Oddbean new post about login | logout Remember when we had physical photo albums and we’d get them out when people came over and look over them. Now it’s all digital, stored away in the cloud, some place you’ll never check. Funny how technology that was meant to liberate your photos, actually imprisoned them.
This is why I own a Polaroid & 35mm still… I still got an old camcorder that records to vhs too…
This is where @noicemag and myself comes in; we actually make physical books, but with graphic design and integrity behind it. Here’s a flip-through video: https://youtu.be/pAjHWKfzIgM?si=HQr7g27vGuMZ-ncb Would love to send you a copy if you’d like? Shipping prices to Japan are pricy I know
Also, we would not just shoot randomly but instead carefully plan each shot, as analogue film reels were limited in number of shots and expensive to buy and develop 📸😁
Digital photo frames fix this!
Even when you do look through, it just isn't the same. Sharing old memories by gathering around a screen just doesn't hit the same as gathering around a book. I've tried to make a point of printing some out every year, just to have that memory jog when I open a drawer, or for when family comes to visit.
I remember that but I never take those photo albums out. I think some photo apps do a better job of bringing up random memories honestly. Like memories of a year ago, or your pet, or a vacation randomly popping up on your phone is more likely to be seen by me than some dusty photo album in a closet somewhere.
You don’t need to sell me on the physical albums. The dust … ah.. the best part. Wipe those dusty albums, your fingers gliding on the pages, flipping them and remember the effort you put into that album, kids fighting over who will hold it … pure joy. Thanks for bringing it up.
stop trying to sound smart you are not me
I've been wanting to sort and print photos for a few years now and haven't gotten to it. The other thing is, since the creation of the digital camera and cloud storage, we take a gazillion times as many photos. I think I have around 5k saved and maybe 1/5th are probably good photos.
I don't think it's a digital problem, it's a time preference, photos are now shared basically live on social media, comments are made, that's the extent of the experience. People stopped making space in their lives for themselves or each other. Many things that used to constitute normal life... dinner together sat around a table, visiting grandparents, washing the neighbours cars for pocket money, bed time stories, walking to school, cooking, playing out, being quiet on sundays... All got lost with the adoption of the fiat standard because there's just no room for it. This is mainly what I hope bitcoin fixes!
True. But one question. Do you think guests enjoyed looking at the photos or did it to be polite? Cos I suspect there was some level of politeness there. Its also true to some extent that we still gather round photos (on phones) to connect tho. Its just not front and centre. I also think that the issue is abundance isn't always a good thing. The photo that you develop which almost by chance got everything right, had more value in some ways. Not only was film rolls and developing quite expensive, it was also time consuming to buy the album and mount. I say this as a good thing. The PoW in photo albums is real and today's photos on phone are almost PoS!!
