In 2017, it feels like everyone has traded cameras for iPhone’s and that experience a person would have with developing photos, seems to be diminishing more and more each day.

I worked at a photo restoration store called Action Photo & Graphics, located in Concord.

Working here taught me what it’s like to work hard and get the perfect result for a photo.

Even if the slides or film reels are ancient and were in your closet from 20 to 30 years, they still would come out as if they were brand new.

Restoring a beloved past time and telling a story in of itself.

If you went to places like Costco or CVS they can’t make your slides come to life again.

It’s at this point that I wanted to bring in the conception of convenience. Are we as a society trading in convenience over quality?

Photoshop is the easy way out now. Anyone can go on a simple editor to make their pictures look pretty and post it on Instagram.

When using a camera however, you actually have to use lighting and making sure you get the perfect picture.

Once it’s developed and you get your copy, a sense of accomplishment and skill has been achieved.

With an iPhone, you don’t get that same excitement of going outside and actually using creativity and skill to achieve a work of art.

My favorite part was when the customer would come in with their relics telling both the manager and I the story of how this photo came to be and how important it is to them.

It’s moments like these that tell an intricate story to something that’s more than just an ordinary photo.

Taking the ability to return old reel tapes back to life onto a DVD or flash drive is also really nice as well.

Watching people’s old memories from an old video camera and seeing their smiles with their family and friends was a personal enjoyment of mine.

About a year ago I took an introduction to Photography class. It was in this class that I learned what it’s like to work hard to achieve the perfect picture.

While there were many rules and tons of times that I failed to get what I wanted, it was in those moments that I finally achieved exactly what I wanted.

It seems like that art is nonexistent.

The new smart phones coming out can now take spectacular photos without any effort put into it at all.

I’m not saying that smart phones are in the wrong here, I just think it takes a lot less effort to create an intrinsically beautiful photo.

Regardless on your views of photography in our modern day, there are still a lot people out there that respect and appreciate the art of photography.

I just believe that it shouldn’t be forgotten but always appreciated and respected. This begs the question, are we trading convenience over art?