Rewind, Disconnect… and Fast Forward!

by Jessica Z. Brown

Here we are, in the year of the Terabyte (TB)!

Just ahead, petabytes, exabytes  and zetabytes.  Right now commercials entice or confuse us regarding the infinite possibilities with  high- def, 3-D and 4G.  It’s all coming at us so fast.. –or it already flew by.  I can hardly catch my breath.

But as fast as these options come and go, a curious trend is also emerging:  a renewed appreciation for  lo-tech, especially by those among us  most immersed in our Terabyte world.

Why  are  some  young folks  turned on by  the “distorted,” “mellower,”  and “less stark” sounds of records playing on a turntable, or the  photograph  shot from  toy  cameras notorious for leaking light into the box and creating the unpredictable?  Why are some suddenly enchanted with disconnecting altogether?  The media literacy dimensions, here, are mind-boggling.

I  recently accompanied my daughter Jackie  to the camera shop.  She already owns a compact digital  and an SLR 35 mm film camera, not to mention a phone that takes pictures.  Regardless, she was hot on the trail of a HOLGA after thoroughly researching and comparing similar cameras.    I quickly investigated and found, to my surprise,  the Holga is an analogue  camera… and pretty low-tech.  It was also pretty cute; I could see the attraction.    So, full of curiosity  I particularly welcomed this trip to the shop where I hoped I would  get more  background/anecdotes re: the fascination with this and similar cameras, and  at the same time learn where the heck Jackie would continue to buy 120  film.

Her sales person, who proudly announced she is a product of a fine-arts education specializing in non-digital photography,  sprinted to the section where the HOLGAS were stocked and simultaneously squealed with joy that Jackie had asked to see this camera.   Then, as I had hoped, she began to produce information I craved.

First, she giggled with excitement over the “creative  possibilities” awaiting anyone who buys this crude (my word) camera. I learned, too, you can use black-and-white or color film;  there’s a flash on the body; and there’s  a color- filter package you can buy, separately.  And, she did allay my concerns about film… there’s plenty of it as well as quick processing–getting prints and/or prints on CD within a few days. (Phew!)  Far easier than Kodachrome (See links, below), I thought.

Now comes the juicy talk:  Two twenty-somethings—Millennials (born between 1977 and 97)– rejoicing in this notion of “disconnecting,”   the word our saleswoman belted out.  “Sensational,” my daughter said; “awesome” the sales woman  said, each joyously responding to these immediately recognizable rewards of  getting into this 1960’s analogue technology.   “Hmm,  on trend, “ I said to myself.  Disconnecting/un-plugging, I thought.   Some  folks, I knew,  especially Millennials, having been accustomed to being plugged in to everything and everyone, 24/7,   saying they can’t live without the e-mail, texting, etc., but  now they are also recognizing the benefit of a break,  a mountain-air fix …total disconnection….being temporarily unplugged!

Continuing to just listen, I was totally drawn to the young women’s obvious excitement over this and similar low-tech equipment for visual and aural enjoyment.     “You can  release yourself from digital, from small screens… it’s just the coolest… …playing like crazy with the imperfect,”  continued our enthusiastic saleswoman. “AHA,” I said to myself, the ‘imperfect.”  THAT struck a chord, too!.

Well, needless to say, we came home with a camera and filters and total excitement over the new purchase.   But  this notion of “imperfection” lingered.   I Googled HOLGA and found this interesting quote:  “ (HOLGA photography)…makes you see beauty when you thought it had disappeared forever, and brings out sunshine on a cloudy day.”  “Sweet and Refreshing” I thought.  And that’s basically what I was “reading” in the faces of our “Millennials, “  back at the store.

It is not a surprise, then, that this generation  might begin to think this way when one considers the media they’ve become accustomed to.  Being plugged in 24/7, they’ve seen a lot of content smacking of perfection:   The food shows make everything look perfect; weddings in magazines, newspapers and on television look perfect; homes and vacation getaways look perfect.   The video game animation  looks so real;  and high-def television is so perfect at showing imperfections….producers must compensate with different lighting,  better  make-up, just the right colors in set design and just the right textures  in clothes, for the talent, in order to make it all  look …perfect!

So, this desire to capture a less than perfect world that digital seems to represent is, perhaps, prophetic, along with that rise to disconnecting,  albeit temporary disconnects.   Could it be…they’re  seeking clarity through the less than perfect?  And that’s an  essay all its own!

Of course,  there’s no denying, we’re  solidly entrenched  in a digital world…those HOLGA pictures will be printed in some dark room, but  some of the images will be digitally copied, uploaded to the Internet….and possibly used in  re-mix!  And the scruffy, nostalgic sounds of  music…they will take a similar path.  And, ultimately, the creative world will continue to unfold in ways we never imagined.

Now, I await the images that Jackie created with her HOLGA.  She’s promsed to send them to me in e-mail.

 

On the subject of HOLGAs, please check out the feature on our digital and analogue photographer, Casey Kerrick.

• Related content re:  Kodachrome’s finale…and its beginning….
• From the New York Times LENS  Photography, video and visual journalism  blog related to the closing of the last Kodachrome processor in Parsons, Ks.