...It'll Last Longer

I am an avid photographer when I am traveling. I take pictures of EVERYTHING. But I have very few to show for it.

I don't travel a lot, but I have had some few opportunities, and on each trip I've spent roughly the GNP of Rwanda on film and development. Of the hundreds of shots I take, I get only a handful of prints to keep. I'm jinxed.

I went to New York in the late 80's. Disc cameras were the thing at the time, and they were convenient to pack: flat, compact, and cheap enough to replace if broken or lost. If you're aware it's broken. Soon after my arrival, it seems, the advance system failed. Every picture was exposed to the same film frame but the shot counter was still going strong, so I dutifully changed disc after disc.... Only one produced prints.

In the early 90's I went to Panama City Beach, Florida. I took my manual Canon camera. Less convenient to pack and carry, but more reliable. I had taken some photography classes and had big ideas about swapping black and white film with color. I knew the tricks -- how to change rolls and advance with the lens cap on to the next available frame -- but when I somehow lost track of which roll was which, I was advancing like a pro to frame 13 on a roll that had already been exposed 24 times. I have a number of interesting double-exposed color slides from that trip -- and no idea whatsoever what happened to the black and white roll.

In the mid-90's I went to a conference in Scottsdale, Arizona. I abandoned my Canon for a packable little point-and-shoot-with-zoom number. On the first night, after I placed it on the banquet table where we would be eating a lavish dinner, someone to my right sent the camera flying with one uncontrolled motion. It would ultimately survive, but the broken battery case put the camera on the DL until I returned home. I continued on with a handful of disposables, which did not respond kindly to the number of low-light evening events we enjoyed after day conferences. Only a daytime shot of the Scottsdale Princess resort remains.

In the late 90's I went to Seattle with two cameras. I packed one (which flavor I don't remember) and purchased a cheapo point-and-shoot at the airport because I was intrigued with the panoramic option. I relied heavily on the one I'd packed as I ran rolls and rolls of film through both, but in the end the only prints I have to show for that trip are roughly 4x10 in scale.

Coming to San Diego, I didn't bother to pack a camera. Now I have three: the $20 manual I bought early in the trip, the point-and-shoot-with-zoom I bought when I knew I'd be staying, and the disposable that is serving as emergency backup. If all else fails, there's also a digital camera available to me, but going digital would be my last resort. I'm a purist. I want every picture I won't have of this trip to be on film.