Photographs and memories…
from the archives
Hello friend,
My fascination, or maybe compulsion, with photography, began with this Brownie Starfish camera. The Christmas I was eight years old a camera was the only item on my list.
I still remember the sound and smell of flashbulbs and learning quickly not to touch the bulb for several seconds after the flash. You would have burnt flesh along with a burnt bulb.
The Brownie didn’t have sophisticated settings—only a choice of Color and B&W. The film and flashbulbs cost money, so my creativity depended on the availability of those items.
Photos of the sky and tea cups were off-limits and considered a waste of good film. So, most of my early subjects consisted of holidays, birthdays, and other family gatherings. Those early photographs still reside in old albums and stacks of loose ones waiting for me to add them to my digitized collection.
My camera gear graduated from the Brownie to several varieties of Kodak Instamatics. None of them were fancy but easily affordable for my parents. As a young bride, I captured scenes from our early trips fishing in Corpus Christi, walking around Washington D.C., and strolling the river in San Antonio.
My collection of photographs of our three children could rival any archive of influential celebrities. Then came grandchildren. Well, you can imagine the explosion of creative endeavors that began during this period of my photography.
The advent of digital photography opened the door for experimentation. Now, I wasn’t tethered to the cost of film and processing. What a revolution and freedom to take pictures—of all things and people—including clouds, skies, rocks, flowers, and random objects. And it wasn’t even their birthday.
In 2003, I purchased my first DSLR camera, a Nikon D5200. Not top of the line, but a huge jump for a life-long amateur photographer. In the past two years, I’ve worked at mastering all the settings, aperture, ISO, and shutter speed with a Nikon Z mirrorless. Between photography software, composition, and my imagination, I’m still learning.
What catapulted me into this world of capturing life, humans, and nature? It goes back to wanting to hold on to moments in time. It’s the desire to capture an expression, a smile, and all the ordinary and special events in life.
My smartphone now adds an element of “anytime, anywhere” opportunities to grab scenes and people with the freedom of a delete button.
As much I love taking photographs, the next best activity, is processing—cropping, adjusting the color and shadows, and turning what the camera captured closer to the reality of the moment—and sometimes, making reality a bit more ethereal and magical.
But most of all, my absolute favorite pastime is looking back on all those birthdays, holidays, school outings, trips, and silliness in the backyard moments. They remind me of the love and closeness of a family.
That, my friends, is priceless.
I wrote houses fill the blanks memory has lost and shared a photograph of me (don't laugh) standing in front of
Darlene Hildebrandt, Digital Photo Mentor, offers great free and reasonably priced classes for beginning photography to the more advanced.
For every moment, music cements a memory so Jim Croce's Photographs and Memories came to mind and Ed Sheeran's, Photograph.
“There is one thing the photograph must contain, the humanity of the moment.”
—Robert Frank
“Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… It remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.”
— Aaron Siskind
If you want to read more from me, visit my website. I’ll be there waiting for you.
With gratitude,
Kathryn
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Interesting coincidence, I spent the day yesterday, looking back at photos from the past. I sure wish we had better cameras then.