryside.

I came to this realization during our recent bicycle tour thru Croatia.  On a bike, it is wonderfully easy to stop, snap a photo or two, and then be immediately on your way.

When on the bike, I used my phone to take pictures.  I did not want to take my nice camera on the bike and possibly drop it.  With a phone, or a small point and shoot camera, you can keep in in your cycling jersey.  So you stop, snap, and roll.  Easy as can be.

Compare the bicycle method with the automobile method.  We have discussed the slam on the brakes in a rental car method before.  I find it simply amazing how much energy and effort it takes to snap a photo of a building on a country road when you are in your car.  Stopping the car takes longer.  You have to have a place to stop the car, like a driveway or a wide shoulder.  Put the car in neutral and set the handbrake.  Unless you forget to put it in neutral and when you let out the clutch you kill the engine.  As you are grabbing your camera to get out of the car, the cars that are inevitably behind you pass you.  Then there are oncoming cars.  And after you make the small walk from the car to get the photo you want, you have to essentially repeat the above.  Traffic either direction hinders getting immediately back in the car.  By now, someone has probably honked at you.

I snapped these photos of a typical Croatian farmhouse.  I had to get off the bike to take the photos.  The amazing ease of seeing something that interests you and then snapping a photo of it is absolutely wonderful.  And you are rolling again a few seconds after you took the photo.

I keep thinking that I would like to have a reasonable quality camera mounted on my cycling helmet.  There would have to be some sort of viewfinder so you can see what you are photographing.  Then you would push a button somewhere.  You would not even have to get off the bike.  You may not even have to stop.

The bike makes it easy to take photos from at least two different angles.  This of course is mandatory so as to be able to draw a reasonable envelope of the building you are interested in.