Lea wrote :
Because the horrid flu virus is traveling through my sister's family I kept
my eight-year-old niece Rachel this afternoon so my sister could sleep and
recuperate.
It was a quiet afternoon, one of those unexpected gifts that lands in your
lap when you least expect it but perhaps most need it.
We had no agenda but because I'd been printing all week and had photographs
on my mind I told Rachel of her 'box' which is a lovely, dark brown,
fabric-wrapped box that holds the photographs I've been printing of her
since she was born; she has known nothing of it before today though it sits
in plain view on a shelf in my office. I have one for her brother Josh and
her sister Edyn, too.
To say she was stupefied by the prints would not be an overstatement.
Firstly she said, "You've been doing this for HOW LONG and I never knew
about it?"
While looking at one of the prints of herself playing soccer; foot mid-kick,
ball suspended in air, she got very quiet then said, "It's like you've taken
this moment and just frozen it, and now I get to see it again."
You could see the lightbulb of wonder go off in her head as the magic of
photography settled on her. I am certain I looked much the same way the
first time I saw a print come up in the developer.
I am not wordsmith enough to convey the collision of feelings I experienced
during the two hours we spent looking at her photographs, but if I've ever
wondered about the value of printing it was made abundantly clear to me
today.
On you Lea! /cheer!
would she have felt the same if you plonked her in front of a laptop and
given her a slideshow? I doubt it..
There really is something special about the print.
I am rather happy with my most recent purchase, a Polaroid film printer.
Now I can stick all my digital files onto film at 4000 dpi (24MP per frame)
and have the joy of printing them in the darkroom again.
k
