A few years ago my Grandma gave me an old German Rolleicord camera that had belonged to my Grandpa. I think she had been trying to get rid of some of the junk laying around her house and she knew I liked photography so she gave me the camera along with lots of gadgets to go with it and a hefty metal tripod which I've used a lot since then. The camera, though, sat in its case ever since she gave it to me. I've finally taken it out and messed with it a little and today I bought film for it (film! What a forgotten commodity it is) so my new task will be to try it out and take some pictures with this awesome 1950s camera! I'm kind of ridiculously excited about this. Not only is this camera awesome, but I also like the thought that my Grandpa used it and probably took some great pictures in his day. He was into photography too and I love sharing that interest with him. The old leather case even smells familiarly like him.
My new photographic endeavors have caused me to think about what ever happened to film photography? What a cool concept it is! I took photography classes in high school and it was all film photography, we never did any digital. We learned about f stop and aperture and how to roll your own film and print your own photos. I think photography was so much more personal back then (I say "back then" but it was only 6 years ago!) you really had to try to get a good shot because you knew you only had 12 shots per roll of film (or 24 if you were lucky) and then to use a dark room and be able to control exactly how the picture turns out without the magic of computers...what a true art form! That's not to say digital photography doesn't take skill or artistic talent. It's just a whole different process that barely resembles old time photography now. I enjoy both. Film is a pain to roll and set up in the camera and I do enjoy the ability to instantly see the photo I took and delete it if I want and try again. But I'm excited to try out this film camera and see what I can create!
Oh on an entirely different note, I got a taste of just how small a town Boulder can be. It's not huge but it's definitely not small either. It's actually a pretty perfect size. But I went out for dinner tonight at a restaurant in East Boulder (with 4 friends, all of whom I went to high school with) and in the time I was in the restaurant I saw two guys I went to elementary school with, one girl from middle school, and two people from high school (in addition to the 4 I came with) plus I saw my teacher from 3rd and 4th grade, and one of my elementary school's administrators. That's 11 people I know in one night at one restaurant! How odd.
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