Capturing Images for Posterity

When I was a kid, I remember the excitement of dressing up in special outfits for a photographic shoot at the local studio. My mother would dress me up as Lord Krishna, complete with a peacock feather tucked in a golden-papered headband, and my sisters would dress up as the gopis . I would pose with a decorated flute and the gopis would hold a small steel tumbler on their head. On birthdays and festive occasions we would all wear new clothes and take family group photographs.

When my father brought home the photographs, a fresh excitement would begin – of carefully placing the large black-and-white photos in albums. These albums were not like the boring kinds available today, with mere plastic slots. The albums of yore were large green, brown, and red ones with stiff black pages separated by thin white transparent paper. Along with the album came a box of ‘corners’. These corners were triangular-shaped with sticky backs. Each photograph was duly given its corners and put carefully on a page. The advantage of the corners was that photographs could be removed and rearranged at will.

It is a real pity that such albums are very difficult to locate today. In fact, with the introduction of digital photography, all the excitement of waiting for a roll to be developed and the photographs to be brought home is gone. Even the charm of browsing through photographs has somehow got lost in the concept of digital frames. Sometimes one feels a lump in the throat or a tear in the eye when looking at memories captured and pasted for infinity in a photo album. This kind of emotional bonding just does not exist in a digitally framed image.

There are some definite advanatages of digital frames.

* It is true that digital frames allow for easy storage and are space-saving devices.

* It is also saves money as one does not need to buy a film roll.

* Moreover the hassles of locating a photo studio, giving the roll for developing and then picking it up again are avoided.

Nevertheless, they can never replace the enchanting and timeless characteristic of a photo album.

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