One of the good and bad things about digital cameras is the instant gratification that comes with being able to see the image straight away. The urge to develop the photos isn't as strong because there's no element of surprise or anticipation. While in many cases photos may remain unprinted, photo sharing sites such as Flickr mean that they can still be made available online for all to see.
Since acquiring a digital camera reasonably recently, I've had very few photos developed. Unlike the old days of dropping in the film and hoping for the best it is now possible to click away to your heart's content with the added option of deleting the rejects. There isn't that same feeling of closure that there used be because now images can be endlessly edited and manipulated. Now that I have these tools at my disposal to enhance images to my specifications, the process of preparing them for development is prolonged. The arduousness of the fine tuning is enough to put me off getting them developed at all.
In regards to the storage of information I've always had a preference for the physical over the electronic. I like to have actual photo albums that I can thumb through. In reality I rarely do. The photo albums I do have remain predominantly untouched on a bookshelf gathering dust. I also have hundreds of photos housed in a drawer, relics of the pre-digital era that are lucky to see the light of day.
Online photo sharing transcends the confines of the physical and temporal. The mementos of major events in our lives such as holidays, weddings and birthdays can be made accessible to everyone on terms agreeable to all parties concerned.
Here are some holiday snaps from my trips to China and New Zealand.
2 comments:
Great photos Sarah. myself and my partner are planning a trip to NZ for the mid year break, you've got me keen for some mountains and snow!
Flickr can be a really supportive community for photographers and artists too, a great way to get your stuff out there.
Keep up the great blogging!
Hi Sarah,
Love the pics - such gorgeous scenery!
I like the idea of flickr, but not sure I have the time or interesting pics to share to make it worthwhile continuing after this adventure is over. I like being able to create a slide-show to put in other places. Still, I've discovered Twitpics, which can automatically let Kenworth's followers know about his photos. If that can do slide-shows, I think I'm converted...
And yes, some of the Kenworth pictures on my blog were taken at the top of Mount Wellington - we went to Hobart for a week with some folks from Guide Dogs Victoria last year.
Pamela (and Kenworth)
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