A Time Before Digital Photography

Remember when we had a time before digital photography? I had just turned 8 years old.  My parents were holding a small birthday party for me and my grandparents came.  I was an excited 8 year old, as most would be.  Any why shouldn’t I be?  I was turning 8 and there was a party specifically for me.  I was getting cake and ice cream and presents.  What 8 year old doesn’t like presents?

I had opened most of my presents.  To be honest, I don’t remember any of them now.  Except one.  I opened my grandparents gift and I was shocked.  Inside was a film camera from Kodak.  I had the conscience thought that my grandparents had spent a lot of money on this gift.  I was close to my grandpa.  He taught me a lot of different things about tools and fishing.  My dad was not a “handy man” in any way shape or form, so I developed a love of working with my hands from my grandfather.  He loved to grow plants and make things in his wood shop.  I still have a wood toy box that he made me when I was 10.  It is in my basement and has stood up to the test of time.  It is now 30 years old and looks just as good today as it did 30 years ago!

I can remember at our family Christmas party about 5 months before that my grandfather had asked me to take a picture for him.  He handed me his camera and said to “look through the viewfinder until everyone is in the photo.  Then you push this button.”  It was my first experience actually using a camera and I was excited to be “trusted” to take the photo.  My grandpa told me that I had done a good job with that photo and that he believed it was time for me to have my own camera.  That is why he purchased it for me.

After the party was over, my mother told me that I would have to purchase my own film, but once I took the photos, she would pay to have them developed and printed.  See, this was before the days of digital photography and color printers that you could use at home.  This camera was a 110 Film camera.  While it was a point-and-click camera, once the film was exposed, it had to be taken to the photo lab, developed, and prints had to be made.  This was not something the average person could do at home.

“Asahi Pentax S3 with film” by Bilby – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asahi_Pentax_S3_with_film.jpg#/media/File:Asahi_Pentax_S3_with_film.jpg

I used that camera until I was in High School and I kept it long into my adult life.  It was a symbol of my freedom.  Of growing up.  I could now make my own memories and save the moments in time that I wanted to save.  I still have many of the photos that I took with that camera, and that small gift to an 8 year old sparked a life-long love of photography and capturing moments in time.  I’m not saying that the reason I own this company is because of that gift, but I will tell you that it certainly was a contributing factor.

What has sparked a love in your life, or the lives of those around you?  What gift or moment has changed your life?  Can you point to a specific event or time or thing in your life that changed the course you were headed in?  It is amazing to me how many people can look back on their life and see a defining moment that changed their lives forever.  Can you plan such an event?  Yes!  Each moment we have has the potential to be a life changing moment for yourself or someone else.  While I am not convinced that my grandfather intended to change my life, I am 100% convinced that he saw something that he wanted to nurture.  He saw potential.  He wanted to encourage something.  If it didn’t pan out, that was fine, but if it did, he would have brought new art, love, compassion, passion, and beauty into the world through someone else’s hands.

That is the power of a 110 camera moment.  That is the power of a gift to an 8 year old.  That is a Time Capsule Moment.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Mark