Monday, 6/23

What did we ever do before digital cameras?

I mean, I know we took pictures on an archaic media format called, if I remember correctly, “film”, but how did we share them with people? Did we have to actually stand in front of them and show them the pictures in person? Did we have to stick them in something that, if I remember correctly, was once called “the mail” and send them to our intended recipient, who would then, after waiting two or three days, get them?

Boy. How did people even live back then?

8-)

The reason I bring that up Loraine's brother was visiting this past weekend, and they were talking about old pictures various relatives may (or may not) have had, and whether or not they've ever had the chance to scan them and, in the process, have a little family history just a mouse click away. They also went through a bunch of old photographs in boxes that Loraine's had forever, to make sure there wasn't anything missing from their respective digital collections.

I think we’ve all become so used to a world where a photograph we take is immediately available for all the planet to see that we’ve forgotten just how different is used to be. And we’re not talking 30 or 40 or 50 or 100 years ago; nope, we’re talking the 21^st century. I mean, think about it—when did YOU get your first digital camera? I know for me it was 2003, which means that everything I shot before then (and, admittedly, it wasn’t much) is stuck somewhere in one of Loraine’s boxes. In the (metaphorical) blink of an eye we’ve gone from taking a few pictures, sending them off to get developed, and then showing them to people in person, to (as an example from a few weekends ago) taking a picture of freshly blooming lilacs, uploading it immediately to Facebook, and having 6 people “like” it within the first minute.

I wonder what people 100 years ago, or even 30 years ago, would’ve thought about that? Sure, we don’t have our robot maids or our flying cars or world peace, like they said we would, but we have pictures literally on demand.

Oh well. I guess it’s a start, right?

(jim@wmqt.com)