Many of y’all may not know but I also shoot film. I started shooting film about 3 years ago when my Dad gave me back an Olympus OM-1 that I bought him years ago when his started to warp. So I’v e been enjoying the 35mm format for quite a while. Mom passed away in 2014 and she had a lot of things she kept over the years from her side of the family. We started cleaning up and found a lot of old family photographs and even found her Mom’s Nomad 127 film camera. I was instantly thrilled to find such an amazing camera still in the box and very clean. So I waited a few months and read up on what film to use, how to use the camera and what to do when shooting. Months later I buy some 127 film from Blue Moon Camera and Machine and thought about what I was going to shoot. I had 12 exposures and dreaming of everything I wanted to photo. Film is one shot on that frame and that’s all you get. It took me about 2 months to shoot all of the frames and I enjoyed sharing the story of the camera with family and friends. This was in early 2015 when I finished shooting all of them. Well last week I went to get the roll developed and some other images enlarged at Photographique Dallas and I show them the roll and it had come open.
They said there probably wouldn’t be anything on it since it had been exposed to the light. My heart instantly sank but knew it was true. I finished up business and started on my way home. The whole trip all I could think about was all the memories that I just lost. I can only recall one frame out of the 12 that I shot. It was of my little one with her Great Grandparents (Elissa’s Dad’s parents). We have other photos of them but this was with my first roll of 127 and it was now just my memory. And this was about the time my little was turning 6 months old so I know I had at least one of her on there. I was glum most the day after that and really hate what had happened.
They say when you die you take nothing with you. But that’s not true. You take all your memories with you. And even if you shared those memories with others they still went with you. No one else can envision that memory the way you did. And I think that is why photography has become such a crucial part of our world. There is also another saying “Pics or it didn’t happen.” which I think is one of the most true statements ever coined. If there isn’t a copy of what happened, then it only exist in someone’s mind. You can see an image but you can’t see that memory of the person that was there. That is why photographers are who we rely on to capture what has happened in our times. History Collectors. And just think, it’s only a little over a century since the craft of photography began. And this is why I try to capture as many moments as I can and write about what is going on in my life. So that there is just a little portion of me left here. Share Knowledge. Share Memories. Share Life. Share Love.
Love ya Mom
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