Remember the Kodak’s 110 Camera? It was my treasure.  It was so skinny and it could fit in to my Levi jeans without any problem! Ah… those were the days. When all you had was 24 chances for taking photos and carefully chose the time and place. Would you save them for your upcoming trip or use them all on your child’s birthday party?

“Back in the days” we weren’t photographing every single movement of a child, every car at the auto show or every play at a sporting event. Instead we were involved in real conversations and enjoying life without the need to view it through a lens. There were some occasions when once in a while a person might snap a photo without you knowing. (Case in point, the photo of me below taken in the 1970’s). But, overall a photograph was usually formal and well thought out, after all you were restricted by the number of photos on your camera film. For me – that was 24. Plain and simple.

“A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart and leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective.”  ~Irving Penn

Confession 1. I was guilty of using more than my share of Kodak film with 24 exposures. But times have changed. Currently I am THAT PERSON who is busy snapping away with my iPhone and digital camera. Why not!? I no longer have limited chances of “getting it right”. I can hone my photography skills until my battery dies!

But, why am I taking photo after photo after photo?

Maybe it is because I am worried I won’t remember conversations or special moments in later years? And it is true that I have “self-designated” myself as the “chronicler” of family moments? Obviously, I have an addiction to photography and all technology associated with it? Or perhaps the real reason is simply I like the story that a photo is able to tell. A photo can speak volumes. A photo can convey in a way that words may fail.

For example, without one single typed or spoken word I bet you can imagine a story behind the photo I posted below. So much to view and possibilities.

“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.”

~Robert Frank

Confession 2. When you work within the social media milieu you snap a lot of photos. Why? Well for starters, images can be focus of a social post. And, interesting images that are taken at cool venues make for high engaging posts If you are working for a brand then you know that high engagement equals happy clients.

Being a social correspondent on a red carpet can be fun, but in all honesty, there are a lot of challenges with getting the right photo at the right time during these high intensity events. There are exceptions, however. Such as this photo of pop artist/ singer Emii. Taken at the iPain Foundation gala, she posed with ease and the backdrop of the logo balloons was perfect! The venue was rustic and not fancy, but, she posed beautifully and without a blink. This photo was the result. Needless to say it garnered a “few likes” on social media.

In closing, I am glad we have moved beyond the Brownie camera, Kodak 110’s and even the standard camera of not that long ago that used “real film”. I am pretty sure that social media would look a lot differently if it wasn’t for the ability for a photographer or a aficionado of photography to have more than “24 chances”. Dare I even think if social media would not have even been as huge an entity if it weren’t for the digital camera?

What do you think?