Photo frames

I finally managed to pull myself out of my lazy couch and get my cherished memories framed. I had picked photographs from old photo albums.

I tried relating to the differences in my behavior as a consumer towards photographs over a 30-year time period. I've been a user of multiple technologies, photos taken by my dad's 128mm kodak camera, 35mm minolta camera, my first camera a 35-180 mm minolta, my first SLR - Canon EOS and a multitude of digital point-and-shoots and my most recent Canan D350.

Back then photos were memories, not aesthetic expressions. Most of the old photos that I've chosen for printing are ones that were taken during official occasions school functions, class photos, studio photos etc. Then there are pictures taken by my dad using his 128mm Kodak. Amazing photos. He must have had a lot of zest for life then. I cherish some of the prints from my film-SLR cameras. I had a ratio of 1 good picture for every 10 pictures shot. Good by my standards, which I'm sure is a lot more lenient than many amateur photographers might consider.

With the advent of digital cameras, one had instant feedback of the result. This should have improved the good-pictures to the pictures-shot ratio, but I haven't developed the merciless objectivity that is required in deleting all bad photos. Also I find it easier deleting photos that don't involve people, because the act of deleting a photo with someone you know is so difficult it is almost like tearing a photograph. Result, I have a huge collection of digital pictures that I can't peruse with the same happiness as I do for my limited print-photographs. Which makes me wonder, is this a legacy of the "Raj-era" (an era in India where a constrained supply artificially created a higher demand).

Happy shooting.