Overheard at the pumpkin patch yesterday were several bickering conversations and epithets of frustration over digital photos. Sometimes I wonder if we should all just leave the cameras at home and instead rely upon our memories of a fun-filled day rather than trying to capture each second in irritation.
W: Did you take the picture?
H: It says “no memory stick.”
W: What?
H: No memory stick!
W: Didn’t you put it in?
H: I thought you put it in!
W: Why would I put it in? It’s your camera!W: Look at this picture! Don’t you know how to zoom?
H: Huh?
W: Look at how far away we are. You can’t even see us!
H: Yes you can.
W: No you can’t!
H: Yes you can.
W: Learn how to use the zoom, will ya?M: Smile, Jacob!
J: (Frowns)
M: Smile, honey! Look over here!
J: (Looks down at pumpkin)
M: Jacob, smile! Look at mommy and smile!
J: (Picks nose)
M: Stop picking your nose and smile, dammit!H: You need a fill-in flash.
W: No I don’t, it’s so bright out!
H: You’re taking the picture into the sun. Force the flash.
W: It’s fine!
H: Their faces are going to be all dark!
W: It looks fine!
H: It looks fine now but on the computer it’s gonna be too dark!
W: Well how the hell do you force the flash?
H: Gimme the damn thing!
Ahh, makes me long for the good old days when we took a picture and were done with it. When we got them back from Kodak, if any featured closed eyes and blurred faces, we just moved on and cherished the good ones.
Now we take a photo, review, erase, take another, review, erase—rinse, repeat. And then we forget to download them to the computer until the memory card is full and we have to start deleting in a scramble to catch cousin Sarah walking down the aisle at her wedding. And finally, we have 6,257 photos sitting on our PC with only about 9 actually printed out, and those are from 2004.
southerngirlmusings said,
October 21, 2007 at 2:56 pm
Too funny, so sad and totally true. I don’t even want to think about the pics on the computer that have never and will never make it to print.
barbara said,
October 21, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Digiital photography can be a burden of plenty, but the plenty is so convenient. But forget the mom who yelled at her kid. No photographer there, no way.
niall said,
October 23, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Haha!..you have captured the essense of this digital phenominae!…Personally they are part of my job so I couldn’t work without one!
Nikki said,
October 24, 2007 at 10:16 am
Too funny! I am pretty good at downloading pics onto my computer to free up my memory stick, but not at printing them. I haven’t printed a pic in over a year…I don’t even want to think about the adorable baby albums that are sad and empty, collecting dust in the closet.