real pictures

i miss taking real pictures, film pictures. pictures that only come to life in absolute darkness, pictures that only appear after chemical interaction. i miss prints that take hours to perfect. i miss watching shadows and hints of figures emerge from the paper as it bathes.

i miss walking around with my dad’s now-vintage ae-1 strapped around my neck. i miss feeling like this.

a scan of one of my negatives

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2 Responses

  1. fillyjonk says:

    I wonder if it’s also a case of things becoming “less precious” when you have more of them. I remember using film cameras and how you’d have to (usually) plan the shots carefully, because once you used up that roll of 36, maybe you didn’t have any more film with you. And also that there was the time and effort and cost in developing and printing. And now with digital cameras, you can snap away and figure you can delete the shots you don’t want.

    I took a photography class in high school and I still remember how interesting and how kind of magical it was to print your own photographs – being able to set the time, play with the developing, to get different effects.

    • Sam says:

      Absolutely! I take much better pictures with my film camera because there is so much Deliberation. I think that’s the perfect word for it. Every shot had a value, so to make the most of that value I’d take extra time to make it just right.

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