Photographs. An amazing invention really. Putting an image of a frozen moment on something concrete, that we can handle, that we can display. A facsimile of people, places, things.
I’m sure our homes all have this one thing in common; when it comes to pictures we have more photographs or prints of loved ones more than anything else. Age doesn’t matter here. From the bare bottom babies to the ol’ timers sitting in their favorite recliners. The occasion doesn’t matter either. A lot of film has been exposed on birthdays, vacations, sporting events and holidays! But, in all the homes I’ve been in, and I’ve been in a lot, I have noticed there are not any pictures anywhere of funerals. Understandably so. It seems to be human nature to remember… and want to remember… the good times. One thing for sure in the family pics, those smiling or surprised faces sure are loved!
We love getting snapshots of family members around here. With my family being in spread out all over the U.S., every picture we get… whether through email or snail mail… is well received. Every room in our house has a picture of family members somewhere. Well, except the bathroom of course! Oh, and the garage. You get the idea! The women with babies, the guys with their kill or catch, a child’s latest birthday, a pre-teen trying to dodge the camera, a married couple in love. These are a reflection of our loved one’s lives, caught on such a delicate thing we call a photograph.
Is it just me or is there a sense the old time prints will soon be another evolutionary victim of technology? Going the way of the cassette, the 8-track, the reel-to-reel, the record? Maybe it’s not too early to include compact discs here with the onslaught of the ipods and downloading music off the internet. The photograph seems to be one of the few things left that has been basically unchanged for generations. The only exception I can think of is Polaroid. But you still had a film print. A hard copy. That is... before digital cameras and printers that “print with amazing clarity”. It is all very cool but I can’t help wondering when folks will stop turning in film.
Maybe one last thing we have in common with our parents as well as our kids. Raised with photographs. The camera’s have changed but you still removed the film and took it in to get developed. When disposable cameras first came out, who else thought that was to…, modern?! Remember the parking lot film huts? Gosh! I haven’t noticed one of those in years. Maybe decades! Seems like they did get the developing time down in the industry. Guess that made it worth dodging those huts in the parking lots!
Time will keep marching on. Technology will keep advancing. I'm wonderin' if that’ll cut down on all the boxes of memories stashed away in attics, basements and closets all over the country during the next generation or two. Being replaced by taking up space on our hard drives, discs and flash drives.
But we will still have our pics!
So remember... the next time you find yourself down range of a camera pointing right at'cha... say "Cheese!"
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This post originally published on my blog TheHollerinStump.com on 06/24/2011. The blog was built on Blogger and hosted by Google. They have locked me out of my account there, the domain hasn’t registered and was removed from the internet in the late spring of 2023. I am reposting as many of these posts here as I see relevant for posterity.
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