Do you recall a time when you had cameras that put a limitation on the number of pictures you could click? The one with films that had to be handled with extreme caution else you could ruin them. The ones where you could capture only 25 pictures in a single roll, so you would go around meticulously clicking limited pics irrespective of how big the occasion was or how long your trips were. If you blinked, had a horrible pose, or had boogers up your nose, there was no way of knowing and there was no way you’d click the same people, scenery and pose again. The photo quality remained a mystery until they were developed; the photos were usually far from perfect. But, if you think of it, it had its charm. A perfect charm. 

It seemed like the essence of life was genuinely captured when actions came with limitations. I believe when the film limited our clicks, we promptly knew what mattered the most. If you run through your old pictures today, you’ll notice how ‘people’ was the element that was mostly captured. The laughs, emotions and bonds stood out as the main theme. Materialistic goods, not so much. To think how we capture pictures today- we won’t proceed to click until we review the previous ones. The hair, the look, the concealed fat, and receded hairline, everything should look beyond perfect. If it isn’t, the action continues until the perfect click is accomplished. And those food pics? Our (my) fascination in clicking food pictures has no bounds. I am trying to recall if there were any food pictures in any of the old albums. Apart from a birthday cake, I doubt there were any!

So, where do all the new age pictures go? It becomes a soft copy. Digital prints of images. Thousands of them… How many of them do we actually revisit? We have got them in phones, computers,storage devices and clouds. The hassle of accessing old pics especially the uncategorized ones are so mammoth that the enthusiasm to revisit dies. It’s not that we cannot print them and make albums, frames and collages out of them, it’s just that we usually don’t take the trouble to do so unless the occasion is special. It appears to be a daunting task to get photos printed. So, we leave it after viewing a few of them and skipping the remainder because frankly, nobody wants to see their hundreds of trial pictures they took before getting the perfect one (Yes, we were too lazy to delete). 

There’s a certain appeal to those old classic photo albums which with time have collected dust (or not, if you are good at preserving them). Leafing through the album, having only a picture or two on a single page, instantly transports you to a time and feel that can leave you nostalgic for hours. It probably reminds you of an era that reflected simplicity and peace, unlike the chaos we live in today. It exudes memories… the good kind. While you do feel nostalgic about any old pictures you revisit, whether it’s a hard copy or a digital one, the truth is, the old albums weigh heavy in our hearts. Not sure why, but they do. Perhaps, a picture in hand is worth thousands in clouds?