2020 has finally ended! 2020 is the year everyone wished never was. We started the year with such high hopes. At the beginning of the year we had a booming economy and we were hopeful for a year of new adventures. For me, having moved to a new state, was a year that boasted new travels and exploration. It quickly devolved into a medieval plague nightmare with a worldwide pandemic. Instead of exploration, we got lockdowns. Instead of a year full of things to see like Hot August Nights, Air Races, and other events and festivals, we all got cancelled events. The movie “Groundhog Day” took on special meaning for many of us because we felt like Bill Murray. So many lives were lost to an insidious virus.
However, the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 brought new hope. A vaccine has been developed in record time and given us hope of returning to life as normal. We can once again become the social animals we are instead of hiding behind masks, hiding indoors away from others or doing “social distancing” at great risk to ourselves. We are not out of the woods yet. Many people need to be vaccinated so that we can develop what is called “herd immunity.” This may not be completed until the summer of this year but at least there is hope where there was once hopelessness. No matter what you think of President Trump, we must give him credit for getting us a vaccine in record time. As there was a changing of the guard in January, we must hope and support President Biden in his drive to get the vaccine out to everyone.
I too have started to make plans for the year. My cameras have sat too long gathering dust on the shelf. Projects have sat unfulfilled. I am now planning posts for this coming year. It is time to prepare to go back out into the world and explore.
Things are changing in the photography world as well. Vinyl has made a comeback in the audio world. So too, film is starting to make a comeback in the photography world. I started photography when film was king. Film requires a lot more attention than digital. With digital, the camera does so much for us. If we still screw up the shot, there are computer programs we can wash the picture through to get a good result. With film you must make sure you are using the correct film and set the proper exposure for the shot. There is no washing a bad photo through PhotoShop to get a good picture.
Going back to work with film will be a great homecoming for me. It offers a challenge that I don’t have with digital photography. It will allow me to use my large format cameras such as the Crown Graphic, which uses 4X5 sheet film as well as my roll film cameras.
Finally, it will be a time to start traveling again. Many things left on hold, such as a trip to Austria or, on my bucket list, Tombstone, may finally be fulfilled. Maybe not right this year, but what seemed like a pipe dream have come closer to being a reality,
So here’s to a new year and the hope of fulfilling the promises that 2020 left unsatisfied.