I remember with nostalgia the days when we used analog cameras, each photo shoot was an important economic investment for that boy’s pocket that he was, he had to save several weeks if he wanted to take a roll of photos.
I remember taking the photos very carefully because the movie or reel was limited, I vaguely remember coming from 24, 36 and another measure that I don’t remember very well, we appreciated the fact that 2 extra photos almost always came as a gift.
- He liked to charge the film.
- Close the camera cover.
- Insert the batteries.
- Turn on the camera and wait for the orange light indicating that the flash was ready to turn off.
- You took the picture.
- You didn’t know how it came out.
- And on top of that.
- He had to wait for the happy little orange light again before he could take another picture.
- And so on.
- What patients we had!.
We were happy to take pictures and photograph ourselves, photograph yourself was an event, it was typical of the days indicated in the calendar, specific occasions such as a christening or an anniversary.
I also remember being especially excited to find forgotten negatives in a sad drawer of the house, sometimes photos that had never been revealed. I had to hold the negative aloft, against the light, if I wanted to discover the picture that was hidden. I liked to observe the portraits of people in these negatives, in strange, brown and purple colors, this activity gave me a dreamlike feeling, closer to the world of dreams than to reality.
These were times when we were content with blurry, blurry, burnt and mis-partially photos, it didn’t even occur to us remotely that the day would come when cameras would turn into phones or that phones would become cameras, we did. I have no suspicion that one day we could see the photos instantly before deciding whether we wanted to reveal it or not. Sending photos to a friend without the need for an envelope or stamp seemed like an absolute illusion.
What a moment!