My son cannot imagine taking a photograph without the
instant gratification of seeing it immediately on the LCD screen of the camera.
Our digital camera broke while we were at Disney World and we had to buy a
replacement in the form of a 35mm disposable camera. My son was mystified. What
was this curious contraption covered in cardboard with no screen? How did you
get the pictures out? These were some of the many questions that he asked
post-camera purchase. I gave up after the first 15, giving a generic snippy
answer to every question:
Why doesn’t it have a screen?
Because it doesn’t.
How will we get the pictures onto the computer?
We won’t.
What?
We won’t. We’ll have the film developed.
What’s film?
Film is film.
Huh?
It’s what makes pictures.
How does it make pictures?
It just does..
You get the idea. I'm probably not the person you want to come to for advice on explaining things to your children.
After the experience with the 35mm camera, I remembered what
it was like to actually hold a photograph in your hand. What an enlightening
experience to have a tangible photo that is made of paper instead of just
pixels. It made me consider actually purchasing an old school camera so that I
would be forced to keep up with my hard copy photos. Right now, the pictures on
my hard drive are piling up and, along with them, the guilt. I’ve got 13 months
of pictures, well over 800, with nary a hard copy to show for them. Plus, I’ve
still got 12 months worth of hard copy pictures, for a total of 25
months worth of backlog.
What do I do now? How do I catch up? I’ve met moms who are
ten years behind on their family pictures. They’ve thrown in the towel and plan
to take up scrapbooking in their twilight years. Surely there is a feasible way
to handle this backlog without giving up completely, comforted only by the fact that your grandchildren may catch a glimpse of your family photos before they reach adulthood. Perhaps a support group would help.
Anyone interested in joining Moms on the Verge of a Nervous
Breakdown due to Digital Photo Backlog (MVNBDPB), please contact me as soon as
possible. We've got work to do.
I think there may even be a ten-step program a la Alcoholics Anonymous for this disorder. I have a digital and an old fashioned camera. I prefer the latter. A photo in the hand is worth two or three or infinity on the computer.
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah - once when we had to go retro, photographically speaking, the little ones could not shake their habit of automatically running towards the camera after each picture and begging to take a look. And there was nothing there. It almost brought on an episode of existential angst; you could see them thinking, Hey, do I even exist?
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah - once when we had to go retro, photographically speaking, the little ones could not shake their habit of automatically running towards the camera after each picture and begging to take a look. And there was nothing there. It almost brought on an episode of existential angst; you could see them thinking, Hey, do I even exist?
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah - once when we had to go retro, photographically speaking, the little ones could not shake their habit of automatically running towards the camera after each picture and begging to take a look. And there was nothing there. It almost brought on an episode of existential angst; you could see them thinking, Hey, do I even exist?
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah - once when we had to go retro, photographically speaking, the little ones could not shake their habit of automatically running towards the camera after each picture and begging to take a look. And there was nothing there. It almost brought on an episode of existential angst; you could see them thinking, Hey, do I even exist?
ReplyDeleteOooh, yeah - once when we had to go retro, photographically speaking, the little ones could not shake their habit of automatically running towards the camera after each picture and begging to take a look. And there was nothing there. It almost brought on an episode of existential angst; you could see them thinking, Hey, do I even exist?
ReplyDeleteThe nice thing about the digital camera is that you can take the memory card to Wal-mart, Sam's, Walgreens, Meijers or upload to said stores and get the hard copy picture to put in your shoebox!
ReplyDelete