I was digging through some old paperwork tonight when I came across some photo negatives from about 20 years ago. I remember ditching most negatives when digital technology became robust enough to scan and archive such things.

But there was something so magical about seeing these negatives. Just knowing that the film had been there physically, a witness to the events they recorded provided such a tangible reminder that those events had actually occurred. Deciperhing the content of the image from the negative really brought back many memories that I don’t always feel — or don’t feel as intensely — when I see a scan.

Maybe digital media is just *too* easy. We’re flooded with images with very little effort. And the ease with which they are shared means they often have very little context, too.