nostalgia

It was early Sunday morning last autumn; I and a couple of friends took off toward Camberwell markets. In my opinion that is the only way one should spend a Sunday morning, a coffee in your hand, eyes slightly drooping and on the way to somewhere new, serene and with the accessibility to spend some money on second hand goods. Towards the end of the last row of goodie stalls I came across an ‘old seadog’ selling everything from binoculars to slippers, and in the midst of all the clutter I found an analogue canon camera; $50 later I was a proud owner of my very first camera that required no more than a roll of 35mm film and a little hands-on creativity.  I used rolls of films, one by one, stockpiled them in my drawer, and it wasn't until a couple of days ago I accomplished to head down to the photo shop to get them developed.

I was awed. Not only did my first developed photos come out great, considering lighting and focus etc., but holding my very own shot photographs in my hands versus looking at them on my computer screen, I felt the sudden feeling of nostalgia; those many times I flicked through our family albums from the early nineties, touching and smelling them, they seemed to create some sense of sentiment. Unfortunately that came to an ending for most household; when digital media became ‘the shit.’

Yeah, I bet you guessed it, holding and flicking through these photos created the same sensation as it did when flicking through old family photo albums…….. It was the 3^rd best feeling in the whole wide world (No, I cannot reveal the top two, it’s personal.)  

I believe where I am getting at, no matter how wonderful unlimited the digital media, world wide web, hyperlinks and hypertext supposedly are, it cannot stand a chance to something that can touch base with the sentimental and nostalgic part of you. The digital media, hypertext and transmedia are a few remarkable ways of storytelling where the stories are able to develop freely, hey, it can be never ending with a number of different authors, it has the capacity to contain multiple different media forms and the consumer can use it to their liking; they can pick and choose their own narrative, their own personal outcome. Please, do not get me wrong, I am not one of those who loathe  the digital media, not at all, how can I anyway, when I am a media student.

A story which is shared; appreciated by a larger audience or perhaps even frowned and critiqued upon by an audience is a well written story. It might be a story that will give something to others, a meaning, a different perspective and even hope. The possibilities are endless. But when it comes to the good old fashioned developed photographs that you can physically touch and smell give yourself as a writer of the story a cherished sense of your past journey, whatever it might have been; and with the physical evidence right there in your hands, it is oh so easy to go back in time and relive the journey; the smells, the sounds, the thoughts and the impressions. It is definitely the 3^rd best feeling in the whole wide world.