August 19 – World Photo Day

nPosted on August 19, 2015

nAccording to the official World Photo Day website, today is the anniversary of the 1839 announcement by the French government that it had purchased the patent for the daguerreotype process and was giving it as a gift “Free to the World.”

nThe daguerreotype was the first practical photographic process.

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nPhotographers started the day to be a time to reflect and acknowledge how wonderful photography is and how much we enjoy it or benefit from it. They basically don’t ever want people taking photography for granted.

nAfter all, almost all humans who ever lived lived without photography. And even people who lived in modern nations during the first half-century after the invention of photography had little opportunity to be photographed or even to enjoy looking at photographs.

nWhen I was growing up, you had to spend quite a bit of money to purchase a good camera, and you had to certain to remember to toddle on down to the store to buy film, you had to carefully load the film, and you either had to take an entire roll so you could see your photos relatively soon, or you had to wait for another photograph-worthy event or two to occur before you finished the roll. Then, of course, you had to toddle on down to (probably) another store to get the photos developed and printed. All of this cost quite a bit of money – so sometimes you had to wait until you could afford to pay for those prints!

I would be saying, after getting the photos
developed, “Wait, why is grandpa holding
a hammer????”

There was always some crazy something
spoiling at least half of my shots!

nAnd all this time, you had NO IDEA how good or bad the photos were. That exciting moment when you ripped open the little envelope of photos and saw…was often followed by disappointment as you realized that the lake photos looked way paler than the lake had actually appeared, that the bride was blinking
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nand looked either sleepy or silly, and that the bear you were so excited to see in the wild appeared to be just a fuzzy black dot in the middle of the photo.

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Now I have a farnbetter camera on my phone than most of the cameras I owned that werenJUST cameras. And I don’t need to pay for film or developing film.nAnd I rarely print my photos. And I don’t have to drive anywhere tonbuy film or services or even to share my photos with loved ones. AndnI can see standing right there if I captured a snapshot of the bearnor not, and I can adjust and try again if I missed it! Furthermore, Incan reframe, lighten or darken, adjust colors, and more right therenon my phone, before I share the photos!

nThisnis one of those things that makes me realize that NOW, right now, isncompletely amazing. Please don’t take for granted today’s ease ofntaking, editing, and sharing photos!

nHerenare a few gorgeous photos:

nthe so-called Underwater Waterfall of Mauritius Island –

nit’s really an illusion caused by the runoff of sand and silt

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Bigar Waterfalls in Romania

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Photo of a child by Marji Lang

dragon blood trees

aurora borealis

ice cave in Iceland, photographed by Skarpi Thrainsson

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photo of lizards by Mahmoud Edeeb

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nChecknout more amazing photos on this SlipTalk article.
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nLet’s be practical!
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nOur phone cameras are not just great ways to record and remember beautiful spots, they can also be used in a bunch of really practical ways.
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n(Here’s a list of 17.)

nAlsonon this date: