I grew up in a time where the instantaneousness of a Polaroid camera was captivating and novel. Having the ability to see the image you had just captured develop before your eyes was a unique concept for those of us who had, and that point, never had the opportunity to develop photos from our own film, and were dependent on photo processing services.
I remember my grandmother traveling with her point and shoot camera that was long and slim like a fancy metal pencil case, like one more fashionable travel accessory to compliment her purse, cigarette case, and perfectly curled hair.
She waited weeks for pictures to be processed by one of many photo and film processing services that seemed to be available at any business that had a pharmacy. I’m sure that when she passed there were still rolls of undeveloped film, images from a bygone era, of people and places that are likely to never be seen and may not be recognized by anyone who is left.
When I got my first 35mm camera, the most frustrating thing were the limitations on the amount of time I had to wait to see if the image was in frame and how few pictures I could capture with one roll of film. On top of that, there was the cost involved with getting those rolls of film and photos developed, and as a pre-teen I didn’t exactly have any income with which to fund this creative experience. My little point and shoot 35mm Vivitar was relegated to to a drawer in my dresser that pre-teen me kept all her prized possessions in. A few years later, my mother got matching Polaroid cameras for me and my sister. They were wonderful! But there was still that pesky hurdle of the film expense, and while this avenue eliminated the development cost, the cost for the film was considerably higher that the rolls of film for the 35mm camera. This too eventually found its way to the treasure drawer.
All this time my father had been experimenting with a very cumbersome version of digital photography. Think the early days of photography where every family portrait captured was of grim looking faces because they typically had to sit for such a long time for the exposure to be complete. He had rigged a method of connecting his camcorder (which took full sized VHS tapes) to his desk top computer allowing him to print the image that the camera was capturing but it only captured it as fast as the printer could print, and in the early 90’s… that wasn’t very fast. My sister and I were test subjects for this method of digital image capturing, and thinking back… this might be why I’m not a fan of posing for pictures and why I’m hyper aware of micro-expressions that cross my face while attempting to pose for a picture.
He eventually purchased a shiny new digital camera, it was clunky, not very intuitive or user friendly, had an abysmal MP rating, and a comically low storage capacity (measured in KB and MB) in comparison to the storage capacities of today. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
When I was in high school and trying to decide between electives to round out my days, I discovered that black and white photography was offered as an Art department elective. The class covered everything from developing of your own film, to developing your own photos. The only things that were provided were dark room, chemicals, projectors, and spools for film developing… we had to provide our own cameras, film, and photo paper. I started off with just my old Vivitar, but it became clear that the lack of control settings were hindering my ability to experiment with techniques. My dad was able to find me an old used Nikon 35mm being sold from the University of Michigan. It had 3 lenses, an advancement motor for high speed succession shots, and a flash unit that could be mounted to the top of the camera or to an arm that attached to the base of the camera allowing for more customization of the lighting.
I loved that camera, even with the light bleed that it had in the bottom of it! B & W photography unlocked a world of contrast and texture that can not be fully realized in color photography. Organic and architecture were my favorite subjects, and Ann Arbor with its mix of parks and stately old campus buildings was the perfect location for both.
Downtown Detroit was another wonderful location. My dad drove me one time, we parked and just walked all over. The thing I remember the most about that trip was the looks we got from people… Me with my bleach blonde hair walking around with a giant camera and an older man who looked, at first glance, like he could have been homeless. We weren’t harassed by anyone but the looks were amusing, especially when we sat down to eat.
After my dad had gotten his digital camera, my sister and I got our own (again matching) digital cameras (2001), which were considerably lighter, but again by today’s standards, had comically low resolution and storage capacity. This and the succession of digital cameras and now cell phones have taken the place of my U of M hand-me-down camera, which was handed down to my sister when she inevitably decided to also take photography in high school.
She had an advantage though, by the time she was taking photography, we had access to scanners. This meant that her work ended up being digitally documented, where mine was not. I have very few of my original prints still, and none of the developed film, though I don’t know where I would get the photographs developed since all of the once plentiful photo processing options have dried up. These are the few of mine that survived and miraculously were scanned.
It seems like the transition from analog photography to digital photography is a study in quality vs quantity. When I was taking analog photos, I was intrenched in technique and effect, composition and focal experimentation, exposure times and textures. Now with a seemingly limitless potential for capturing images, I take pictures of everything. I like the challenge of almost macro photography and autofocus. But I’m still constantly snapping pictures without worry of running out of film, the uncertainty of how the image turned out, or the looming cost of being able to share and enjoy the image.