Insta-history

When I reflect on my history with photography, it takes me right back to my sister and I sneaking into the cupboard to steal my dad’s 110mm camera to take goofy snapshots of ourselves. Like he wasn’t going to find out that we were doing “selfies” in 1981! That was back in the day when film came in canisters or cartridges and you had to get them developed before you even knew what you took a picture of. There wasn’t a delete button. You got what you got and we usually got grounded. But with those photographs, you also got some interestingly artistic surprises, such as leaked light (sometimes the backdoor of the camera would accidentally open or you’d just have to check to see if there was actually film in the camera!) or sun glares from pointing your camera directly into the sun. Cool stuff!

My dad must have been tired of spending his money on all of those photos because I got a Kodak disc camera one year for Christmas which just so happened to promise “action shots”.  Mind.Blown. I had my best friend jumping all over the place like a lunatic trying to capture that quintessential frozen, leaping-in-the-air shot. Why that was important to keep, I’m not too sure but I still have a few as a reminder of my curiosity and discoveries.  

 I received my first single lens reflex 135mm camera when I was 14 and my world changed. Suddenly I needed to know what aperture was, why there were different types of films, shutter speeds, polarizers, bouncing light, f-stop. Who knew that such a small little light box could be so complex!? Fortunately I worked at Panis Production (who remembers Panis Productions?!) throughout high school and learned a lot about the subject from some of the best such as Don Nord and Jake Seigel. Conversations easily circled around either the technicalities of the camera, the aesthetic qualities of composition, the power of lighting and so on.

My high school art teacher taught me how to develop my own film in the dark room (we called it “The Dungeon”) and I ran off to university to earn a minor in photography. Little did I know that it would automatically seal the deal on becoming the unofficial leader of the high school yearbook when I became a teacher. Yes, I too used to drag kids into the dungeon to learn the ancient technique of black and white negative and photograph development. But that all changed when digital cameras came in. I remember being a bit of a “kicker and screamer” when discussion arose of removing the darkroom and replacing the cameras with digital ones. I guess I was a purist. How could a computer replace the beautiful quality of a finely printed photograph?! A part of me still believes that, but I’m cool with creative change, and can now say I have whole heartedly embraced the awe of digital photography. Basically, with all of the bells and whistles that allow you to manipulate photographs, it’s pretty close to impossible to take a crappy photo.

I missed the boat when it comes to Photoshop, though. I can putter my way around it and get what I want most of the time, but I’m not one of those people that can click a few buttons and presto, I have a manipulated photograph of my sister with a unicorn horn. *sigh* It could be so much fun. But for now, I have “apps”. I subscribe to a fantastic app on my iphone called “The App of the Day” which shares free iphone applications every day.

Basically every second day is some form of a photography manipulation application. If I want my photograph to look like an oil painting, or a Pop Art print, or look like the edges are torn, or a completely different colour, I just have to press a few buttons and I’ve completely altered my photograph. Who would have thought that possible when I was a fascinated 9 year old learning how to capture memories? Now not only can I capture memories, but make them look awesome in the process. I use Instagram almost daily to record the wonders of the world through my eyes, and I get to share them with people all over the world…literally! In a relatively short amount of time, we have gone from accidentally making leaked light photographs to intentionally pushing a filter button on our iphone to replicate that same effect. We are lucky to have these ingenious opportunities with relative ease! Give it a try, and if you’re interested, you can check out some of my digital photography on Instagram under the username Bobeckman.

Originally published in the Northern Sun on June 11th, 2014.