By Dick Brooks
For Capital Region Independent Media
The things that used to be a normal part of daily life are changing at a rate that makes a person of my age dizzier than I usually am.
I’ve been depressed ever since I learned that Kodak wasn’t making film for cameras any more.
I was around age 10 when I first learned to thread a roll of 126 film into the back of the family Box Brownie. I took pictures of all that was important to me at the time — my Mother and the family dog. Siblings weren’t worth wasting one of the 12 shots I had to record for posterity.
I would carefully frame my subject, make sure that there was as little movement as possible going on, and click the shutter. After the loud click, I could breathe again, having held my breath for the entire snapping of the picture process. I then wound the round knob on the side until the next number appeared in the little window that told me how many more pictures I could take. When the little window told me that I had taken the last picture on that roll, I would find a dark place, open the back and remove the roll of film and store it in a safe spot so the next time we went to the drug store I could present it to the lady behind the counter, who would help me fill out the slip and gave me the little tag torn from the slip.
In a week or so, we’d make a return trip and I’d present my little tag, fork over a month’s allowance and get my little package of pictures. Our family history recorded for posterity.
Most of those photos still live in a variety of boxes stored in many unlikely locations. The people and places recorded on them are frequently forgotten but important anyhow. That whole process is now gone forever.
Now I have a digital camera that uses no film and can store about 500 pictures. I can see them instantly and delete or change them immediately. If I forget my camera, I can always take a picture with my phone.
I’d really like to time travel back 40 years or so to a family reunion and tell them that I was going to take pictures of the event with my phone. I’m sure that my intake of adult beverages would have been severely limited after that statement.
Forty years was just before the coming of the cellphone. VHS tapes were still the latest thing and home computers were just starting to appear. That thing called The Internet was just coming into its own. There was no Facebook, no Skype, no instant messaging. You couldn’t get email on your phone because the only portable phones were those found in a few luxury autos.
Today everyone is connected all the time and if that connectivity is interrupted for any reason at all, it’s a major disaster. People would have to go to their therapists if they were disconnected from Facebook or Twitter for a couple of days. I sometimes think maybe we’re connected to everything but life.
Instant gratification has become the norm. Maybe, just maybe, the world would be a more pleasant place if there were more rolls of 126 film and the pleasant anticipation of the wait for that little packet to be picked up at the drugstore.
Thanks for the memories, Kodak.
Thought for the week—Forgive your enemies but remember their names.
Until next week, may you and yours be happy and well.
Reach columnist Dick Brooks at whittle12124away@yahoo.com.
