Trial

and Erin

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and the other night I muttered a few choice ones under my breath. I was waiting for e-mailed photos to download on my computer, and it was taking forever.

As I drummed my fingers and cursed in frustration, it occurred to me my definition of “forever” had become skewed, as only seconds were ticking by — not even minutes — yet I was losing patience. I was swearing at my computer for its incompetence but the fact is, within in a matter of moments, I had pictures of my gorgeous nephew at my fingertips. I had to laugh at myself, and it made me think how spoiled we’ve become.

Remember the good old days — like 10 years ago — before digital cameras and computer technology? Remember when we used to take photos with film? Remember how it had to be developed, and that meant we had to wait for it? And I don’t mean seconds or minutes, I mean days, even a week.

But back then the anticipation was half the fun. Back then there were no preview screens or playback modes on the camera. We couldn’t instantly download pictures to our laptops or send them to a friend’s phone. We set up the shots, said “Say cheese!“ then had no idea how they would turn out.

What we got back was a surprise, and it was always a thrill when we picked up our photos from the lab, pulled open the sticky top of that colorful envelope, and reached inside for the smaller envelope that held our prints and negatives.

Sure, we might know that we had pictures of everyone sitting around the dinner table at Christmastime with paper hats on their heads, but we could never be sure of the outcome: Would they be out of focus? Would Uncle Ken be making rabbit ears over Grandma’s head? Or did we capture a magical moment? There were no do-overs back then, and we couldn’t take free, limitless shots to get “the perfect photo.”

Even so, the results inspired laughs and memories. Looking back, it wasn’t just the questionable fashions and totally dated hairdos that were hilarious, but the looks on people’s faces, and the funny and weird things they were doing when they were caught on film. And sometimes you ended up with a gem that would find a permanent place in a frame and be displayed forever.

It used to be a big deal to go through photo albums. I remember pulling them out of my mom’s hope chest, placing the bulky albums on my lap, and turning black paper pages full of square, white-rimmed photos held in place by little triangular stickers in the corners, looking at pictures of me and my sisters when we were babies. Those albums eventually gave way to the plastic-coated, sticky sheets that were held together in a ringed binder, and made that satisfying tearing sound as you pulled away the top layer to place your photographic treasures on the page.

Nowadays, preparing or viewing a photo album usually involves the click of a mouse and the tap of a keyboard, but we still strive to capture those memorable moments, and there is still that anticipation to see what you end up with.

Some things were lost when photographic technology advanced, but some things were gained, and there are benefits to the instant gratification we have today. Even if that instant seems to take an eternity.