UNITED STATES—How many of you actually remember the camera? No, I am not referring to the one on your phone or your iPad or tablet. I am referring to the actual camera that you used to purchase from CVS, Walgreens, Rite-Aid or any other retailer that used to provide those devices. I will be honest, I don’t recall seeing that many in stores currently. I’m more so referring to the disposable cameras.
However, actual cameras still exist, and they are quite costly to say the least. I have considered the thought of actually purchasing a camera in the near future. Not because I’m into photography, but I like the notion of being able to capture vivid imagery with the right device and those images can be stored in a digital library in addition to properly printed to capture perfection.
Let’s face it anyway, everything is so digital nowadays that when I recently went through an old family photobook I was floored. My grandmother, bless her soul, kept tons of family photo albums. Yes, we even had pictures with the Polaroid camera that you could load, then take the picture and it would immediately come out and you would have to fan it for the image to dry fully and you could view.
Man, those were the days. Looking through the photo albums brought back some crazy memories America. A vast majority of the pictures were from my childhood. Like if I’m being honest, I don’t remember myself visually that much as a kid, but apparently many pictures were being taken of me when I wasn’t looking. Some of those pictures were quite hilarious to say the least, others not so much.
The one thing I noticed was the fashion of the 80s was horrid and I mean horrid people. I could believe the clothes my parents would make me wear as a youngster, not to mention the fashion choices the adults made as well. It was like how you dressed in the 80s and 90s didn’t matter as much as it does in our current time.
The thing about looking at an old photo is that it forces you to go right back to the time when that picture was taken, and you try to recall exactly what was taking place at the time of the photo. Who were you with, who took the picture, what was going through your mind at the time of the picture, so many memories start to flood the brain.
Not to mention if you took the picture with a family member that is no longer with you, it brings a bit of sadness. You recall your time with them, usually the good times and it is a bit bittersweet. You wish they were still here, but the reality hits you they are not. The biggest reflection for me is going back to a time as a child where there were no worries. I was just having fun with my siblings, my cousins or my family. I was not worried or stressed about work, politics or something currently unfolding in my life.
I am truly thinking I might get a camera. I want to start to capture memories in real time as they happen and not with a phone, but an actual camera where I can develop those pictures and create a new photo album for my family because it feels like something people don’t do anymore.
