fern-glasses-3

Our friend Fern Berman told us how she’d gone into a sunglass store and started trying on glasses; like everybody, her mind got boggled by the selection. So she devised a way to get advice from her spouse, Faith Middleton who was in another state preparing to host one of her in-depth interviews on public radio. With each new possible candidate Fern tried on, she took a picture of herself with her mobile phone and emailed it to Faith at the studio. Every few minutes an email would interrupt Faith with the latest emailed photo of Fern in a different pair of glasses. “No, honey” those aren’t quite right…”Naahhh”….”Keep trying”….Faith emailed back several times. Fern’s strategy of instant-eyeglass-store-photo-consult-with-a-trusted-advisor seemed to be working until it was air-time and Faith couldn’t be interrupted for the next two hours; Fern was left on her own…

ferm-glasses-4

fern

fern-glasses-5

fern-6

…Persuaded by the sales person that she  “looked FABULOUS!” Fern bought the absolute WRONG pair of glasses…(which she later took back):

fern-glasses-2

…Still, Fern hit on yet another practical use of the ever-ready cell phone camera: When in doubt, take a picture and mail it out! (The other day my assistant emailed pictures of ribbon samples from a notions store in the garment district…)

And then a friend emailed a picture of some chairs she’d seen at an antiques show, and called with the desperate message “What do you think??!!”

lydias-chairs-2

Thanks Fern!

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

2 replies on “strategy: instant consult via cell phone camera

  1. My spouse is virtually blind without his glasses. Looking into a mirror to try on frames for new glasses is useless for him. I always tag along and take digital images of him with each pair, then he can put his glasses on and see how they look. I like this “long-distance” twist.

  2. That is a great solution to not being able to see without your glasses. And I suddenly realize it is the solution to my own dilemma about trying on sunglasses: that I can’t tell what they look like because I’m looking through the colored glass, and can’t tell how they look against my skin…I never thought to just take a picture of myself, and then take a look. Thanks for your comment!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *