Slides from the Past

     I had a pipe burst in my kitchen about this time last year.  It flooded my dining room, which is attached to my living room, which is attached to the hall, which is attached to the bathroom...and so on!  The floor was ruined, and couldn't be matched, so out with the entire house of flooring.  Replacing it required pretty much everything in the house to be packed up and stored in the garage.  For four weeks, I lived in my bedroom, venturing out to the kitchen through dust and concrete as tile floors were laid throughout.   The damage was considerable but there was a bright side to this unexpected flood.  I got the rare, albeit forced, opportunity to completely clean out and weed all of my belongings.   So I dove in, box by box, ruthlessly scaling back things I no longer used, with visions of  mega yard sale profits in my mind.    

   Well, the house got weeded, but the yard sale never happened. I donated most of the things, but in the process I ran across a box of slides from a trip I had taken some 12 years ago.  It was like a forgotten treasure box!  A renewed passion for my photography resurfaced as I dragged out the light table, and the loupe and looked at my old work.  I spent hours sorting, and evaluating the collection, whittling it down to my top favorites.  

      No digital cameras back then...you didn't know if you got the shot until you were miles away and safely back at home.  In a way, it made us better photographers back then.  More attention to composition, more understanding of light and exposure and bracketing, careful attention to depth of field and focus.  You took care because you had to imagine the final results before you pressed that shutter button.  You didn't get a preview.  

      Each of those slides brought back memories of that time, and I can remember the act of shooting almost every one of those pictures.  I remember the surroundings, I remember what I was thinking as I composed my shots.  I remember the anticipation of getting those slides back a few weeks later to see the results.

    Now, I had to wait once more while I got the slides scanned and into my computer!  And now, with the ability I didn't have then, I can crop and edit those photos from so long ago.  I will share some of my favorites in small bunches as I go through and weed once again.  Brutally editing my work for the final time.