I love living in this time. Technological innovation has brought things to everyday life that were only dreamed of a short while ago. The simple act of carrying an iPhone has made access to information and entertainment a constant and I have wholeheartedly embraced almost all of the changes over the years. I couldn’t imagine going without certain things, like constant internet access, or the short, efficient communication of text messaging, or streaming programming like Netflix and Spotify. Certain social media, such as Facebook, has become so pervasive though, that I have backed completely away, preferring to be with family and friends the old-fashioned way, face to face.
My hobbies have largely remained the same, but the method in which I practice or enjoy them has changed. I’ve enjoyed music and photography for most of my life. When I was in high school I would spend hours making mix tapes from my albums, each one for a specific reason. A rock tape for commuting to school or to take to a party, jazz, and blues for chilling or when I would take a long road trip. Going through phases, from punk and new wave to reggae. I collected albums and tapes, and then CD’s, for decades.
Photography was the same. I had my Minolta SLR, then a Nikon. I would occasionally borrow a friend’s Hasselblad when I could get it away from him. I learned to process and print black and white film in junior high school and my Mother worked in a local photo lab so color processing was also easily available. I still have binders full of thousands of pages of negatives and slides, even though most of the actual prints have been lost or thrown away.
Then, I heard the siren song of digital. Shortly after getting my first iPod I ripped then gave away my entire music collection. Why would I keep all of that stuff when every song that I owned could fit on one device that I could listen to anywhere? I also sold my film cameras after buying a used Canon EOS digital Rebel. Again, why would I ever need anything else? Advances in technology had made everything smaller, easier to operate and much more accessible, right? Isn’t that better?
Not exactly. The experience had also changed. For me, something was missing. The intangible enjoyment that I used to get from music and photography was not the same.
These days I am working my way towards my own personal equilibrium between analog and digital, old and new school. I’ve heard all of the objective arguments in favor or against the different mediums. And the subjective arguments? Just visit the comments sections of any internet board. People can be very… passionate. The combination of objective results and the subjective quality of the experience, plus a big dose of doing whatever makes me happy is what I’m after.
Slowly and surely I am putting together a new collection of vinyl albums. I have my favorite bins at a few local record stores and have made acquaintance with some of the people who work there. Finding an original pressing, in good shape, of a favorite album is a pleasure that rivals anything I can think of.
It turns out that I also really enjoy the experience of manual, film cameras, especially 35mm rangefinders. The requirement of knowing a thing or two about light and exposure are huge pluses in my mind, making the experience of photography enjoyable again. One of my favorite ways to pass an afternoon or evening is to develop the film from the day while listening to some of my favorite jazz and blues on the turntable.
After all of that, I will say that my Spotify playlists, streamed through a Sonos system sound mighty fine through those EL34 tubes and Epos loudspeakers and I will never get tired of the images that I make with my Leica Monochrom digital rangefinder.
It’s all about balance.
