Take a picture, it'll last longer

The art of photography has changed so much in the last 30 years. It really boggles my mind. Some say the art is lost in our digital age. I don't necessarily agree with that, because I have seen some really beautiful recent photography that I would consider artistic, but I do understand that the form has evolved tremendously and not always for the better. Consider the sheer amount of teens snapping their self portraits and taking mindless pics of their friends sticking out their tongues, planking, making duckfaces...the obligatory mirror shot, smart phone in hand. There is certainly a lost appreciation for the medium.

When I was a young girl, around 11 or 12, I was thrilled to receive a camera for Christmas. My cousin, Denise, also got one. The rolls of film were easy to install and simple to eject. The cameras were point and shoot. Since I grew up in the 70's and 80's, there was no digital display. You just shot picture after picture without knowing what the end result would be. I can remember my dad getting a little annoyed with us. He would say something about the money spent developing a bunch of pictures of our friends making dumb faces. (hmmm...the more things change the more they stay the same) I also recall using hard earned babysitting money to develop rolls of film and getting back an envelope filled with grainy shots, pictures of my own finger and if I was lucky, two or three decent shots of an actual intended subject. Each roll of 25 possible shots usually yielded 2 of my cat and maybe one of my brothers and sister. In that respect, the digital age is a huge bonus. Ya gotta love the little garbage can "delete" button!

I sometimes forget to appreciate the easy access to picture taking we are now afforded. When my parents were kids, they either sat for portraits or had a very rare and occasional picture taken. When I was a baby, cameras were a little bit more accessible, but the family portrait was still the thing. I don't have books and boxes full of pictures of myself as a baby like my kids do. If we were to develop all of the pictures we take now, we would need another house just to store them. Digital file storage is another awesome convenience I sometimes forget to appreciate.

I never owned a Polaroid, but thought they were pretty cool

My first camera was a Kodak 110 that used this type of film

I developed hundreds of these rolls

I had one of these disk cameras

I was cleaning out a drawer recently and found 3 rolls of 35mm film that had never been taken in to be developed. I'm going to take them to the CVS today and drop them off. I am excited and anxious to see what they is on them. When I get them back in a few days, I will share!