Monday, March 11, 2013

Photos That Dance




I miss the cadence of photographs.  I mean honest to goodness, photographs taken with film that’s dropped off to a store, developed and put into albums. I miss the value of them - the value of time. Of expectation.

Steve had a simple request for me the other night.  Could I find a picture that included him, my dad, brother Keith and brother-in-law Rod?  The Fire Co.’s celebrates its 75th anniversary in May and they’re looking for “family” shots of members for the program booklet.

“Sure,” I said.  I could see the picture in my mind – knew it was somewhere in the house.  And so I started to look.  Two and a half hours later I’d gone through over 15 albums and speed glanced at hundreds of loose photos.  The picture in my “mind’s eye” was nowhere to be found, but I did chance across one taken at least 25 years ago and a few others I pulled out for good measure. 

Neither the albums nor the loose photos were in chronological order so I jumped through the past 50 years or so, setting down the box of loose photos with my first grade picture to open an album and find Steven and me when we started dating, 13 years later. There were trips that spanned the last thirty years by planes, trains and automobiles.  I was heavy, then thin (more than I remember) and every size in between.  My hair was long, then short, poker straight and permed like wild a couple of times (again, more than I remember).  Abram passed from soccer games to school concerts and Steven flowed through fire company events and his paramedic career.

There used to be a dance you had with photos.  It started before an event or holiday, when you made sure you had enough film, batteries and flash cubes.  It wasn’t a cheap venture, so quite often the one receiving the “big” Christmas gift that year was tipped off to that fact when the camera was taken out to capture the “special moment”.   There were group shots where one person inevitably blinked or that family member who always managed to be talking to the person next to them during the shot.  Pictures were taken with a specific plan in mind of it being a future gift and always, always, there were promises to get “doubles” and share.  

When the roll was finished (and sometimes this would take months and you would have Christmas, a birthday or two and the following fourth of July on the same roll), you dropped it off to be developed at the little yellow capped Fotomat booth, an island unto itself in the middle of the plaza parking lot.  Like magic, in a few days you’d go back and from inside that amazingly little space, they’d hand over your pictures. I spent many days dreaming of growing up and working in that little booth, and really believed they somehow developed them in there!    

Growing up our family pictures weren’t put into albums; you’d stumble across a box of them, or open a desk drawer to find a few hundred of them.  When I got married, I put mine in albums and did so until the middle 90’s.  Soon I didn’t drop the film off to a store, but sent the roll by mail to be developed and the pictures (with doubles to be sent to my mom in Florida) were delivered to my doorstep.  I didn’t even feel the falter in my dance step.   

In the early 2000’s I got my first digital camera and pictures got downloaded on my computer and placed in albums in the “My Pictures” tab.  Rarely were any printed – they just got sent as an email attachment.  Then came Facebook and the ability to share with family and friends online.  The dance came to an end. 

Don’t get me wrong.  I love my digital camera.  I appreciate the ability to see a picture immediately and do a re-take until everyone is smiling and looks good.  I have thousands of pictures of remodeling the house, vacations and family events.  I love posting a quick snapshot on Facebook of Steven and I as we enjoy a glass of wine while cooking steaks. 

But still, I miss the dance.  I’ve never lost myself to strolling through my online albums for hours at a time like I did the other night with my albums and loose photos.  Those photos whirled me around ‘til I was near breathless. 

12 comments:

  1. I find the most frustrating thing with digital is the shere NUMBER of photos you can take and then download. Especially with the kids, I have over 6000 on my computer! With film we were much more selective.

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    1. I agree Sandra. I find I have a lot more "filler" pics than I ever had before. I think I took over a thousand pics alone of our trip to Maine last summer. Steve and I are doing a two week route 66 drive in May...maybe I should borrow someone's 35 mm for it and leave my digital home. Hmmmmmm.

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  2. There was a certain magic to film developement. I agree. These moments are captured but we often dont fully revisit them like we would when the photos "came back."

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    1. Much agreed Michelle. My mom used to say you live an event three times - the plan, the event and the photo album. :)

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  3. I must tell you something really funny that happens at Indian weddings, Amy. You might know that the average wedding has no less than 500-800 guests minimum! If you haven't keeled over yet, there's more to come. The bride and groom stand on a dais and everyone takes turns to go up to wish them. For every guest/family that comes up, a photograph is taken - the guest feels important - the bride and groom see it as part of their job. The fun is when the time comes to convert these digital pics into prints, hardly any guests make the cut! No dancing pictures for the guests!

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    1. Oh Corinne, you are right - I had no idea. This has me smiling as I see the long picture line in my mind. Thanks for stopping by to read and sharing a bit!

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  4. What a fabulous stroll back in time, thank you! Now all the Fotomats are coffee kiosks! Oh,and you should see my WWI army trunk stuffed to the gills with loose photos.

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    1. Thanks for reading Cairn! I bet that old trunk has awesome stories that are attached to those photos. What a great place to lose yourself in. :)

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  5. Amy, I so agree with you. There's something special about sitting down with a photo album in your lap. We have a bunch that aren't really in any order, either, but it makes it fun to just pull one out and not know what you're going to find. Also a lot of loose pics! I also have a lot of my mother's old photos, which are so great to have. This past Christmas I gathered up the best ones I had of her and had a book made up online. I gave a copy to my sister-in-law and had one made for us. It came out beautifully. I like my digital camera, too, but I'm so glad to have all those old _physical_ pictures to leaf through. (I also learned to develop film in college, and I loved being in the darkroom and watching the "magic" happen before my eyes. That's a pleasure that unfortunately can't be replaced.)

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    1. Another dream of mine Elaine - to develop pictures. It does seem like magic (one of the reasons I probably thought it could be done in that little booth - or maybe the trap door in the bottom that led to the lab!) The album of your mom sounds lovely and what a nice idea. When my mom passed,there were literally thousands of pictures to go through! Thanks for sharing such a wonderful idea to do with them.

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  6. Hi Amy! I love you blog. I could sit here all day and read your posts. Congrats on your 30th anniversary! Loved that post and I love this one about photos.

    I love the immediacy and goof proof effect of digital photos but I hear ya about missing the old days of film prints. My hubby still uses his film camera and even does black and white sometimes. The people in the camera shop must laugh at him but he likes the old ways. He even used to develop his own pictures in the darkroom. I did that, too, for my commercial art class back in the 1980s. So magical mixing the chemicals and standing there in near darkness, watching your photo come to life in the bath. PHEW! I can even smell the vinegar!

    Digital is wonderful but a different kind of magic entirely. I try to print digital photos out and make photo scrap books, either by hand or digital. So easy to lose the photos on your desktop and never look at them again. We must work on preserving our memories before they're forgotten.

    Cattitude and Gratitude

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    1. So glad to have you stop by and I'm thrilled to hear you enjoy The Writing Corner. This was such a fun post to write and I envy the time you spent developing! I was sure there was a little underground lab in that Fotomat booth where i could work and fulfill that dream....

      And I agree wholeheartedly that it's paramount we preserve those memories. I think this whole generation may look back and think "where did everyone go?"

      take care!

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