Tuesday I said goodbye to my old faithful film camera… 

Bye bye Elan IIe…

It was a simple goodbye.  I packed it on a small box and UPS her to Canon’s camera heaven.

For many years I hanged on to that camera like my photographic soul depended on it.  It was my 30th birthday gift and I still remember my expression (because someone took a picture of the exact moment). It was my first SLR camera.

But I will not romanticize those old times.   Yes I still remember the red light bulb in my dad’s darkroom, the texture of the photo paper in my fingers.  His old Canon Ae-1, I wished I had. 

But in reality what I remember the most is spending a fortune on film and development, traveling with film canisters everywhere.  And after waiting for days to have pictures printed the revelation that most pictures were a waste.  Film is not a friendly medium for amateurs and beginners.  And the pictures I liked?  Well, I couldn’t possibly remember the camera setting to replicate the lucky shot.

Digital photography liberated us, amateur photographers wana be…. 

Nothing better than the little trash can icon on the camera reminding us that it is ok to get it wrong. When you see 500+ shots in the folder, you know that some shots will turn ok…. Oh, and the metadata on the pictures!  Little gnomes that grab all that info we don’t have time to write distance, lenses, aperture…

Digital photography rocks!