This morning a friend had commented on a blog post and mentioned something that caused me to think of something — screensavers! Remember when every computer had a screensaver and you could pick what you wanted as your screensaver or download new ones from the internet?
I asked Vince . . do computers still have screensavers? He said mostly they don’t because the LED screens are “backlit” so leaving something on without a screensaver doesn’t burn an image into the screen.
It’s funny how I never even noticed we no longer have them til she mentioned something that made me think of it.
Another thing that I think is really funny from the much farther back past – cameras! I’ve always loved taking pictures. I was probably about 10 years old when my parents got me one of those polaroid type cameras that the picture slides out the bottom and there was some kind of thing you had to rub across the picture to either make it show up or preserve it. I can’t even remember but I remember having pictures that were “scratchy” looking because I hadn’t rubbed the stuff across it very smoothly.
Then I got a camera that had film! It was fairly expensive to have the photos developed before the one hour photo places popped up and they put discount coupon in all the packs of pictures they developed so if you came back to them, it didn’t cost so much. I can remember dropping off a roll of film at a one hour kiosk on my lunch hour and running by to pick it up after work . . so excited to see the pictures I’d taken. Or worse . . I’d drop my film off in the mall, spend an hour shopping while waiting for the pictures to get developed. Those often ended up being very costly pictures! 🙂
There were the old flash cubes that always made me jump, even when I knew it was fixing to happen . . whether I was the one taking the picture or being photographed. I remember hoping the picture was right but having to wait til it was developed to see if I’d cut off the top of someone’s head or if someone had their eyes closed. Nowadays, using my phone, I’ll click 2 or 3 pictures just to make sure one is good. Back then, it was too expensive and I’d waste all my film if I took several pictures of the same thing, just hoping one would be a good picture. I remember finding a roll of film in a drawer and wondering what the heck was on that roll, taking it to get it developed just to see what was on it.
I was telling Vince . . when you think about the cost of film, flash bulbs, developing costs, what I paid for my phone, which is about all I use for a camera any more . . not so expensive for the phone, especially considering that you can take off the cost of not having a land line. Of course, my phones cost a mere fraction of what some phones cost because I never have the newest and greatest but it serves my purpose.
I think of younger people – Chad and Nicole for instance. They don’t even realize what it used to be like. Chad will call and tell me about something he’s made and he’ll say “Check your messages” and there will be a picture of it – instantly from Missouri to Texas. We would have to take the picture, finish using the roll of film, take it to get it developed, get an extra copy made of something we wanted to share, mail it off and wait 4 or 5 days for my grandparents or whomever to get it . . then they would write us back and tell us how much they loved the picture and we’d get their note in 4 or 5 days! How things have changed in so many ways. It’s kinda fun to think back on things we never think about.
Liz says
Ah… the good old days of photography… I still use a “screensaver” for my laptop, but it is the option for a slideshow for the “home page”. I have a folder called “slideshow” and then many subfolders that hold photos of a certain subject matter. The slideshow option on the properties page links to the folder called “current slideshow”. I have saved my pictures to some of these folders as well as saving pictures from the web. I don’t share those photos with people because of copyright issues, but I figure that I can use them for my private use since the photographer posted them on the internet.
But, it is nice to have my computer on and see a photo show. I just switched out photos from summer and early fall to late fall, turkey day and early winter pictures. But, it is always nice to see a spring photo pop up to remind me of what’s to come.
Sandy says
I haven’t used a screen saver for a long time, but I still can. I just checked in the System Preferences on my iMac and turned it back on.
Nelle Coursey says
`Reminds me of the hours Pat and I spent in the dark room! I did not like the smell of those chemicals! Now those film cameras that cost a fortune back then are selling at garage sales for $5 to $10 or they are giving them away! Some of the lenses will work on the new cameras but you have to be careful because if you have the wrong one, you can cause your (expensive) to blow out!
We went on vacation to Mexico once and took the train ride from Chihuahua City to Los Mochas. Pat took 36 rolls of 36 exposure film! He got some of the best pictures you have ever seen! We even got to meet Mrs. Pancho Villa! She was living in his house (fortress). She was the only one of the 17 wives that was recognized by the church and the state! I think She was 92 when we met her.
Joyce says
We used to laugh at my mother. She almost always cut off heads when she took pictures. We always said it we because she was short! I can look back at pictures and say, “Mom took this one!” Now we just check it on the phone, and if it’s not good take another one! What a difference a few years make.
Rebecca in SoCal says
Remember those tiny little film cassettes? I think they were for Instamatics; different from Polaroids. I think they were called 110 film…maybe 110 millimeters?
I don’t recognize the kind of photo you had to rub sumething on. I got a Polaroid when I started quilting so I could check different layouts. I definitely remember when we didn’t take several pictures.
I saw a movie with one of those one-hour photo booths in it last week. I thought it was quite a product of its time!
Carol Victory says
Brings back memories. One time my aunt came to visit and my parents splurged and bought a steak for dinner. My father took a picture and the flash cube exploded all over the steak. Needless to say dinner was quickly changed and my parents were not very happy.
Susan Nixon says
Paul was a good photographer with a 35 mm. He knew all the things to set and how to set them to get what he wanted. For years, we had a dark room for black and white and then I finally got a color set-up for him. I can remember him throwing away pictures of Regan because they weren’t up to his standards, and then I’d go dig them out of the garbage because they were pictures of my baby boy and I thought they looked just fine. LOL I still have some of them, too. =) Technology has brought us a lot of wonderful things, but there’s been a high price for it, too.