photographic memories.

i spent much of this afternoon going through more than fifteen years of saved photographs.  not the on-the-computer kind but the old-fashioned, glossy, comes-with-negatives, go-to-the-photo center kind of pictures.
i had a gigantic box full of loose photos that had accumulated since i started carrying a camera.  going through those pictures and putting them in albums was like a super speed drive down memory lane.
i threw out hundreds of pictures. what was the significance of that road sign?  why would i save this blurry snapshot blocked by half of the photographers thumb?
the pictures that held the most resonance so many years later are the ones that had people in them.  a photo of a mountain taken out of context is rather ambiguous; it often could have been taken anywhere and is not usually very sentimentally engaging.
there's a huge group of people (me included) who feel that digital photography can lack the romance and artistry of film.  after hours of sorting through dusty neglected photos, it seems that the benefits of digital photos are much more numerous.  only the Polaroid deserves an exception to this rule; it's charm is irreplaceable.
is it better that a photo be made into a print just to be shoved away in a box or a book?  or is it more fitting that a picture be shared with as many of your family and friends care to look (on their own time and perhaps in their pajamas)?

1 comment:

  1. OMG, I so remember this Octoberfest, you danced up a storm and everone had a great time as you can see by your happy face. Mom

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