Happy Tuesday, My Friend!
Do you remember your first camera, or are you like me and use your phone? Maybe you’re a photography buff with a real camera and accessories. If so, you have my admiration. Thoughtful, beautiful photographs can be spell-binding.
My first camera came to me from the hands of a Bayfield County Fair carnival worker. I won that sucker fair and square! I’m guessing I was in my preteen years when I played one of those ring toss games at the fair. That game made me so mad because you’d toss that ring, and it easily went over some prize, but it wasn’t completely flat all the way around the prize. Those rings had to be made too small to actually allow someone to win. But, no! I conquered those circular little devils one day!
There it was in the front row. The Hope Diamond? No. The Crown Jewels? No. A Rolex watch? Ew, what’s so great about all that stuff? No, I’m talking about the coolest-looking, albeit most likely cheapest-made camera on the planet. It didn’t look like my sister’s camera (or was it our “family camera”?), which was a Kodak Instamatic, a small silver box with a place to put a flashcube. This thing was made to look like a Nikon camera with a big circle on the front, not a puny one. This one—the one I was after—had a different name—was it Mikon?—and I wanted it badly. I tossed those rings with such fervor that I thought I’d break a blood vessel. And just when I was about to give up all hope . . . . that ring landed squarely around the camera-on-a-post. Praise the Lord! The carnival worker congratulated me and told me it was truly a prize to be proud of.
I couldn’t wait to show my mom this fabulous piece of photographic genius. She, however, was not as impressed as I was, or Mr. Carnival Worker was, with it. She remarked that it used a weird kind of film and probably wouldn’t work well. My dreams were dashed on the shutter speed of life. I still pursued picture-taking with that camera, but I think my mom was right. Dang it.
Oh, but a few years later, my friend! When I eventually got my hands on a Kodak Tele-Instamatic 608, baby! The world was my oyster now! I’d just drop my little cartridge of 110 film in the back, pop a “flashbar” on top (for indoor photographs), and look out, world, here she comes! I swear I had that, or a similar camera, for close to a century. Here’s a picture I found of what I had:
And then, remember sending film in to be developed? And waiting to get the pictures back in the mail?
It’s crazy to think how much the world has changed in my lifetime. I should speak for myself, but I imagine most people rely on their phones as cameras nowadays. We haven’t had a separate camera in years! It’s too easy to just use my phone.
And of course, what we take pictures of has changed, too! Did anyone take pictures of food back then? There wasn’t social media to post it on, so what would be the purpose? I think the majority of my photos back in the day were of people and places. And who would ever know what the word “screenshot” meant back then?
Don’t get me wrong. I love my dumb phone. I love that I can take a picture and see it immediately, and that I can also send it to Walgreens to have a paper copy made (all from my phone). I love that I can look up any diggity darn thing I can think of and get results immediately. I love it when I hear a song that I like and want to know the title and simply “Shazaam” it and get the title and the artist instead of calling the radio station to ask what that song was that just played. . . . . Instant gratification. It has spoiled me.
Having all this convenience makes life easier, but sometimes I miss the wonder of waiting and not knowing. I realize that instant answers and instant photographs take away some of the anticipation—and the marvel of surprise. I wonder if always knowing removes a special kind of joy.
I miss wondering. My computer’s dictionary defined wonder as a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable. Doesn’t that sound kind of nice? I could use more of that.
I know not all wondering is fun. Wondering about the results of a medical test isn’t fun. Geesh, why couldn’t stuff like that come to us as quickly as looking up a recipe for meatloaf online?!
Perhaps all of this is to say I want to try to wonder more, and resist the urge to grab my phone and Google every single question that comes into my head. I think I need to heed the words of Matthew 6:33 that say, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . . . ” Too quickly, I see first the kingdom of Google.
I’m going to try to wait with wonder this week and hope it’s the start of a new habit. More pondering, more marveling, more wondering . . . less googling, less screen-shotting, less knowing right away.
Who knows? I might even get a disposable camera, just so I can wonder how those pictures will turn out!
Written with love – – – – Patti XOXO
“I would maintain that thanks
are the highest form of thought,
and that gratitude is happiness
doubled by wonder.”
G.K. Chesterton