The Film--11/30 D'C

The close contact with camera in last two weeks reminded me of one of my old friends--film. Before the digital camera, people still used film to take photos in early 21st century. You had to make sure everything was just fine with the film box, or all of your photos would be like dusts. Started from the film, I jumped into the photography world.

I remember when my family came back from picnics or travels, my dad always sat before his professional desk and fiddled with the old and ugly camera. Compare to that, my dolls seemed much more attractive. However, there was one thing that I could never ignore from his machines--the film roll. I liked to stare at those brown strips when my dad came back from the camera store. He went to print the colourful photos that he was so proud of, but the only thing I cared about was the dull film. The film was light, I used to raised them up near the lamp, and see through the thin plastics. I could see there were tiny people on the film doing exactly what they did a few hours ago. To me, the world within the film rolls was the real photography; that was the moment that was actually recorded by technology, not something had been adjusted by the computer or printed in the dark room. You know what? after film faded from the staged for more than ten years, I still kept most of my dad's film rolls in my little drawer. I am not a person who is able to throw things away easily; I cherish them as the history.

Of course, after film disappeared, I was not willing to accept the crazy new digital camera at first. However, you have to catch up the speed of the world, or you will only be left behind. After I prove my words to "protect" film with actions for the whole two months, I started to stick with my dad again and play his new cameras. At that time, I thought everything with brilliant digital screens were angels that sent by God--television, computer, the old and stupid telephone...generally, just everything I could not stay with more than an hour.When I finally got to see photos on camera itself, I felt like looking trough a magic mirror that had the ability to stop time and store it. Although I was only a little girl when digital cameras were born, I enjoy taking photos. The good news was that I would not waste my dad's film any more, but the sad one was: I could barely stop. When my dad took me to his favourite photography park, he can hardly get the chance to touch his precious camera. He was so worried and bored to see a little me ran all over the world with a huge camera. Fortunately, I grown up quickly. But at the same time, the cameras were also growing. My dad bought countless different lens, tripods, and cameras. As for me, I took care of them whenever they were abandoned by him.

Now, people can hardly buy film in the market, and only some photographers and film makers would choose to use it in seek of high quality. As time passes, I became good at accepting all the new generations of cameras. However, those irreplaceable brown plastic strips would always stay in my drawer, and be remembered.