I have been taking pictures for as long as I can remember. Way before the digital camera, I recall having a 110 camera with a cube flash bulb, an automatic Kodak 35 millimeter camera and my manual Nikon 35 millimeter. I know I have had other cameras, but when I got my manual Nikon, I was hooked.
Over time I have no idea how much money I spent on developing film. I sometimes felt like I was an honorary member at the little Fotomat huts in the parking lots of malls. When they went away I started sending away to a photo developing service. I would wait for days, sometimes weeks, to excitedly open the envelope of photographs hoping they weren’t blurry, blank, filled with people having red eyes, or that I somehow completely missed the shot.
The anticipation of waiting for the returned pictures eventually lessened when film processing evolved to onsite locations. All you would need to do is pay extra money for one hour developing at the local drug store.
It is all about trying to preserve memories in a perfect shot.
I like being able to manually focus the camera on my subject. When I was blessed to go to Europe in 2000, I schlepped my manual camera everywhere. Back then, I was still using rolls of film. I can’t remember how many I took with me and developed when I returned stateside – for some reason 24 sticks in my mind. I was a wanna be photographer (I still am).
I held out for as long as I could making the transition to the digital camera. Hubs bought my first one (come to think of it, he has always bought my digital cameras). It was a small point and shoot which I used mostly around the ranch taking pictures of our critters.
It wasn’t long after getting the point and shoot that Hubs upgraded my camera to one that had a manual option.
Even though just about everyone has access to cameras on their phones, my Nikon is very seldom out of reach.
🥰