Mid Life Mayhem

         I took a roll of film into our local photolab for processing today. There was a time in my life when having a roll of film processed was not a noteworthy experience. This particular roll has about only eight or nine frames exposed on it, but it had been in the camera too long. It's been over two years since I have done any serious photography on film. I don't think this film will be my last one though. I have two rolls of 35mm and a roll of 120mm still languishing in my refrigerator. I just haven't felt nostalgic enough to use them. I'm having way to much fun with digital.

       That being said, I have to admit that I have a large suitcase full of colour prints and negatives stashed in my closet upstairs. I also have several binders filled with sheets of black and white negatives and contact sheets. To top it off, I have piles of colour slides tucked away in Kodak carousels. Last Christmas, in addition to this computer, I acquired a little unit that digitizes images from 35mm negatives and slides. Apart from testing it out with a couple of 35mm frames, I haven't put this digitizing unit to much use. The idea of digitizing 43 years of image making is a task that just seems too daunting. I acquired my first camera (an Imperial Instant Load 900) when I was eight years old. However, I couldn't help but feel the bite of another Canadian winter when I was out for my stroll today. Perhaps organizing all those photographs will be a good indoor activity through the cold months ahead.

       Maybe I'm just making excuses here, but I'm finding in my post March 2009 life, I don't want to spend a lot of time lost in nostalgia. In fact to a great degree, it is something I want to guard against. When talking with my ten year old son, I cringe every time I begin a story with the phrase "When I was your age..."   I find myself thinking,  "Oh my God! I've turned into my father!" I may be having a mid life crisis here, but I want to contribute what I can in the present with whatever knowledge and skills that I have acquired over my strangely spent life. That being said, as mid life crises go, I guess that renewing my interest in photography and pecking out a few blog posts is infinitely preferable to buying a powerful, overpriced muscle car. But damn those new Dodge Challengers look hot!... maybe in candy apple red... with a hemi engine...yeah, gotta have a hemi...and a six speed shifter....    


                                                              ...more later

 My first and latest cameras. I acquired the Imperial Instant Load in 1968. (Yup. I still have it) What is not in the picture are the dozens of cameras that came in between.

The two old girls. The Agfa Isola on the right was made in 1957. Both cameras still work perfectly, but 126 film for the Imperial is no longer available. I salvaged the Agfa from the garbage bin of a camera shop  where I used to work. 

The current arsenal.