This blog may seem to be a repeat of things that many of us have experienced and thought about, but here I am… writing again now that I have some “extra” time on my hands. We had an experience a couple of days ago that got me thinking about all the “new” stuff we have learned to enjoy during our lifetime… a lifetime that may seem to be very long, but in the whole scheme of things it is less than an instant.

I recently wrote about the progress of photographs from hand-tinting studio photos to personal digital photo treasures that can be stored on our computers. This week I’ve been thinking about the collection of ‘hardware’ that has been in my family’s possession in my lifetime, and in my personal collection.

My parents had a treasured box camera that accommodated a spool of negative film that copied the intended photo in black and white. It then needed to be dropped off at the drug store in our town to be sent away to be developed and printed. There was great anticipation for the arrival of an envelope that contained the printed photos. We could enjoy them and would mount them, with the help of “photo corners”, in a photo album with black pages, for safe keeping.

My first camera, which was my special Christmas gift when I was in Junior High school, was a Brownie Hawkeye, a bakelite box camera that would take 12 square photos on a 620 film. It had a great glass viewfinder and a carry handle that made it easy to hold steady to take great b/w pictures. My next camera gift was a high school graduation gift from my parents, and it was with me through my three years at Nursing School. I was able to take colored slides and I believe the process was called Kodachrome. Details elude me, but I did have a carousel slide projector with the round slide holders to store the slides. We also had a portable screen to show the photos to family and friends. I still have these two cameras in my collection of "junque"!

The photos taken during my “nursing days” were shared at our reunions, held every five years, bringing back many funny and serious memories with classmates. When our Golden Jubilee Reunion was on the calendar, I discovered that some of the slides were fading, so my project was to scan more than 800 slides, making the photos to be digital, so that I could burn them on DVD discs, to be gifted to classmates to celebrate more than fifty years of friendship.

We did some travelling with our children during their school years, and my next photography adventure involved a bulky video camera. The battery pack was too heavy to carry along with the camera, so it was mounted on a suitcase cart that I could pull along. No offers to help Mom… if I wanted to take pictures, I had to look after the whole load. No problem… we HAD wonderful videos of vacation adventures and at-home antics, until someone accidently recorded new videos over the old ones. Guess who had the most tears!

I loved the colored photos that came from my 35-mm cameras, and wasn’t interested in the new digital camera that our adult son purchased. However, at his insistence, I agreed to take his camera with us on our cruise to Alaska, take the same photo with my 35-mm and his digital camera, and compare them. I had about ten photos to compare, then the motor that activated the LD lens on my camera burned out. I would have been without a camera on our first cruise if I hadn’t agreed to try his new camera.

My first digital camera easily fit into my large handbag, to my delight. That was before there was such a thing as a ‘smart’ phone. Now my ever-present camera is in in my pocket or within reach at home. One never knows when a photo opportunity presents itself… a wild animal at our bird feeder or a beautiful sunset, or a fun photo to share with other family members and friends. Some samples have even been posted on the Internet.

About my experience this week, thanks to our son. He came to our home to introduce and demonstrate his new “work toy”. He has been a Realtor for more than 35 years, and the results from his new camera will be a great addition to his presentations. He gave me a copy of the video that I can share with my cyber friends who know about our “green valley”. It isn’t green right now, but the view hasn’t changed. We still enjoy it every day!

Tags: Camera Slides Prints Digital Hobby