I won't even try to guess the exact date, but I'll estimate about 5 to 6 years ago was around the time I began to struggle with the question of whether to go with digital photography or stick with the proven film-based system.
I loved to take pictures with my 35mm Pentax point-and-shoot camera; it was so simple yet the pictures always turned out great. I also had a Canon Rebel for those occasions that deserved the added quality of an SLR.
I was pretty well adapted to the digital transformation our world was taking when digital cameras first started popping up, but I was a huge naysayer for the medium. The cameras and the memory cards were too expensive. What are you going to do with a picture on your computer? If you print it, it will look like ass.
But like the title of this post says: I was wrong. Digital cameras are cheap and their memory is even cheaper. Prints look great whether printed from your own printer or from a photo lab.
One of the most beloved aspects of taking pictures for me was the excitement that built up between the time my finger compressed the shutter button to the time I lifted up the flap of the envelope to remove a stack of freshly printed photos. I miss the suspense of not knowing whether my picture that I took five weeks ago was as good as I had envisioned it in my head. With the instant feedback of an LCD screen on the camera, that feeling of uncertainty is all but gone in this digital age. But I wouldn't give up my digital cameras for anything.
I write this post because right now I am backing up my 30,694 photos (63GB) and it made me think about how silly I was back then to think that digital photography wouldn't be a part of my hugely digital life. The picture in this post is a photo-mosaic made from pictures in my photo library on my computer. None of the photos have been altered or colorized to match the larger image; thats just how many pictures I have. Photo-mosaic made with MacOSaix, an insanely cool freeware program for your Mac. I enjoy the fact that if you look really close at the bridge of my glasses, you will see Robin Brown with a sweet mustache.
And in case you wanted to see the original, here it is.
Tags: digital, camera, Canon, Pentax, MacOSaix, photography, Robin Brown
