Welcome back to Life Captured! Get ready for another epic edition of the You Name It linky party!
This week, I’m coming at you with a crucial life lesson fresh out of the field from this past weekend. Now, as some of you know, I’m officially a retired pro photographer. These days, my massive, heavy camera gear is tucked away taking a nice, cozy nap in the closet. Why carry around giant, heavy equipment when I’ve got the iPhone 17 Pro Max right in my pocket? Pure convenience!
So, fast-forward to last Saturday: I headed out for a fun day with my daughter and her family.
The Great Screen Protector Showdown 📱💥
Here’s the setup: My oldest granddaughter, Briella, is doing an amazing job in her high school marching band, and they were performing in the city parade. Naturally, Grandma was on a mission to capture all the glory! 📸
Plot twist: My phone was sporting one of those ultra-fancy privacy screen protectors. You know the ones; they stop nosey neighbors from peeping at your screen. But they also turn your display into a dark, mysterious void in direct sunlight. Keep that little detail in mind.
Back to the action! The music started, the parade began, and my youngest granddaughter, Brynlee, locked onto her primary target: the free candy. She took her position at the curb, ready to dive for flying sweets like an Olympic athlete. I whipped out my phone, lined up the shot, and snapped what I hoped was a masterpiece of pure anticipation.
Brynlee is the one with the orange arrow by her head. ↩️
Her bag already has a good stash!
High School Marching Band Magic! 🎷🥁
As the parade rolled on, the sound of brass and drums started getting louder and louder. Band after band marched by, and then – boom! Briella’s high school band came strutting down the street.
Suddenly, they halted in front of us, broke formation, and split into two lines facing the crowd. Out of nowhere, the music kicked up and the kids started full-on dancing while playing their instruments. Oh, I was absolutely tickled pink! It was incredible.
Naturally, I started snapping away like frenzied paparazzi. Could I actually see what was happening on my screen through that blackout privacy tint? NOPE. Did that minor detail stop me? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I was clicking like my life depended on it! Meanwhile, my daughter was next to me snapping her own set of photos.
The Moment of Truth (and Horror)
We both started scrolling through our photo galleries. I looked down at mine, and… lo and behold.
At some point during my frantic clicking, my camera had accidentally flipped to the front-facing selfie lens.
Instead of energetic high schoolers dropping dance moves with their instruments, I was so sure I was getting incredible shots in the moment! Imagine my disappointment when I scrolled through later and realized I’d just taken lots of selfies.
Dozens of them. A whole album of accidental Grandma selfies! 🤦♀️🤳 Luckily, my daughter is a hero and had taken a lot of actual parade photos that she graciously shared with me.
Thank goodness!
The Moral of the Story: The very next day, I went straight into Best Buy, handed them my phone, and said, “Off with the privacy shield!” I am now the proud owner of a crystal-clear screen protector.
Learn from my mistake, friends: leave the secret-agent privacy screens at home if you plan on taking daylight photos. Or prepare for an unexpected camera roll full of your own chin! 🖤
Now it’s Party Time 🥳
You Name It
The Linky Tools Blog Hop will now be referred as, “You Name It‘.
Photography, DIY, Art, Travel, Faith, Parties, Recipes: all posts are welcome. No posting limit. FAMILY FRIENDLY required!
No HOME PAGE Links. HomePage Link up is the first of every month.
The YOU NAME IT party runs from Friday through the following Thursday, with a brand-new party launching every week. I cannot wait to see what posts you decide to share!
After linking up a post or party, let me know ( in comments below) if it was an easy or difficult process for you. Thank you!
Yesterday is today’s memory.
Be sure to capture your memory today!
All the best,.
Debra Ellen
Welcome to You Name It!
After sharing, please visit other guest links. All participants take time to create their posts and this is one way those posts can be introduced to seasoned and new bloggers. Spread the kindness and love. 💗 Posted thumbnail links will be shown in random order, giving everyone an equal opportunity to be seen.
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LOL. I kind of love your selfie though! You look so happy and invested in what you’re doing. I like it.
Thank you, Nicole!
Ha that is a riot! I am sorry you missed your photo though but am real glad your daughter captured some of her own that she could share with you.
We laughed at my error too!
I don’t always carry my heavy camera around either. It is often easier to just snap with my phone or my point and shoot. A parade is a great place to take photos. Enjoy your week, and thank you for the linkup.
You’re most welcome, Jill!
Enjoyed!! 😁
Hi, Kathy
That’s such a hilarious story, Debra! As someone who loves photos and capturing moments, I, too, would have been a little panicked and frustrated at not being able to see the screen during the big moment. I’m glad you got some fun photos anyway. And I would have been right behind you at Best Buy getting rid of that screen!
Good question about the ease/difficulty of posting with LinkyTools. I personally don’t like it as well as inLinkz because it requires more steps–plus it doesn’t remember me and I have to fill in all my information each time. This time, the first post I shared was complicated for some reason–LinkyTools couldn’t recognize any images from it so I had to upload one from my computer. Then, after I successfully submitted it, it didn’t have a link to return back to your blog so I could submit a second, so I had to go back and find your blog again. Oddly, I didn’t have any of those problems with the second link I shared. Strange.
Thank you for hosting the link party for us! I’ve shared 2 posts and am off to visit and comment on others. Have a great weekend! 🙂
Thank you for giving me your feedback on your LinkyTools experience. LinkyTools does not recognize images of the post when I add my link as well. I use Apple MacBook. I have to upload an image for the thumbnail as well. Going forward, I will continue to use LinkyTools for the You Name It parties. The free version of inLinkz I can only run two party’s at one time. This is the reason for using two different platforms.
Have a fun week.
All the best.
Oh, interesting! I didn’t know inLinkz has that two-party limit. I’ve only ever run one at a time, so that explains that. LOL. And thanks for sharing this post with us at the Will Blog for Comments #93 linkup! Looking forward to seeing what you’ll share at #94. I hope you’re having a great week.
My week has been nice. I am especially looking forward to the zoom meeting about Artisan! 😁 See you shortly.
I even didn’t know that such functions exist. What a pity. I linked a post of my nature blog one year ago. Have a good time and many greetings from Greece
I sure enjoyed reading that post. Did I comphrend correctly, you and your sweetheart are now celebrating your 11 year anniversary? That’s wonderful!
Thank you for sharing.
Have a wonderful week.
All the best.
Oh, how disappointing (but funny to see yourself in all those photos) for you! I’m so glad your daughter’s camera was turned the right way! Thanks for the link party!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
You are most welcome, Marsha. Erika and I had a good laugh at all of my selfies 😊
Bwahahahahahaha. Lesson learned indeed. I laughed so hard. This is something that I would do. You are most beautiful.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday blog hop.
Have a fabulous day and weekend. ♥
Hi, Sandee. It makes me happy I was able to bring a smile to your face! Thank you for the nice compliment. It’s the nicest thing said to me today! ❤️
All the best.
Okay so this made me laugh I had tears in my eyes. Lol. Grandma selfies. I’m so happy your daughter got great pics and shared them with you. I laugh at myself to.
Thanks bunches for sharing this and You Name It #5 with Sweet Tea & Friends this month Sweet friend.
It makes me happy to have made you laugh. I appreciate your visit and participation!
All the best.