taking photographs

I have taken photographs for as long as I can remember. I was probably about six years old when I got my first camera. I took black and white photographs which my father developed and printed in his makeshift dark room. Film was expensive and photographs were really only taken to mark special occasions or events.

I changed to colour photography when commercial developing and printing became cheaper which was  around the time that I considered black and white photography "old fashioned".

Photography continued to be a hobby but the number of photographs that I took was still limited by the cost. I used to send mine away for processing which at the time was the cheapest method and it was always great to get a packet of photographs in the post. I was much more selective in the photographs I took back then.

I have had a digital camera for the last seven years and now have 12,000 photographs on the computer, over 1600 of them just in the last twelve months. It is so easy to take multiple pictures but when they are "hidden away" on the laptop, I don't look at them as much as I used to when I made proper albums, securing them with photo corners and labelling with the place and date. This year I am trying to be more mindful of the photographs that I do take, more discriminating when choosing which to keep and hopefully taking the time to print more or create photo-books so I can look at the finished pictures rather than just know they are on the laptop.

Thinking a bit more about the photographs I am taking, I am joining Tash from Vintage Pretty in her February Photo Challenge. She has created a list of prompts, one for each day of the month.

I don't expect to complete them all or to take them on the correct day but perhaps if I can't take one to fit the days prompt, I might be able to search back through my older pictures and let some of them see the light of day - bending the rules a little but I don't think Tash will mind. The details of the February Photo Challenge are here.