Family Matters
The 90 rolls of film I mailed away to be scanned arrived yesterday. Many thanks to Chris at Photo 60 for his fine work scanning the negatives. Since it’s too hot and muggy to play outside, I spent the day sorting the pictures. They were all taken somewhere between 1998 and 2003 as near as I can figure. I took them with a Kodak Advantix film camera. At the time, I knew absolutely nothing about photography and the photos were all taken with the camera set to Auto, flash firing as needed.
As I reviewed the images on the bright monitor of my desktop computer, several things became clear. First of all, I took a lot of pictures, at almost every family event, and almost all of them included people. Every birthday party, vacation, holiday, cookout, and bike ride. I also shot roll after roll of film of my family just doing ordinary things in our daily routine. Very few of them were good by any standard of photography, and yet there were many I truly loved. I was shocked by how willingly I experimented and humbled by how often I failed miserably. There were exposure issues, focus problems, and thoughtless compositions. I certainly didn’t scan the frame and think carefully about design elements. Here’s what I know I did: point-and-shoot. And you know what? The results are heartwarming and fun and I cherish these pictures—maybe even more than those I take so carefully these days. I was a better photographer than I gave myself credit for.
Now I am wondering if there is a way to bring together the carefree photography I practiced in those days with the skills I have now as a more experienced photographer. What I see here is the young woman I once was, the one not nearly so concerned with things being a certain way. We all make mistakes as we learn and I have compassion for myself. I’m doing the best I can. Striving for excellence, not perfection.
