I admit that it wasn’t my idea but I’ve decided to log my trip to Europe using a ridiculous action figure. Why?

• It helps you keep things fun (and a little silly). It is pretty funny pulling out a doll from Rayman’s Raving Rabbids in front of world-renown monuments. We get a lot of “WTF?!” looks and it just makes us laugh.
• You can let folks know where you went on limited internet access. Good internet isn’t always easy. Right now I’m stealing it from some poor guy with an open network (and being courteous of course — no streaming!). A good way to maximize your internet access and let people know where you went is to take a funny picture w/ said action figure at every major landmark.
• You don’t have time to process all that crap anyway. I’d rather spend my time having fun and seeing stuff than post-processing all my photos and cataloging my journey. With my current project, I can skip all that and still have some of the meaty parts of my day logged. To date, I have about 900 photos. Of those, I’ll probably end up with 100 but the time it takes to get there could be better spent.
• It’s fun to name your buddy. What’s in a name? Everything, if it’s a pirate. Are you kidding me? I agonized over this and finally arrived at Gaptooth Willy for this little guy. Pirate names are fricking hard.
• Because it’s different. Yep.

This is going to be a radical trip. I’ve never been to Europe, this is a 1.5-year belated honeymoon, and I’m a photo nut in photo nut paradise. My photo project is fun, but it’s also very practical. In a lot of ways, necessity gave birth to this little project — not insanity (I swear!). Thanks, Gaptooth Willy!

If you’re morbidly curious, the slideshow (of what I have so far) is below or you can see the set on flickr.