Focusing on film

Society continues to allow fetishization of minorities

Focusing onfilm

SAbRINA Lo

Phone cameras get the job done and often do it well. With a simple tap of the screen, the phone takes the picture and is immediately available for viewing. Phone cameras also come with a multitude of adjustments and options to give the photos different effects. Since the entire process is convenient, it doesn’t seem to make sense to see so many adolescents reverting to the once trending disposable cameras. A wave of nostalgia has washed over the newer generations and has them replacing their cell phones with single-use cameras to capture memories they will reminisce about for years to come.

With the modernization of the world, society has become more and more used to things being automatic. Shipping packages, downloading files, taking photos, and more, can all be done instantly. Because of this, waiting and the anticipation that comes with it has become an exciting process due to its rarity nowadays.

Invented in 1986, the disposable or single-use camera can take up to 27 photos, with the only adjustment being the addition of flash. Once all the images are shot, the camera is brought to a drug store or film development center to develop the film. After about a week, the photos are ready for viewing, and the camera itself is disposed of.

The camera owner must wait about a week before they can see how their pictures turned out. This is often a fun process for teens because they are left guessing what their photos may end up looking like, which contrasts with what they’re used to with digital cameras.

“Using my cell phone to take photos is nice a lot of the time because I don’t have to wait to get them back, but now I find that waiting to see the disposable camera photos is actually kind of fun because when you’re taking the photo, the only chance to have to see what your pictures might look like would be in the viewfinder,” said Nicole Coleman, a senior at George Washington University Online High School.

The disposable camera’s slightly blurry and grainy effect on its photos brings a nostalgic feeling to many adolescents, reminding them of the images they see in their parents’ photo albums and fueling their desire to use disposable cameras rather than digital ones.

“I’ve seen a lot of old photos from my parents and just online, and it looks like what was happening in those pictures was so fun. After I saw them, I really wanted to make memories like those and similarly capture them, and disposable cameras were the closest way to do that,” said Luisa Deleon, a Carlmont senior.

Similar to what Deleon said, it seems to be a pattern for old trends that were once popular to make a comeback among new generations. Digital cameras are not superior or inferior to disposable cameras. Each has its own unique features, and each can be used to achieve different shots. But it is common to see that disposable cameras bring the teens of today’s world back several decades, allowing them to recreate the good times that they find in old photos hidden in dusty boxes.