Photographic Memories
 |
| found on FaceBook |
I was a yearbook (annual) advisor for 25 years and clearly remember when digital cameras seriously came into play for snapping yearbook photos. Pixel count was a BIG deal for those early cameras and anything less than 10 pixels simply did not take photos worth publishing in the yearbook. In those days, the staff relied on Pentax SLR cameras, and they were workhorses and took a LOT of abuse from the student photographers. I taught the students how to develop their film in the darkroom and print their own photos, too. I loved watching their excitement as the images seemed to pop off of the paper as it was in the developer tray. Gradually, those days disappeared as digital cameras improved, and the darkroom was used less and less. By the time I retired, it was rarely used for anything but storage.
I love digital cameras, but I think film cameras still have a place in our modern world. Very few people actually print photos anymore. I fear that future generations will not know the joy of opening a box filled with old photographs and reading the names written on the back in a steady or wobbly script. How many digital images have that information?
What are you doing to organize and identify the people in your digital images for future generations?
I'm terrible at photo organization--digital or printed. Publishing my favorite photos on the blog is about the only thing I do to identify the people or the experience.
ReplyDeleteI spent 18 years as a yearbook advisor too, but we always sent our film (black and white in early years) to a local shop for development. Those old cameras did take a beating. I even had one that needed tape to keep the film door closed. But it still worked great.
ReplyDeleteOne of my summer tasks this year is to work on organizing my old photos. I'm hoping my partial retirement brings me time to do that along with more sewing and grandkid time.
I don't KEEP very many of my digital photos. But then, I rarely go through my print photos either.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see what my son's generation does about their photos. I'm not so sure they think much about the past the way we did.
I love having framed pictures around. But there just aren't many available from friends and family anymore, and it can be disappointing.
ReplyDeleteNot as much as I should. I plan to print out some for the grands...plan. Not enough hours in the day:(
ReplyDeleteI only have one child and I gave him all my family photographs before I left Colorado. Dennis has 3 children, none of whom have children of their own (all over 40), and they have no interest in family photographs. So, basically, that's it.
ReplyDeleteI try to give my photos common sense names with dates in the computer. Your post reminded me that when we recently filled a wall with Grandchildren photos we had to have most of them printed for framing. I miss real photos too! Also I am put off by the phone photo thing. I was taking pictures at the family Easter egg hunt with a high quality camera and a family member boasted that his new phone would probably take better pictures. Only a family member can bring you down that fast!
ReplyDeleteI still affectionately remember the dark room in my high school. My son as an elementary student took photography after school class/camp where they also did dark room work. He was fascinated.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, I find that now we can take SO many pictures that I am lazier with organizing and going through them! I get frustrated when I think I've turned off the photo streaming so now I have to clear out the same photos in two locations!
I see that other people took more photos of their babies and children than I did when he was smaller when I needed an actual camera, but I like to think it's because I was doing with him and not just watching him. ha!
Well my son took photography in high school and he learned to develop film 10 years ago. Im so glad he learned that skill.
ReplyDeleteWe just put all our photo albums and notes on flash drives through a local service. My goodness it frees up space. I have a very small printer that can make 4 by 6 images print out.
Remember how long it took to finish a roll of film? We take way more photos now. One of these days we need to deal with our collection of slides and photo albums; that will take a while, for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that some of the phones don't take as good a picture. My husband puts our pictures he wants to keep on the computer but I miss getting out the photo album to show someone. He says we can get them made up but we never do!! On the other hand I love being able to click away and delete and not have to worry about wasting film! Nancy
ReplyDeleteHow right you are! I could talk about photography and photos all day! I have many of the photos I've taken printed in 5x7 and 8x10 and framed around the house. Every time someone new comes in, wander around and comment of them. Even the guys on the crew ask about them. I also print some and make greeting cards with them. I don't print as many as I should, but I do have quite a few printed and I work on scrapbooks when I am able. I also have many in photo albums. Thankfully, both of our children are interested in our photos and they enjoy going through them. Alas, I will fess up and tell you that I have over 30,000 stored on my computer and backed up on an external hard drive. I am seriously thinking about paying for another backup through Carbonite. I treasure our photos.
ReplyDelete