Old friends
I kept my slide film in the freezer. It kept the emulsion from aging and degrading?!? I had “bricks” of film – 20 rolls packaged together, same emulsion, as though that mattered?! Once shot the exposed film went back into the freezer until I got around to developing the slides in my darkroom, usually about 40 rolls at a time. The process required precise temperature to within tenths of a degree Fahrenheit. Tedious! Tedious work of love. Then there was the mounting of each slide and the storage in drawers. It all evolved elaborately. My kids helps to build the eventual slide cabinet I thought would hold my collection of slides for years to come.
Alas! Digital photography came to me in 2003. The rest as they say is history. No more slides. The empty drawers waiting for slides are now filled with junk and stuff I have not inventoried in many a year.
Good? Good slides? I digitized them – long and agonizing process – some years back. The images/slides are on redundant external hard drives.
Subject? The chief and utmost priority was family. I wanted a photographic legacy of my family. Little did I know how tenuous and ephemeral life can be. A significant moment comes and goes with little fanfare. I took it for granted that we would live forever. The slides and images will last long beyond me.
Appreciated? Cherished? Nowadays I still do family pictures when the opportunity arises. It is less frequent now that we are old and far apart.
Cats! My world revolves around my/our cats. They are our needy dependent children now.
Life, scenery, flowers, travel, landscape, fall – all worthy and subjects always waiting for a good image. These days I shoot image after image…. In 2023 I shot more than 131k digital images in multiple cameras. That one year total is more than the sum of all my slides over 30+ years. Impressive?! … stored on a small external hard drive.
Life happens. I shoot (photographically) what I see. I still chase legacy. Selfies fill my days now. Colleen and I… the grandkids were a special treat this past Xmas. It is very poignant to look back on the past. Indeed, I am glad there is a legacy to pass down.
I am at the end now. It was interesting to come across my med school graduation picture.
photobackstory 