Scarlett circa “bad haircut days” of 2003-ish.
So you know how your long lost friends will find long lost pictures and tag you on Facebook in the most embarassing situations or outfits or haircuts? Yeah, my not so long lost uncle decided to do that to me. He recently added to his Facebook collection photos from his wedding back around 2003/2004? Something like that. And of course tagged me. And of course I cringed. I can’t believe how short I once chopped my hair off. And that little pooch I want to liquify. And that weird expression on my face. Really, did he have to bring that out again?
But then, I got a laugh out of someone’s Facebook comment:
“Glad you aren’t using disposable cameras anymore.”
I relooked at the photo and totally didn’t even realize I was holding one in the midst of cringing over my hair. But yeah, that’s totally how I got my start as a photographer. It started with those crazy disposable cameras. Back in high school, I was “that” girl who would buy like 5 at a time to document my friends and I’s lives. Then I would take them to Target down the street and get all the negatives printed. Then I would take them one by one and put them in my photo albums that currently sit on our book shelf next to the TV in our living room.
That was the day. When I used to actually make prints.
But now with the digital era, and because I work as a photographer, the last thing I want to do is take time to print personal photos. And I hate that. I think it goes along with the “I just want the disc” mentality some brides have. As long as we have the digital negatives, we’ll make prints… one day.
But yet, that day never comes around. And years later, our images are sitting on old harddrives or a disc in a drawer that never made it to a wall or an album.
I worry that our generation is going to get lost with crashing harddrives and discs that will get scratched or not be playable in the next generation of devices. Remember floppy disks?
But yet, I thank my disposable cameras of the past. They spurred that bug in me to start documenting life. They showed me the importance of preserving memories. Especially looking at the photo above with my dad in it. What I would give to stand next to him again now that he has been gone for 3 years. So as bad as my haircut is in that photo, I’m thankful for my uncle’s disposable camera that took that photo. And how disposable cameras led me to this amazing career now as a professional photographer.
