Some of you may recall the expression “kodak moment”. It was quite common when my daughters were growing up and it was a way of signifying and capturing a special moment in time. I have been carrying around boxes and bins of photographs for decades. Through all of my numerous moves – short ones, long ones, and even across the country a few times – my pictures, thankfully, are still with me. I never caught the scrapbooking bug that my sister had. She immersed herself in artistic hobbies of all kinds, including knitting and other handiwork. She produced lovely scrapbooks with photos of her, my brother, and me, as well as several of her own children and grandsons. My photos; however, have remained completely disheveled and disorganized. Last year I made an attempt to catalog them with the intention of scanning into my computer those that were clearly “kodak moments”.
When I was young, cameras were still in their infancy. Film could be purchased in rolls of 12, or 24, or 36 exposures. After you had taken the entire roll, you took it to the drugstore where they would send it off to be developed. In about a week, you could pick up your pictures; but after having spent several dollars first on the film, and then on the developing, it was often a huge disappointment. Sometimes not all of the pictures turned out. Some were too dark or too light, and some were blurry from the photographer not holding the camera still. Once in a great while, you might have a picture that was especially good. Later on, they came up with instamatic cameras and you could have your pictures within just a few minutes of snapping them. The film was expensive though, and the quality was often poor.
Eventually, after computers became a household item, digital cameras came along. I am grateful for the advances in photography and still more grateful that I can now save those pictures that are truly special and share them in an instant. Now my “kodak moments” can last for more than just a moment.
