Memories To Remember
I have had a disposable camera sitting in my computer desk for quite some time now. I had actually forgotten where I had taken it and what photos might be on it. I sent it to my favorite photo lab, Old School Photo Lab, to get processed (developed) and scanned. I have to admit that my interest in the photos that might be on the camera was even more than it usually is because I was not sure what to expect.
It should be simple. You take photos and then you see them when they are developed. However, I find that more often than not, I forget what I took photos of until I see the scans. When I saw the scans for this particular roll of film that came from the plastic disposable FujiFilm QuickSnap, I was impressed.
The quality of the photos is not what impressed me, at least not the clarity that most would call “quality”. Rather, I was impressed by the realness of the photos. Somehow they were able to capture what it felt like to actually be at the location that the photos were taken.
Now, some of the photos did turn out blurry and unusable in any reasonable way, but that is to be expected (and honestly it is all part of the fun for me). Memories of the place where I had taken the photos came flooding back. This simple vacation with my family that took place merely months previous seemed like the adventure of a lifetime upon remembrance.
I remembered immediately upon seeing the photos where I had taken them. They were taken on a family vacation to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee when we had decided to go to Clingmans Dome and ride through Cherokee, North Carolina. I started to remember small details about the trip that I had either forgotten or not thought were too important at the time they happened. Things like how, halfway up the overlook I became overwhelmed by my fear of heights and had to turn back while everyone else went on (that’s how I was able to enjoy the view from the ground and get the photo that is pictured above while the other members of my family went ahead). Somehow in text that sounds harsh, like they “went on without me” and were careless, but that isn’t true, I just honestly wanted to enjoy things from the ground.
I have Instagram photos from this same trip, and yeah, they are crystal clear and have brilliant color (better color than what I actually remember seeing), but somehow they don’t even begin to compare with the realness of the photos that I got using a cheap plastic disposable camera. I guess that sometimes memories are worth the wait, and always worth remembering.













