Black to color

In the last odd twenty years we have seen considerable development , actually its at a pace that can’t be measured ,and it cannot be stopped or checked . In fact , we would get into this debate another day . On a nostalgic note, what I remember one very special and interesting way of chronicling our lives; it was through black and white permanent pictures. It was such a ritual , getting ready , dressing up in one’s finery , hair oiled and slick and then standing straight waiting to be called where the photographer came. The elders sat ramrod straight on the chairs or sofa , and the youngsters all lined up sitting on the floor or standing on the side with practically no smile.

A photographer was called only for special occasions and everyone was together for the ceremonial picture which was chronicled as part of the family history.

There were no retakes, no selfies, no taking of unnecessary pictures, just the few because the bottom line was everything cost money . Birthdays, weddings, deaths , important milestones were all marked and pictures were collected and pasted in albums where the page was black and was separated with paper and cloth bound in a spiral manner and had Memories written on it .This was kept as a piece of pride in the drawing room taken out and shown to guests . It was a matter of pride for the parents and embarrassment for the kids who were paraded out always.

Remember the times, when you were called to come and show your skills and made to enact in front of all to the present day age , where the proud mother just shows the video clip on the smart phone.

Life was sepia colored with the occasional touch up in pink done by the photographer and then we graduated to color and the practice of albums also started declining. One started making smaller albums and they started being relegated to different corners of the house. And, thus began the advent of a fast pace of life. Did we grow up? Have we gained more , are we happier with this sudden increase of materialistic possessions? Are we happier with the instant filming of every moment ? Where filters decide us,and I have known of women to stand in a particular way, pouting away just like Ms. Piggy and with hair all over . We have started documenting every moment with the fear that we will lose the picture but we lose the moment as one was busy taking pictures!

The fear of missing out has made us all in a hurry to take pictures with the best exposure , pixels. In fact , the airbrushing and the coloring of one’s pictures and just wiping away the wrinkles to enervate the maximum likes has given birth to an industry that is just dedicated to making us look like Greek Goddess and Gods. Being Human is just not enough , that also got patented you see. How I long for the days, when pictures were few, genuine ,we looked like we were, and they were treasured rather than deleted at whim! Call me old-fashioned, but the vintage rocks.