I tend to want things now. I am a product of the digital boom too, you know. I find myself impatient if a website takes longer than 10 seconds to load, disenchanted if finding the answer to something takes more than a minute, and just down right angry when it comes to traffic (even if I have no where to be at any particular time; this is another reason I ride a bike).
But for the most part, I was definitely born in the wrong decade. I love not having to look at the back of my camera after every picture; I move on to the next great shot quicker. Im ok waiting a few weeks or more to see the pictures I take; I have time to think about what it was I did and where I want them to go.
I lack the need to know what is going on everywhere, all of the time. Of course Im as curious as the next open minded young artist, I just have not desire to see the latest youtube sensation nor blockbuster hit nor the need to check up on people that were never that havent been in my life for many many years. What does that have to do with photography? Good question.
To me, photography has become so accessible that even those who have chosen the righteous path of recording life in the still have stopped cherishing what is right in front of them in lieu of what the world is or should be interested in. Now I realize that if no photographer was ever interested in going to war zones, exotic lands, or underserved populations that the world would be worse off. I just see an influx of young photographers (alright my vision is narrow) that see flashy ease and quick connections and assume that is all there is.
I feel an audible, albeit misshapen, responsibility to recording life on film. I fell in love that first week I moved to Chicago in 2006. I was a shy, unsure 17 year old, who always left a finger in the frame when snapping shots of her friends on middle school trips to the local amusment park. I bought my first film camera begrudgingly when I was accepted to Columbia College Chicago on a scholarship, and realized that the (then) fancy Cannon EOS 10d that I bought with all my money earned during my first job as a Burger King diva, was not even going to be covered until my second semester. I was angry, I was resentful, as I have seen many students go through during my 3 years working in the college's darkroom. I thought it was dumb and that I would never use it. Kinda like math. But of course I fell in love when I brought out that first test strip (which I still have, and which I never fixed) and I can probably count the number of times I have picked up my digital camera since then. (and I really like algebra, its just kinda fun once you get it I dont care that I dont need it) And 6 years later, digital cameras and technology has gotten only the more enticing and easy to use and get an amazing shot, but my cannon EOS 10d still sits and collects dust ( you want it? Ill sell it ya for 100 bucks plus a couple of lens's which are good) I now have a small army of film cameras, and use them as much as possible if only to use them as an ice breaker for conversations. Im determined to keep the darkroom alive, because if you really love photography, I do not understand why you dont REALLY love silver crystals being trapped based on light to a piece of plastic and then turning that into something. It just boggles my tiny little mind.
Ill tell you more about my adventures in film and in life. In the meantime, stop being cool and just put breaks on your bike before you hit something you dummy. I guess you can stay fixed.
Photography, 
