Making use of the time stamp to record the day of the week and time
While tapping through Retrica’s stamps, I stumbled on a time stamp that shows the day of the week and time at the center of the screen, and I couldn’t help exclaiming, “Wow!” As I tried putting the time stamp indicating the day of the week and time, the so-called “Weekly Stamp”, on my photos, I thought that it would be great if I used it when I wanted to keep moments in a special way.
I then started to photograph a moment that is repeated every day in my life, using the time stamp. Weekly Stamp is a great way to vividly record ordinary, rather trivial, fragments of my life or carve such moments honestly. Here are records of my life captured with the Weekly Stamp.
Records of my own Home Café where I serve myself a new special every day of the week
Once or twice a day, I make tea for myself at home. I love coffee and tea so much that I always keep a stash of good teas and new coffee capsule blends to my heart’s content. My tea times, which I don’t skip even for one day, can be posted on my social network, but I wanted to store all those moments in my mobile phone. That’s how my Home Café records started, and the Weekly Stamp added to my sense of achievement and pride.
On a Monday afternoon when I had a rather light lunch, I fixed a yogurt for myself instead of tea. With a few walnuts tossed on top of sugar-free plain yogurt, I could start the afternoon on a full stomach. For the yogurt, I chose the Jade filter as it gives a clear and fresh feel that resembles the look and taste of the yogurt.
On a slightly chilly Tuesday afternoon when I felt that autumn was just around the corner, I fixed a hot Americano. The coaster that I knitted for myself adds to the warm ambience that the Jade filter partly creates as it raises the temperature of the picture by a few degrees.
On Wednesday, I went back to iced Americano, accompanied by a sweet potato salad. Fresh from the pot, the sweet potato was still warm. The Ahoy filter went very well with the coolness of the iced coffee and the sweetness of the salad. On Thursday, I was out all day and could find time for tea only late at night. My choices for the night were an iced burdock tea to soothe myself after a hard day’s work and the Pile filter to create a calm and subtle feel.
On a happy Friday with the weekend approaching, I had an iced Americano with a couple of cookies. The Cutie filter makes the color of the mini roses in the background more beautiful. On a drowsy Saturday afternoon, I shot a warm cup of pu’er tea with the Am filter. Lastly, on Sunday, I brewed Oolong tea in a one-person teapot. I took a picture using the Yummm filter, which is great for food photography.
Using the Weekly Stamp for my record of drinks, which is updated every day, puts the photos in good order. That is, it gives me a sense of achievement that I have aligned the uneven edges of my daily life into straighter lines. The Weekly Stamp can be used only in the Automatic Save mode, which means that you cannot force the day of the week and time into a picture that you have brought up from an album. It is a great tool to provide vividness because you can use it in real time only when you are taking a picture! You can put a time stamp in the Manual Save mode, too, but only the date and time are recorded.
Time stamp for recording a full day
Another habit that I do every day is reading. I read books every day unless I am so sick that I feel like I am going to collapse. I thought I would try the Weekly Stamp to record this habit of mine.
It happened that I was reading Cathedral, a short story collection by Raymond Carver. I composed the photo to have the last page I read appear at the bottom, together with the small letters on the page, and applied the Weekly Stamp to indicate the day of the week. Now I can see how many pages I read for three days. To provide consistency, I applied the Capri filter and Vignette Level 1 to all the pictures.
I think that the Weekly Stamp is also good for students who want to keep records of their study progress. Like reading records, the Weekly Stamp can be used to photograph the last page of the book that you have studied today and the desk at which you have studied. What stamp would be more effective in keeping “study records” or a “study diary”?
What’s more, it can be used to record your daily diet (a challenge I wanted to take up but couldn’t bring myself to), the growth of a plant, or a weekly class or sports event. The Weekly Stamp will certainly make your records of daily life richer and more substantial.
I am curious to know in what other brilliant ways Retrica users are using the Weekly Stamp. I think there are many Retrica users who give a witty twist to their photos using the stamp, and I’d really love to see their final products in Inspiration!
Retrica Insight 