Digital Photography

Both my son and daughter received digital cameras last Christmas--nothing too expensive, but they are very handy for documenting things in their "teen world." They don't use them as much as I WISH they would--I think they miss some special moments that one day they will regret having missed. Sometimes they just get the urge to snap photos of everyday life--at other times, they are adamant about NOT taking photos. They tell me that I take TOO many photos!! My daughter was having fun today just taking casual snapshots of herself and her friends. When I tried to get in on the fun, she scowled at me and asked me to put MY camera away! :) She downloaded HER photos to the computer under her profile (and did NOT offer any copies to me!). My son sometimes does the same thing--they both claim that these are THEIR photos, not mine! :) Sometimes, though, they let me copy them and download them to my files. I think digital photography is SO cool!! It is SO much better than film!! I was remembering MY teen years: my first camera was a Polaroid instant camera, and my second was a Kodak 110. My teen photos are NOT of a very high quality! And I won't even TALK about videos!! I have absolutely NO videos of my teen years--I sure WISH I did, though! So, compared to MY teen years, my son and daughter will have a lot more photos--and they will be of a MUCH higher quality--AND they will also have lots of VIDEO, too! I think that is SO cool!! I sure wish I had that kind of technology to document MY teen years!! Oh, well--from now on, every generation in the future will have access to so much technology that can be used to document their entire lives! I guess that Generation Y is the first generation to have such thorough documentation of their lives. The idea of seeing yourself BEFORE birth--then seeing yourself BEING born--and seeing every stage of your life on film--it's really amazing, isn't it? I have always been the family photographer, and I suppose I overcompensated for my LACK of childhood photos and videos that I may have gone a bit overboard with cameras and camcorders with my own children. They sometimes moan when they see me behind the lens and the lens is pointed at them--maybe I DID overdo it a bit--but ONE DAY I think they will be glad that I did! :) Now the job of documenting their lives is slowly being passed into their own hands, and I am glad to see them continuing to record, through photos and video, the moments in their lives that are so easily forgotten. And when I get a chance, I'm going to copy what they have for my own files! :)