Photography

Vue Zone wireless video-monitoring systems allow people to check on their home or pets while traveling. Through cameras placed in your home, video images (live or recordings) can be accessed over the Internet with a laptop or smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry or Android).

Priced $150-$240, the various packages include cameras, wall mounts and a base unit. Each system can handle up to 50 extra cameras (plain camera, $79.95, and motion-activated, $99.95).

Dear Globetrotter:

by Donna Judd; Fullerton, CA

I read the advice about reducing camera shake (Jan. ’11, pg. 85) and agree with Mr. Noble to a point. I think that another solution would be to tuck the arms in but hold the camera so the shutter button is on the top.

This would prevent the camera from moving because the hand that is holding the weight of the camera is not the one that has to move to trip the shutter. The bottom hand holds the camera’s weight and the top hand supports the camera against the photographer’s head.

In his January ’11 “Departure Lounge,” the publisher discussed reducing camera shake. He included pictures of someone holding a camera and wrote, “In picture No. 2, the photographer is tucking her arms in and using her body as a brace. The camera will be much steadier that way.”

by David Patten, St. Petersburg, FL

What is a sense of place, and how might I capture it in the photographs I take on a trip? These questions were uppermost in my mind on a trip to Morocco with Insight Vacations, June 3-12, 2010.

In next month’s issue we’ll have the results of “Where Were You in 2010?” and I’ll announce the winners from among all the entries. Seeing where other travelers have been may give you some ideas for your next venture.

I had a letter from a reader who said he had been to every country on our nations list. Sadly, I misplaced the letter. Would you write again, please?