Looking Back....I've Been a Behind the Camera Person for Most of My Life

I've always been a scrapbooker....

Way before their was a scrapbooking hobby or industry filled with products I used my babysitting money at Woolworth's 5 & 10 Store to buy an old fashioned scrapbook - those big blue or red faux leather covers with the gold inlay framing it.  The pages were like construction paper in a kraft color.  Many times they were filled with clippings of an eclectic variety of my favorite music groups (Partridge Family, Bay City Rollers, Led Zepplin,, The Who, Elton John, Jackson Browne, Bruce Springsteen, among others) or Movie/teeny bopper Stars (Leif Garret & Matt Dillon).  I loved & purchased monthly Tiger Beat, Teen Beat, 16, Cream, Rolling Stone, etc at Greetings & Readings in Towson MD.  I will dig them out soon & take pictures of them for a post in the future... they are something else lol.

I also filled some with scribbles of memories &  photos I had taken on the latest camera technology of the day because I LOVED being behind the camera... 

(thanks to http://www.mrmartinweb.com/ for the pix of old cameras)

This wasn't my camera but I fell in love with photography using it

When everyone complimented my photo composition

Dad's fold out Poloroid

I made this scrapbook page about a photo I had taken of my parents with this camera

& fell in love with photography

So over the years many Christmas mornings I opened the latest in camera technology as my favorite gift

Instamatic 124

Used a flash cube clipped in on top of the camera & would spin one turn after flashed.  

I always had them bulging in pocket since you only got 4 shots with each cube.

Pocket 110

This one was slimmer but still used the cube flash.  

I remember feeling so high tech with this camera.  

I would take it to school to get some shots of friends. 

 It really took poor quality photos especially action shots.

SLR

The best Christmas gift ever!!!

Dad bought the flash, a wide angle & super long zoom lenses for me too
at a local camera store in Towson MD.

I was the happiest girl in the world 12/25/77
Hanging out at that store after school & researching at the library
I started experimenting with different types of film
I loved Black & White and even took lots of slides

The latest model Poloroid One Step

Christmas 1979

Christmas 1980 an underwater safe version of the 110 camera by Minolta

Which I don't think I ever took underwater lol

Christmas 1982 latest technology was the Kodak Disc camera

The film was a disc & the negatives were on the disc when developed

I unfortunately used this camera to take some of our wedding

day photos.... 

I didn't want to lug big SLR around & this was compact and took good pictures

When those candid photos got ruined in a flood we had in 2000 I couldn't find anywhere

that could process to make prints off the negative wheel.

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One of my first jobs in the early 80's was in a little photo hut booth

called FOTOMAT

Here's a good post about them

I would sit inside & wait for cars to drive up to drop off/pick up film pictures

at Rockbridge Road location.

Customers could select one day (big deal wow) or several days for a lesser price

It was could have been a boring job...

but I liked the independence (only me in booth)

I brought books or magazines to pass the time

We didn't have cell phones with us so if I called anyone it was on company land line phone that I couldn't tie up for long just in case a customer or manager called me.

All of us who worked there would glance at the pictures in envelopes

You honestly wouldn't believe some of the things customers took pictures of

& brought in for developing 

lol scar the eyeballs for life images 

Then since I had experience sitting in a box

I advanced to be a floater

driving from store to store

filling in for people who called in at last minute

&

training the new people to stay occupied

while waiting for the customers or the drop off/pick up

of film/photos each day

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Then came the digital age.....

I've had lots of different point & shoot cameras

then invested in a Pentax DSLR (since I already had good lenses)

But lately my go to camera has been the

iPhone

I get my son's hand me downs

(he's a latest & greatest guy)

So started with 3gs

then a 4

(I was dying for Suri to talk to....)

Finally on New Years Eve 2012 

I used my xmas money from my dad 

to buy a brand new iPhone 5 at Sam's Club - super sale $125

I wanted white but they were out of stock

I like the way you can switch the camera to face front

The quality isn't always great but it's always with me to capture the daily memories....

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We've really come a long way with technology

It's wonderful to be able to see that the picture is good & take another

without the unhappy surprise when you picked up the prints back in the day.

I take lots of pictures on digi format 

I couldn't have afforded to do that with film cameras

For digi the storage is inexpensive & you can be selective about which ones to print

In addition to One Hour processing

We have ability to print at home on inkjet printer

With as great as technology is it can also complicate things

I have learned hard way to back up multi  (min 3) different ways

*yep I've had both computer hard drive & external hard drive both fail at same time*

Don't let technology get too ahead of your archives

I'm learning hard way from not being able to print that dang negative disc wheel

to transfer your archives to the newest technology

My parents too VHS video of the boys growing up

so I need to get those on DVD soon

I have lots of family photos from the 20s-50s

They all look great.  Very few have faded too much unless they were worn or creased

So why do photos from the 80s & 90s look SO BAD?

I've been Photoshop editing all my kids photos because of funky color & fading

It's all about the processes

I wonder how the photos we are printing at home will hold up with time....

What are your memories of taking photos thru the years?