pontefract (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} pontefract) wrote,@ 2009-05-05 23:49:00 |
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Old photographs
Over the last week or so I've scanned a load of photographs I've been carefully been storing since about 1992 in a plastic bag under the bed. Over the years they've travelled with me to wherever I've been living at the time, not been indexed in any way shape or form and some of them have been been blue-tacked on walls and cupboard doors and then put back in the bag when I've moved. I've now uploaded a good chunk of them onto Facebook, and it feels good both to be able to share them with old friends, and know that I've got an online backup them, of sorts.
What I've found weird about looking at them (besides realising the way I look has now been through about four Doctor Who style transformations; some for the better, some not) is the realisation of how digital photography has changed the way we take pictures. For years I had a bog standard fairly cheap film camera with a flash - really nothing special at all. But as film cost about a fiver for a 24 frame roll and a fiver to develop, photo taking was mainly restricted to special occasions - student balls, parties, holidays etc. (though occasionally a few pics got 'ran off' to use up a roll). Worse, if you took a crap unusable pic (and I took plenty), you had to pay for it as part of the roll and developing process.
When you consider how easy, cheap and good quality modern cameras are - even on phones - it makes me wonder how radically it's changed the way we take pictures and how we treat them. Even a trip down the pub these days yields a few phone camera shots that are better than my old camera ever managed. Taken a crap pic? Just delete it, or even edit it.
Will future generations take it for granted that they will have access to a huge online digital visual record of their past? And will this reduce the relative rarity of those special moments when you see an old picture that suddenly brings back lots of associated memories?
Only one thing's for sure - the era of amateur film photography is over, and I for one don't miss the expense and hassle associated with it (though I'd welcome the waistline and youth of the period I was part of it back like a shot).
Over the last week or so I've scanned a load of photographs I've been carefully been storing since about 1992 in a plastic bag under the bed. Over the years they've travelled with me to wherever I've been living at the time, not been indexed in any way shape or form and some of them have been been blue-tacked on walls and cupboard doors and then put back in the bag when I've moved. I've now uploaded a good chunk of them onto Facebook, and it feels good both to be able to share them with old friends, and know that I've got an online backup them, of sorts.
What I've found weird about looking at them (besides realising the way I look has now been through about four Doctor Who style transformations; some for the better, some not) is the realisation of how digital photography has changed the way we take pictures. For years I had a bog standard fairly cheap film camera with a flash - really nothing special at all. But as film cost about a fiver for a 24 frame roll and a fiver to develop, photo taking was mainly restricted to special occasions - student balls, parties, holidays etc. (though occasionally a few pics got 'ran off' to use up a roll). Worse, if you took a crap unusable pic (and I took plenty), you had to pay for it as part of the roll and developing process.
When you consider how easy, cheap and good quality modern cameras are - even on phones - it makes me wonder how radically it's changed the way we take pictures and how we treat them. Even a trip down the pub these days yields a few phone camera shots that are better than my old camera ever managed. Taken a crap pic? Just delete it, or even edit it.
Will future generations take it for granted that they will have access to a huge online digital visual record of their past? And will this reduce the relative rarity of those special moments when you see an old picture that suddenly brings back lots of associated memories?
Only one thing's for sure - the era of amateur film photography is over, and I for one don't miss the expense and hassle associated with it (though I'd welcome the waistline and youth of the period I was part of it back like a shot).
