FILM VS. DIGITAL

Yet another article in today's newspaper (USA TODAY) about photography and the extinction of film!

Yes, there are "die-hards", as the paper calls them/us, who prefer film. We are a vanishing breed. I want to go to ALL the major film companies to tell them EXACTLY what I think! And believe me, if I knew HOW to go about this, I am sincere in saying I'd travel wherever is needed to have my voice heard.

The article I read today is much the same as past articles. They always discuss how film is a thing of the past. Millions of dollars lost creating camera's using film, and film itself.

Now I don't proclaim to be a photographer. I don't claim to understand the digital age, but I do know what I like and what I fear.

Back to the past....... And my excitement at getting my first camera. A Brownie. I can visualize it in my mind. It was white, small, had the flash on the front....totally awesome to this 9 year old!

I remember my excitement at getting my first Minolta. Bought for my trip through Europe. I recall all the film purchased as well as the various lens', the variety of filters. All of this to try and capture the best pictures I could. I still have the camera, I even have the protective film holder I purchased, You used this to hold film that was to go through X-ray's at airports.

I remember my mother buying a "disk" camera. I THINK it was a disk (with a "C" maybe)? I can't recall the name, just the round thingy with the tiny negatives! I remember laughing at my mom, thinking she had the lamest camera! And the quality of photos......YIKES!!

Now I look back and think, "but it still used film"!!

Do I own a digital? Yes. I was a late bloomer and bought one in the autumn of 2004. Yes, they are fun, it's cool to see your picture right now. Nice to delete the stupid shot that happens when the camera snaps the kitchen floor. But there is something else, a lot "else". What about all the wonderful blurry, silly photos many people simply delete, thus losing a lot of laughter and memories in years to come?

My memory stick holds, at a 3.3 megapixel (I never use the 5.0), around 78 photos. I don't have the money, nor the need (I feel) to buy hundreds of digital memory sticks. If one has a computer that burns memory stick pictures to CD, whether for everyday use or when traveling, this is great. Then you can clear your stick for more photos. But what if one's on a trip? Of course I'd need to bring the battery charger. Using rechargeable batteries, I make sure my two "backups" are ready when on vacation.

BUT!! BUT!!!

I WANT A FILM CAMERA if I'm to go ANYWHERE on vacation! I want to go to England. But would I go with only a digital? Hell no! What if all the batteries drained before my day was over? What if I could not convert the charger properly? What if, even if I DID buy bizillions of memory sticks, they were not enough?

AND FINALLY! Has ANYONE given thought to the FUTURE???? How long do these CD's with our precious photos last??? What if a CD get's chipped? One day I read how CD's last 10 years, next day I read CD's last 2 years. Then I read that we need to "be sure" to copy CD's every couple of years to keep the negatives!!!

And what about the computerized processing of our pictures now days? Even the best labs use computers, not dark rooms, to print pictures. At least I'm not familiar with any labs which use the old fashioned "dark rooms". Kodak, and other companies proclaim the new paper and processing will "last a lifetime". How do they know? Did they use this current technology 100 years ago? Has the paper and printed photo stood the test of time? NO NO and NO!

Ok, all you digital fans, I know there are problems with negatives, the main one being, for me, is never finding them again! Oh, I've shoe boxes of negatives, but they normally are not the negatives I'm seeking.

Yes, negatives can be scratched. They can turn yellow, but by far I've not ever wished I could take back the negatives I now view on the slide projector. (Anyone old enough to remember them)? Literally hundreds and hundreds AND hundreds of slides that my parents took before I was even born. I have a couple of photos taken in 1900 of my father, the year he was born. I have photos from the 1800's, when my grandparents were alive. I wonder if future generations will be able to say the same?

My mother worked in a "photo studio" when young. By the time I arrived, her dark room consisted of the bathroom! The countertop, which seemed to stretch on forever in my childish eyes, held the various trays of chemicals which to this day I've no idea what they consisted of. What I DO remember is the excitement if I knocked at the closed door, and instead of my mother calling out from the other side, "Don't open the door", of her saying, "You can come in". And into this dark room I would go, quietly in awe of what was happening in there.

I remember the wonderment of watching images emerging from blank paper. Of my mother with what I called her "tongs", knowing when to take the paper out of one solution and put it in another. Her "swishing" the soon to be image in the solution. The other tray (s)? seemed to "keep" the pictures the way she wanted them to last. I dimly recall the "negatives" hanging and the newly created prints being strung up on a cord or something, to "dry" I guess.

I even remember my mother talking about the days working in the photo studio and "coloring" photos for customers. She even colored some when I was young. I have one of those old classic, professional pictures, the ones where you had multiple photos from the same session on one long piece of paper. I appreciate it now more than ever. While at the time it was a laugh around the house, it shows that on one of the three pictures taken of my mother and I, she had forgotten to color one of my ears. No one even noticed for the longest time. It was actually a school friend of mine who was over that pointed it out.

With the "Digital revolution" here and film becoming a thing of the past, I still have no answers for my questions. I ask this. Is there a digital camera coming along that will not only have a memory stick that will hold HUNDREDS of photos, but will run on batteries that won't drain every time I sneeze?

And what will I have when I'm old and wanting to look at my life through photographs?!!

I bet anything the only photos I'll have are the ones taken with FILM!

President Dubya Bush, VP Cheney. Who could ask for more?

Cheney shoots his friend. Doesn't say a word. Word leaks out. White house scratches it's head in wonderment. "How did this get out"?

"Dubya, I'm Vice President, we couldn't keep it quiet forever".

"But Boss (as Dubya refers to Cheney), no one cares about you".

"Not true Dubya, the fucking media always find me when the old heart flutters, and now this"!

Dubya shakes his head...... "But the guy didn't DIE! Why should we say anything? You think it would have been better for him to die and us hide the body?"

"Dubya, Dubya, Dubya", says Cheney, shaking his head. "You are getting smart, you know that?"

Dubya looks at Cheney with awe, "REALLY Boss?". Dubya is running around like a puppy in heat. "Just stay calm Dubya, I'll handle this. It's almost your bedtime anyhow".

Cheney leaves the room, leaving the door open for Dubya's personal assistant, who walks in. Dubya is so glad he hired this man. Tall, dark, quiet really. Yup! Dubya has his own personal assistant. Not for work, nope, Condie has that job, well, more than work but I digress.

This personal assistant never talks back to Dubya. Dubya likes that. This man is silent, watchful, seeming to take in everything.

"Yup", Dubya mutters, "I've fooled the world. Got Saddam (so what if the trial never ends)? Gonna fight all those Countries who disagree with me. Now Cheney has taken the heat off me and I can relax while he squirms".

Dubya continues to ponder his victories (in his "world" he is victorious in all things). But damn those people who keep wanting Bin Laden. He gave them Saddam, isn't that enough? How is he going to catch this Bin Laden guy. Too smart for Dubya, that is for sure.

As Dubya thinks aloud, his faithful assistant smiles. A Mona Lisa smile. He keeps his eyes on Dubya and nods as Dubya says, "Right Big O"?

Bin Laden nods, smiles as he walks out the door.

The record with the big hole

Not that I enjoy showing my age mind you, but a couple of years ago, my former co-worker and I were talking over our cubicles, yakking about music. What we like and disliked etc. At the time she was 25 years old. She was talking about how she really loved her mothers music, loved the Doors, Simon and Garfunkel, Janice Joplin etc.

I shared with her some of my CD's that I kept at work and she shared some of her's with me.

At the end of one particular talk about our music favorites, she called over the cube to me to ask me if I knew "what the small record with the big hole" was called as that is what her mother had lots of.

I tried not to laugh as I replied, " It's called a 45".

When did I become so old and wise? :)

White Lines

I need to be enlightened on something I've wondered about ever since moving to Minnesota. It once again occurred to me today on my drive into work.

It is a day when light snow is falling, wet snow. It is dark outside not only because it is early in the morning but because of cloud coverage.

Trying to find lanes in this type weather is near impossible at times. There are white lines, I know there are, for I see them in the summer or daylight.

For the first few years I lived here, I wondered why "they" didn't put the "bumps" on the white lines, like in California. I like the bumps. Serves two purposes. One, you hear immediately when you are on the line (a no no unless changing lanes), and secondly, if you are tired, hitting those bumps will wake you up!

Someone finally explained that with the Minnesota seasons, and the snow plows, the bumps would be gone by the plows. Ok, that made sense. This must be obvious to all who live in States with seasons. Not having lived in a State with "seasons" such as Minnesota, I did not think of this.

I'm still perplexed about another thing regarding the white lines. In California, whatever paint is used to create the white lines is, for lack of the proper word, almost florescent. No matter the weather, i.e. rain, or darkness, when the car lights are on, the lines glow.

So why can't Minnesota have these type of lines? The plows would not be affected and drivers could see the lines in almost all weather? (I'm not counting the heavy snow falls when we don't even see the road we are on).

Explain please.

Bush's "State of the Union" Part II

No, I have not forgotten to post about our fearful leaders speech the other night (Did anyone count the words he screwed up, or the "ummmm's")??? Oh I'm so bad!

I've just been super busy with my new job and a company party is tonight. I've been trying to read the transcript of the speech. Seventeen pages when I printed it out!

My FAVORITE line? "My Dad's two favorite people are turning 60 this year...........me and President Clinton".

BILL, BILL, BILL. Oh how I wish we could get you back in the White House....AS President! As the song says, "Those were the day's my friend".