To say that I take a lot of pictures is an understatement. I love to snap photos with my digital camera. Since having my little girl, I constantly have a great subject that is usually right at my side. I even upgraded my digital camera to a sleeker and faster one that I can carry in my pocket or purse so I never miss a shot.

Unfortunately, I do miss great photos. I can take pictures of her all day but have only a few of us together. The family photographer knows what I’m talking about. Those taking the pictures rarely get the chance to actually be in the photos. That’s why when I heard about the win an XShot from BenSpark contest, I knew I had to enter.

The XShot is a tripod (although it doesn’t have three legs) that you can use to take pictures of yourself. We’ve all taken pictures are arms length before with varying degrees of success. With the XShot, you can take a photo up to 37 inches away. That means you can get yourself and a few friends plus the background in the photo. Here are a couple of photos I took at arms length.

This one was taken at a BBQ restaurant that had a lot of personality. Too bad I wasn’t able to capture more of the interesting decorations on the walls.

This one was taken on the train at the zoo. The zoo was decorated with Christmas lights but I missed all of that in this picture. I was trying to hold that camera as far as I could. I guess I was concentrating too hard because I don’t look very comfortable.

Want to see it the XSpot in action? Drew at BenSpark.com created this great video of him and others using it at a convention. I always like to take pictures of interesting displays but never do anything with the photos. If I was in them, I might be more inclined to display them.

I’m tempted to just order one, especially since until July 15th I can use the promo code SparkRocks and get $5.50 off an XShot. That will make the XShot less than $20.

If you would like to enter to win, visit BenSpark.com to learn more.