It takes a bloody long time to flickr. Searching through albums, choosing photos to edit, editing photos worthy of sharing, sharing photos, adding information to photos, trying to find information on photos taken 2 months ago, spelling the information correctly, typing it all in, uploading the photos, waiting for the photos to upload....I could go on 3 more vacations by the time I’ve even shared the one I took months ago!
In these days of digital photography, I hardly ever print photos. It’s a shame, really. Back in the days when I came home from traveling and straightaway sent umpteen rolls of film (rolls!) to the printers, I waited patiently for the day I could pick up a big fat pack of photos, flipping through them on the walk through the parking lot to the car, not able to wait until I got home to relive the memories. And then, simply because they were tangible, these memories and stories of travel were thrust upon others to experience and enjoy (whether they wanted to or not), to relive with me the happiness and hardship of journeys abroad.
Now, the age of SD cards, digital uploaders, IM, attachments, shutterfly and flickr has brought us to this point where our photos float in cyberspace, idling resting on our hard drive until someone asks about our latest trip, and instead of saying “Come over and check out my album” we say, “Check out my flickr site.” This has its advantages for sure--being able to flip through your cousin’s family trip to Yellowstone as fast as you want while sipping your coffee is probably much more pleasant than sitting through 7 hours of shaky videos, but there is something, well, lost. Lost in cyberspace. Looking at photos on flickr, even if the photographer has kindly added interesting details or even location information is not quite the same as hearing a friend’s story on how the elephant’s trunk rested right on top of her head as her boyfriend laughed hard but still managed to get a few shots.
I am no fool. I know digital is here to stay. Flickr and shutterfly and all the rest have made it easy to share lives and adventures with friends, family, even total strangers. But they sure haven’t made it fast.
By the way, check out my flickr page:
www.flickr.com/photos/marcigoodman/
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