Me in Agra

I long ago gave up the need to have a lot of pictures of myself in front of various landscapes and landmarks; I know what I look like and so do my friends and family. It's not that I never want pictures of myself  -- before selfie was even a word, I used to take them occasionally when I traveled, by balancing my camera on some rock or piece of furniture and setting the timer. And I do use my phone once in a while -- I took a few selfies at Petra, after I'd finished the climb to the Monastery on foot and I was feeling rather proud of myself, for example. 

But I have at least fifty (unnecessary) pictures of myself in front of the Taj Mahal, and even more at the Agra Fort, because the guide kept grabbing my camera and taking them. I understand that most tourists probably ask him to take pictures, but I couldn't get him to understand that I didn't particularly want them. In the end I just smiled and posed.

At the Agra Fort, I think he was just trying to hurry me along, because sometimes when I'd say wait, I want a picture of that, he'd try to take it for me. So it became a kind of tug of war, and I didn't always win. I ended up with fewer photos than I might have had otherwise of the things I wanted to take pictures of, and so many pictures of myself that even my mother might have found it excessive.