Film camera is preferred

I finally got my pictures back. We shot them on our recent trip to visit the grandkids and their parents. The developing took longer than usual because the machine was down. It seems that no matter where I take my film to be developed, their machine goes down. It must be karma trying to drag me kicking and screaming into the current age of digital technology.
I leafed through the images and selected a handful to be duplicated and forwarded to others. I had taken the original film to an actual camera shop but didn’t want to make another trip out of town so I took them to the local drug store. I’m not sure why photography is considered appropriate for a business named after pharmaceuticals. It is another of life’s little mysteries.
There were more than I remembered. I was halfway through when I hit the wrong button. Instead of canceling my last edit, I accidentally canceled the entire order. The photo gods giggled. I started over and this time I did the edits in batches so I wouldn’t lose them all if the machine decided to act up.
An hour after I told my husband I was going out for milk, I was finally finished. I took the best one of the lot and put it in a frame and placed it on top of the piano. The others have been sorted into piles to go to my mom, my daughter and into the photo album I have yet to begin.
I like actual prints much better than digital media. Technology changes so quickly that what works on today’s machines is guaranteed not to work in the future. Anybody remember Zip disks? Any pictures stored in them are lost as none of today’s machines can read them. How often do we hear of someone losing their phone and the pictures stored on it? Computers and all their kin are known to crash on a regular basis, sending data into the black hole of oblivion.
Me, I want something I can hold. I want to be able to pick it up and look at it without the use of electricity or batteries. I want something that will stand the test of time. Electronic media is wonderful for communication. I cherish the pictures my daughter and friends share. But for memories, I want real, old fashioned images on paper.
I hold these photographs in my hands and am transported back in time to when they were taken. I remember trying to get three children to jump into the air at the same time. Only one of them managed to have their feet off the ground when the shutter was pressed. I remember posing for the family picture. I do wish someone had noticed the tail end of the horse in the background and moved either the camera or the horse. I cherish the cheesy grin of the three year old. I wonder how the five year old managed to escape the camera lens except for the time he found the opossum skeleton.
I wonder who will find these same pictures after I am dead and gone. Will they see themselves in the faces depicted on the paper? What will they think of the little boy holding the bones of a dead animal?
Will this be the last time I will get to use real film? It is getting harder and harder to find actual film. Finding someone to develop it is even more frustrating. Are my film cameras officially obsolete? Am I?
Digital technology is the logical next step in a long process of preserving and sharing memories with others. We no longer have to rely on artists to portray our loved ones.  Aristotle, who wondered how the sun could make a circle even when viewed through a cut-out square; Niepce, who made the first photographic image with a camera obscura; Louis Daguerre who perfected daguerreotypes; and George Eastman and his flexible film are all part of the quest to freeze a moment of time.
The people in my photographs will never be this young again. The only constant is change. Still, I have concrete proof of what once was. I have my prints back from the developer. They are almost as precious as those depicted within.[[In-content Ad]]