When you move things around in your house for decorating or renovations, it’s common to find those things that you thought you’d never find again – like a receipt that you needed 5 years ago to return the ugly, outdated shirt that still hangs in your closet.
But this, this one takes the cake. A few months ago I found an old camera in a box, in a file cabinet in the corner of the basement. A cabinet that I hadn’t opened for years. One of the drawers had old camera manuals, some vintage parts and accessories, a broken toy camera (usable, but the body has a crack) and an old automatic zoom point-and-shoot film camera. I used to use this camera in the late 90s/early 2000s periodically when I wasn’t using my bigger, manual ones, because this one was small and I could carry it around in my purse.
Cut to around 2007 when I got my first crappy point-and-shoot digital camera. I say “crappy” because technically it was, but at the time I loved the instantaneously digital ability to take a picture. I mean, I know I’m dating myself, but before I got that camera, the only way to instantaneously take a picture of anything was with my Polaroid. And then in 2008 Polaroid ceased operations.
So 2007 was an interesting year because the digital cameras were a hot market because they were finally making digital cameras that the average consumer could afford. Personally I was embracing the upcoming digital age, using my little “crappy” digital, saving for the day that I could get my first DSLR, but still using my film cameras. At that time I had four film cameras and started to use them less and less and less. And then when, in 2009 when I got my first DSLR, I never went back to film until about 2015.
So when I was toggling between film and digital in early 2007, I never used that automatic zoom point-and-shoot film camera again. And apparently after putting it away in a drawer, I never thought about it ever again.
When I unearthed it again a few months ago and put a new battery in it, I turned it on. The LCD opened and realized that there was still film in it. How long was this film?!? It was in the middle of a roll. I couldn’t believe it. I took the roll of film out and sent it out for processing right away.
After getting the pictures back yesterday it took my right down memory lane. The pictures were grainy and washed out from being in the camera for 14 years, but a real testament to Kodak that there were any pictures at all. That’s a long time to leave film in a camera.
There were only a handful of pictures in the roll, which were taken in 2006 around Christmas time and they were pretty uneventful but there were sweet and chubby pictures of my sons that bring back memories – memories of sticky cheeks, chubby hands and faces full of wonderment; times that can’t be repeated. And so glad they have been captured. And a mother certainly wouldn’t deny seeing another few more pictures of her kids, no matter how boring or uneventful they are ❤️
Kate Minear Sorenson 