Digital Dream

I'm not a huge fan of technology. Not to say I'm a technophobe, I'm certainly not. I'm not afraid of some weird I-Robot threat, and I'm not overly concerned that "the man" can track my every move when I have my cell phone on. I use the ATM whenever I can, pay-pump is my friend and I prefer self-checkout at the grocery store. I just don't get the point of some of our latest technological advances. I've considered getting an e-reader, but still don't feel compelled. I have an i-pod only because I won it at the Frederick Home Show. Yes, I use a laptop, but it is pretty basic. I have no intention of ever tweeting, don't get the point whatsoever. I have no illusion that people are waiting with baited breath to find out what my latest thought is while I wait in line at the MVA. Our GPS has managed to get us into trouble from time to time, so I still keep an atlas close at hand when we travel. However, there is one technology I absolutely love. I didn't want to love it. I fought off getting it until I was forced to do so. But now that I've got one, I do not wish to ever give up. The digital camera.

Getting a digital camera was hard for me. I loved my 35mm. It took clear, true color photos. It wasn't complicated and it always worked. I began to realize I was going to have to consider getting a digital camera several years ago when we were vacationing at the Outer Banks and Myrtle Beach. I couldn't buy film. I went from drug store to drug store, department store to department store, nobody had film. I thought I had brought enough film with me, 10, 24 print rolls, but as I was happily snapping away at the boys playing in the surf I could see my stash dwindling to dangerous levels. I ended up rationing my film the last couple days of vacation and didn't get all the shots I would have like to have gotten. That wasn't the tipping point for me. No, I just stocked up on film at Costco the next time I was in there. The final straw was when my beloved 35mm camera started having issues. The pictures were suddenly less clear, a little dark. It made a funny noise when the film would advance from time to time, occasionally it wouldn't advance at all. The camera was a simple point and shoot, I probably spent less than $150 for it, I wasn't about to spend big bucks to get it fixed. That's when I started earnestly looking for a new digital camera.

I have to say, I love it. I really do. I love being able to snap away and not worry about processing fees. I love that I can download a picture or two or ten and send them to my mother, or post them on Facebook. I love the instant gratification of taking a picture and seeing exactly what it looks like. We have been in the Mount Rushmore area of South Dakota for the last several days and I have taken at least 100 pictures of the sculpture. Many straight on, but many more from different vantage points. In some of the photos you can only see Washington, some you can only see Lincoln a few you can only see Jefferson and Roosevelt. If I were still using my 35mm camera the fees to develop the film would be astronomical and I wouldn't know if I had good pictures until after I paid for them. But with my digital camera I can download them to my laptop every night and relive the day with my family. How fantastic is that?

Gone are the days of dealing with stacks and stacks of photos, storing them until I get a chance to put them in a scrapbook. Now I print out only the photos I need for the pages I will be scrapbooking. I'm even dipping my toe into the world of digital scrapbooking, so who knows where that will take me. I am excited to see what the next advance will be in the world of digital photography. I will watch QVC for hours when they have all the digital gadgets for sale. I've not bought any yet, but I'm sure it won't be long. I've felt my hand twitch a few times when they've flashed the phone number on the screen. I'm even considering the purchase of a second digital camera. I like mine, but it's a little bulky and has a few features I don't use. I want something a bit more sleek and, of course, idiot proof. I'm sure I would use all the features on my current camera if I bothered to read the 500 page manual that came with it. That's just not going to happen. Even if I had the time, the inclination isn't there.

I don't want a cell phone capable of taking motion picture quality movies, I don't want to Twitter, I'll gladly trade in my GPS for a good atlas, my digital HD channels on my TV are always screwed up, thanks Comcast, I don't mind holding a book and flipping the pages and I wouldn’t mind weaning my kids off the X-Box and Wii, but go back to a 35mm? No thank you.