Everything is amazing right now.

To borrow the ideas of Louis C. K., "Everything is amazing right now and nobody is happy." This was the idea behind the "interview" he had with Conan O'brien. Basically he talks about the fact that things are so much easier now, compared to the past, and everyone still complains about the smallest things. I know as a photographer, I am extremely frustrated when my digital camera is acting up or it is taking too long to transfer images from my SD card to my computer. However, this semester I have been given the opportunity to become more appreciative of the marvel that is modern photography. I am currently taking a Black and White (film) photography course. You know, the camera's your parents had when you were a kid that had to be manually advanced after each shot. Oh yeah, and you couldn't see the image after you took it... you had to wait a whole hour for the Walgreens photo department to process your film.

In this class I have acquired a new found appreciation for the art of photography and print making. I first start with an idea. I then use my camera to frame this idea and press the shutter. From then I have to take the film out of the camera and in complete darkness bust open the canister and load the film onto a reel. Then I add developer to the film for about nine minutes, rinse, add fixer for four minutes, rinse for a minute, add hypo clear for two minutes, a ten minute rinse, and then photoflo for ten seconds. Then the film goes into a dryer. Now I have my negatives. Are you tired yet? Next I choose a negative that I want to print. Load the negative into the enlarger and then run test strips until I find the amount of exposure time I want to make my print at. Then I expose a sheet of photo paper (not your typical ink jet printer photo paper, this stuff is light sensitive). Next the paper goes through the same (roughly) process that the film had to go through. Yes.... all of that for one print!

You can clearly see the difficulty and amount of time that used to go into making one photo. Now, I can actually pull out my phone (which used to only be attached to the wall in your house) and snap off a picture. I can then instantly post that photo to my website, upload it to facebook, tweet it, email it, or text it to a friend, among other options. Your photo could easily be taken and sent to anywhere in the world within seconds. Amazing! If making prints the way I'm learning now was the past to snapping a picture on your cell phone and sending it somewhere instantly, I can't wait to see what the future holds for the world of photography.