Why would anyone want to take a travel mascot on vacation? The answers are as varied as the mascots themselves. Here’s a few stories:
- A small group of friends traveling in Europe found a plastic spaceman in some prepackaged food they bought; the spaceman was included in the photos for the rest of the trip as a sort of good luck charm.
- One guy was invited on a trip and couldn’t go. Friends borrowed a figure from the top of his computer and included it in many of their photos, a reminder that they missed him.
- A professional photographer used a couch as an artistic metaphor and photographed it at many tourist sites. Lugging a couch to tourist attractions is suffering for your art in a way I’ll skip, but if it works for you, go for it.
If you’re traveling alone, a mascot can be an icebreaker. It’s easier to ask someone to hold an object while you take their picture than it is to simply take their picture.
It’s a great photographic self assignment. Framing a large subject and including a small object is no easy task. Spud’s travel shot at Easter Island with the mysterious heads in the background is a difficult shot to make.
My first attempt at a travel mascot was an idea that came to me one lazy afternoon. The idea was to create a sort of online kiddy show with this traveling character who would end up tangled or mangled as he told kids of his travels. A sort of Rick Steves (PBS travel guru) meets Sports Goofy for the web. A friend of mine was an artist and he agreed to draw the head for the character. We bought a plush toy, popped the original head off and gave the concept a try on a trip to Yosemite.
The idea worked. With a few tweaks, it could have seen the light of day. But an ongoing storyline was more complex a task than I wanted to pursue for a casual website. The experience, however, was a fun one. The three of us on the trip thought up funny situations for the character and spent a lot of time taking photos and laughing. For me, the reason is silly fun.
If a mascot sounds like fun, then I suggest you give it a try. Grab something you already have around the house and start shooting photos right where you are. If the results make you smile, try taking one on the road next vacation.
The following are a few suggestion for choosing and working with a mascot. Things I’ve noticed in looking through travel sites and photographing mascots myself. My buddy Chet will help me illustrate my suggestions.
Photo by Dale Ward
Big head bright colors: This is Chet. He’s a hard vinyl figure about 6 inches tall. Colorful, fairly unbreakable, goofy looking and not too big to pack. All good mascot qualities. Chet is part of Funko’s Spastik Plastik line which currently has about 15 figures with absolutely no redeeming social value. Funko also makes vinyl bobble heads which would be another good choice.
Beanies: sit well and pack well but don’t normally have big expressive faces, If you choose a beanie, use something with a dominant color and very little pattern.
Mr. Potato Head: is an excellent choice for a mascot. He has a big eyes, flexy hands, lots of accessories and he’s easy to replace (more about that later). If I was using the ‘Spud’, I would paint the plastic body a fluorescent color.
Photo by Dale Ward
Know your camera’s limits: Something smaller than 6 inches is going to need a camera with close up capabilities. Something larger is going to be harder to pack and carry. Experiment ahead of time with your mascot and the camera settings.
My Olympus Camedia has an extreme close up setting, many cameras don’t. If you are shooting with a disposable film camera, the closest you can get without blur is about 3 feet. If 3 feet is your minimum, you should consider a larger mascot; something in a midsize plush or maybe something inflatable that will squish after each use.
Photo by Dale Ward
Use close-ups whenever possible: For this shot, I put the camera on a close up setting, held it as close to my eye as I could and held Chet up extending him as far as my arm would reach. While you can’t read the sign, you still get the idea. I could have placed him at the bottom of the sign but it’s 15 feet tall and he would have been lost there. When you can’t show it all, stick the mascot near the most important photographic element.
Photo by Dale Ward
Use scale once in a while: Here’s Chet resting in the shade before his entrance into California Adventure. He’s looking mighty small, and a little small goes a long way. Take a look at the next photo.
Photo by Dale Ward
In this picture, the tennis shoes make the shot funny and Chet is a bigger part of the picture. If the kid in the picture was a friend of mine, I might place Chet next to him and reframe the photo so that the tennis shoes are the bottom of the picture. If I had shot this photo from ground level and put Chet in the sun, it would have even more impact. Oops.
Photo by Dale Ward
Watch where you put them: I took a chance with this shot putting Chet on a railing at Big Thunder. I was setting up my first photo at Grizzly Falls in DCA when a gust of wind knocked Chet over a rail about 8 to 10 feet to the ground below. If a cast member hadn’t been going through the area, I would have had to go and file a claim with lost and found or get in trouble going where I clearly shouldn’t be. If I had placed him 4 feet further over he would have fallen into the falls and it would have been all over before it even started. If you treasure the figure and you have your doubts, don’t do it. Have someone hold it in place or change the shot. If you want to take chances, get something easily replaceable like Mr. Potato Head or, bring doubles.
Photo by Dale Ward
People, people, people: Get plenty of people (and their dogs) in your shots. Put your mascot in your friends faces as many times as they will tolerate it. Be silly, be creative, be funny. Feed your mascot, burp it, cover it in chocolate sauce and photograph it with strangers. Get plenty of photos of friends and family with and without a mascot. Get group shots at meals, on the plane, in the car, everywhere they are an already captive audience. Snap a picture or two as you’re all discussing what to see next. Chet at the Grand Canyon is memorable. A picture of Aunt Francis licking Chet at the Grand Canyon is priceless.
My last piece of advice would be to find an assistant: Ask someone else with a warped sense of humor to help you with your photos. With two of you, the shots are easier to set up and you’ll laugh at least twice as much and when you’re doing something as silly and offbeat as this, fun my friend, is going be the best reward.