Lost Memories
SURPRISE...PHOTOGRAPHY ISN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE!
Most people under the age of 50, especially teenagers and women have the ability to take pictures 24/7, with either their cell phone or digital camera. I firmly believe that a digital camera is included in every purse purchased today! To use the words of Carl Sagan (this really dates me so don't feel bad if you have never head of him) "billions and billions" of images are taken world wide each year. We are drowning in a sea of picures! Now rather than taking 12, 24 or 36 images at Mary's first birthday, hundreds will be taken. (12,24,or 36 the number of frames on a roll of 35mm film....remember film!) From those 24-36 pictures probably 15 or so made it into an album. A two minute edit job. But today...hundreds of images will be taken. Now the fun of taking all those pictures becomes the daunting task of editing, final disposition of the image and eventual storage. Since none of this is fun or simple, frequently it never gets done. The images, after a few are posted on facebook, probably live somewhere on your hard drive and within a few weeks are forgotten because hundreds and hundreds of more images have been taken. This very special event (Mary's first birthday) is forgotten. Now lets fast forward 17 years. Mary is having a graduation party! Its time to get those pictures and other things together for her party that tell her story. "I wonder where all of those pictures are from Mary growing up?" First birthday, first day of school, that silly cat outfit for halloween...the list is long. Without hard copies....."Houston I think we have a problem here!" (check out Apollo 13).
It's very sad, than in the world of photography, where taking good pictures has never been easier, that more and more people are finding to their dismay that they no longer have, can't find or easily see their photos of milestone events in their lives. Hundreds of pictures are taken but never edited and made into hard copies and are lost forever.
As a person who deals with photography every day I find this very sad.
Special Note: A final thing for you to think about. The two images above have several things in common but perhaps the most important thing they share is that the parents of both of these children saw the importance of having hard copies made. Even though these two children are separated by over 80 years in time their current and future relatives will be able to enjoy there first year images. The old photograph because a hard copy was made and framed by a professional photographer is still around today. Copies of it can still be made and shared today. Where will your important pictures be in 80 years? Do what it takes to keep this from happening to you.
Add a Comment