Wander project what my father saw (21)

Today is the 21st day of the images my father saw. Today is images of the family from the family #2 folder. There isn’t a family #1 or just Family folder. As I said before I suspect dad changed systems as we went along. Most of the pictures are of my cousins from my dad’s older sister and my cousin from dad’s youngest sister. Dad was 3rd in the family. There are a couple of really good pictures of me; I noted those. There are so many interesting photos of people and not as many scenery pictures. Interesting in part because my dad didn’t often take pictures of people. When he did, he captured the moment of that person at a unique level. Not a casual now see them moment.

Dad always seemed to be able to find the image within the frame he had. That is reading the sentence doesn’t convey the photographer’s eye. The moment, the connection between the camera, the eyes and the subject captured perfectly. It takes a special skill to capture a moment in a way that preserves the moment beyond the original. I don’t have that skill; I do on rare occasions capture that special magic. But I take 200 or 300 pictures to get there. Dad did that in 10 of 12 pictures taken. I suspect in part the eye was refined when the camera was expensive. When you had to buy film, pay to have it developed and if they were slides, also have a slide projector to use.

The cost of the pictures was high. Now the greatest cost may be buying memory cards. I good digital camera, plus your cell phone, will cost more up front but over time it becomes cheaper. When you think the film (5 bucks), and develop (10 bucks) then the cost per picture for 36 pictures ends up being around 45 cents. A digital camera cost 400 dollars for a nice one. That means that when you get to 8000 pictures, your camera is already costing less than the film days. We took 6000 pictures on our last vacation, and more than 4000 picture last summer. The reality of digital cameras is that other than storage, they are cheap. Plus, you can always print the ones you love.