A Kodak Zi8, a Dog, a Kid, and a Moment…

Not long ago, Sue and I had an opportunity to spend the weekend house sitting for our son Brian and daughter-in-law Brandi, which also including watching 4 of our 7 grandchildren, who range in age from about 1.5 years to 8.

Of course, our youngest son Jack (who is 10) came along, so adding up the household we had 5 kids, a dog, a couple of fish, two lizards, and two parent/grandparents.  Needless to say, we had a wild, crazy, and fun-filled time.

Now, if you’ve read many of the article posts here on DiscoverSkills, you know that one of the subjects I spend a lot of time on is digital photography (CLICK HERE to see our Digital Camera posts, and CLICK HERE to see our Image Editing posts). It’s been one of my passions since I was a kid, and something that I especially love to do and teach about now that “digital” has become the norm.

So it might surprise you to hear that upon arriving at our kids house, I realized that I had NOT brought along any of my digital cameras. Here we are, watching a covey of energetic, boisterous, playful kids, and the adults have no camera to record the “Kodak” moments.

How pitiful is that?

But wait…  after realizing the camera bag was still sitting at home, in the next breath my left hand instinctively went to my left-front, pant poocket, and low and behold there it was. My ever present, ever handy, take-it-with-me-everywhere, Kodak Zi8.  We were saved!

For those not familiar with it, the Kodak Zi8 is a small, pocket-sized, high-definition, digital video camera. In the world of video, the Zi8 is grouped with a family of cameras which we typically call “flip” cameras, named after the now discontinued line of Flip Video cameras that started the entire pocket-sized video camera movement.

[I’ll devote my next article to telling you more about the pros and cons of flip-style video cameras]

I love my Kodak Zi8. Not only does it take high quality video, but it’s small size makes it a snap to take it with me every where I go. This means that I rarely, if ever, miss a shot, and that’s what photography is all about… having the camera ready when the moment is right.

And so it was…  during our grand-kid-watching weekend. “Moments” popped up all over the place, and in every case I had my Zi8 out of my pocket and ready to go. We got LOTS of great Kodak moments.

But there was one particular moment that especially stood out, and prompted me to write this article.  Our granddaughter, Finlee, is about one and a half years old. She’s a doll, and at that age where she’s constantly moving, exploring, and interacting with the world around her. And one of her favorite “targets” of interaction is the family dog, Rosie… a Golden Retriever that is just about Finlee’s same age.

So here is the scenario…  I’m sitting at a dining room table, doing some computer work, and out of the corner of my eye, in another room, I see Finlee walk and stand in front of Rosie who’s chewing a bone. Of course I’m thinking, “uh oh, trouble’s coming”… but then the next instant, Finlee is climbing all over Rosie who is treating her as gentle as a lamb.

Talk about Kodak moments.

Here is a 5 minute sample of the video I took.  I think you’ll find it fun to watch.

But the big message to take away is this:  Our typical days are full of Kodak moments, but the only way you’ll get them is if your camera is there with you.  And with the new slew of micro-sized point-and-shoot cameras, and even pocket-sized flip cameras like the Kodak Zi8, taking a camera with you everywhere is easier than ever.

Give it a try!

Oh, and as always, if you have any Kodak moments of your own you’d like to share, please leave us the story in the comment area below. We’d love to hear about them.