Capturing moments
After my last holiday in mid 2024 I stopped taking pictures with my phone. It felt like, that something is just broke changed inside me. At the time, or more like ever, I didn't have a digital camera. Not even a small one. Taking photos with my phone was convenient and I could take hundreds of photos during a hike, or a holiday or a special occasion. The photos were good enough. Like maybe others too, I paid for an cloud storage to backup these pictures and maybe some videos. After many, many years I collected 1.5 TB of almost unsorted memory and they were uploaded there. I "felt" happy, what great pictures I have taken and that they were secured for the future, when I want to look back at those experiences. But it was never that great, and I always had that "something is off" feeling. First it was basically only sorted to date. I sometimes made a gallery for some pictures, but that is it. In the mean time I realized I will never look at these pictures ever again. They will just sit out there and will left to rot but I have to pay for the storage that I will never use actively.
My parents and grandparent collected normal photos, because that was life. I know what is it like to grow up without internet, without computer, to use a film camera to take pictures. That is the main point. As a kid when I used a film camera, I had to think about what and how to photograph. Nowadays taking 200, 300 or even 1000 pictures without a second thought is luxury. Back than, I was happy with a 25 pictures that I could take.
After a long working day and a new notification, that I paid once again for the cloud storage I decided to end this. It took way too long time - from the end of 2024 until the mid of 2025 -, but I managed to filter through all those files and keep at most 15-20 photos from every single event. I was happier. First, I do not have to pay for a huge storage that I don't use actively and second, I have now as much photos what I could watch back any time. But I did not know that one thing in 2025 what I know now.
The change
Maybe it began with the change this year, that I'm trying to Going analog in the digital world, I decided to print out those pictures and collect them in huge album. At first I was skeptical how would they look like. I decided to buy a print from 30 photos from an online store (there are plenty out there), and I took 30 photos on a clean pen drive to a local shop, where I can plug that in and let those pictures to be printed out on the spot and pay for them after. These were just the standard photo size, like back in the "old days", but I experimented later with other sizes too, even with a square one. Holding these in my hand, I feel more connected to these experiences. Could this be just placebo? And yes, I wrote some things on the backside of each, like the exact date, where were it taken and one or two small sentences or words. So just like my parents and grandparents who collected photos, I might do the same for the rest of my life. I am playing with a thought that I buy an empty album only with empty pages without any photo slots, so I can glue those pictures on to them, or just buy corner holders for the photos. With that I can arrange those how I like and write more things around them. Why not have fun with that? I am not decided yet what would be the "best" solution.
Beside all of this, I might buy a one-time use camera1 for my hikes and events to take pictures. With that I can limit myself and I have to think about what I want to see on those photos in the future and I have to slow down. Maybe an instant camera2 would be a good idea too. If I compare the physical and digital photos, both of them have their pros and cons, but I think I'd prefer having physical over digital, and prefer film over digital. The photos do not have to be pixel perfect (because I am not a professional photographer), I just want to capture some memories for the future. With this setup no online service can take away my memories or block access to them. If I lose anything it will be completely my fault.
Next steps
I have never thought in my life, that I want to move away from digital as much as realistically possible and wanting to have physical things around me. If I enjoy doing this, I might look around to see what kind of digital thing can I convert to analog. I am sure I will have fun with that.
I have never intended, but it looks like this post could be the second part of "Going analog".
1 Like the FUJIFILM Quicksnap or KODAK Fun-Saver.
2 Like the FUJIFILM instax cameras or KODAK Mini Shot 4.