Greetings from Fountain Valley, California, USA!
Photo taken on Sunday, April 5, 2009.
I spent a day organizing photographs – not the digital images on my computer but physical stacks with literally hundreds of prints. And film too. I keep every set of negatives and a hard copy of every picture. They are now in three-ring binders containing clear plastic sheets with pockets specifically designed to sort and view film and prints. Everything is labeled and mostly in chronological order as I occasionally had overlapping usage between two cameras such as my own and a disposable.
On a spreadsheet I list data such as exposures per roll, missing negatives and even the camera used. You decide if that is obsessive-compulsive or just highly organized. Now fully updated, the file offers info and insight. From 1987 to 2006 (20 years!), I used 166 rolls of film, the first one in black & white and the remaining 165 in color. I went through 132 rolls with my Canon AE1 camera, 17 using disposables, 8 with my dad’s Canon Eos Rebel, 6 using borrowed automatics and a final 3 with a borrowed advanced photo system (APS) camera.
My usage was normally less than 10 rolls each year (I averaged 8 annually) but hit double-digits several times. I used 11 in 1988 as I was an exchange student in Australia for six months; 10 in 1994 with trips to Australia (again), Orlando, Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas; and 15 to 20 annually from 1997-2000, filled with plenty of activities and travel. But nothing compares to the first year of the third millennium, packed with events including several trips (Japan, the Caribbean and Northern California) 3 weddings and my 30th birthday activities. In 2001 I used 32 rolls of film. But a mere 3 years later in 2004 I used just 1.
I have retired my first and only film camera. Its last shot was in 2006. I bought my first and so far only digital camera in April 2007. Two years later I have taken over 2900 photos with it versus 4303 pictures shot in two decades with film cameras. For the last time I have filed away the negatives and prints as well as sorted through hundreds of duplicate pictures, pulling out ones to give away to friends and family or place in photo albums, then disposing the rest. The bulk of work is done although one day I hope to convert all the film to computer files but give me about five years to tackle that.
I am a convert to the overwhelming benefits of digital. In fact these emails include pictures made possible by digital cameras, leading to this week’s photo. A friend’s son turned 4 years old and I went to his birthday party on Sunday. The parents rented a bounce house and, as my 2900th photo shows, it was used by adults as well as kids. And animals too.
Angelo
