With today’s being Mother’s Day and it’s also being the time of year for graduations, I once again remind you of the power of our various built-in cameras to be and stay connected with our loved ones – family members and friends.

Throughout this Technology for Seniors Made Easy blog, I reference using iPhone or other Smart Phone video cameras to make these connections. I make it a practice to sing Happy Birthday, or other greetings, on video to my family members and close friends. Any videos under a minute in length are easy to email or text directly from the iPhone.

For this post I did the quick video above to demonstrate acknowledging Mother’s Day. Early in the day, I “text” messaged my granddaughter with a note along with a singing congratulations video on her graduation from college. Both were done with my iPhone, the camera lens tapped to face me.

For other examples and instructions, see How to eMail a Video from the iPhone another post on this blog. In the post Use Phone, Camera, or Computer Video for Celebration and Preservation of Special Occasions you’ll see an example of one of our followers who set up a special celebratory background scene to sing Happy Birthday to her mother.

Elsewhere on the blog I show How to Use Photo Booth on the iMac for creating videos and emailing them. The lower video on that page has my singing “Happy Birthday” to subscribers.  There I also point out the importance of maintaining eye contact with the recipient.

Our inclination is usually to be looking at ourselves and our own eyes in the monitor when we do videos. Rather, it’s important to remember, when addressing your audience through the camera, be sure to look at and focus on the lens of the device… on the side of our phones and tablets and top center of our computers.

Referencing the video above, in terms of the mechanics of it….

Usually I’ll simply hold the phone in my hand and simply stretch my arm as far out as I can go.  In the case of this video I used my Joby GripTight GorillaPod Stand™ sitting on a box to bring it up closer to eye level.

NOTE: If you do not have a video camera, or are uncomfortable videoing yourself, the are several ways you can send audio messages.  See Audio Recording Loved One’s Voices. Although the focus is on preserving another’s voice, the alternative processes described would be the same for sending audio messages.

Joyous connecting, making a difference for those you are reaching, as well as yourself. Please share your experiences with audio and/or video greetings in the “Leave a Reply….” box below.

And, certainly, if you have any questions email me at easyseniortechnology@gmail.com