As uni students, we are living the best years of our lives. Yes, we capture those moments, taking out our phones and snapping a shot with an intentional aesthetic edge, uploading them to a highlight named ‘second year’ and moving on. It’s a simple and easy way to look back on key moments, but it is not unique, sentimental, or even natural. My camera, a simple Olympus Digital camera, has brought life and sentimentality to these key events. I am someone who loves music, not just the act of listening, but I cherish the community surrounding it. My friends run a company, and each time an event is happening I take out my little camera and snap pictures along the way, capturing people in the moment; dancing, listening, talking without a care in the world. There is one event I cherish greatly, down in the dark basement of Bar 105, I ran around taking pictures of people simply enjoying themselves. I even ran outside and made sure to take a picture of the bouncer, a man named Luke who brought life and chatter to the doors of the event. It was a night that I did not document on my phone, and I forgot it was even there. But my digital camera was at the forefront of my mind. I look back on the pictures I took that night and cherish the memories echoing from them, hearing the track playing at the time, or the funny conversation taking place. That’s why I love my digital camera, it brings sentimentality to the most amazing moments. Each picture I take has more value than any picture caught on my phone, because nobody smiles in a cell phone image as they do when a digital camera has snapped the shot.
Words by Lydia Guy
Vintage always comes back in style, whether that be with clothing, music or in the way we capture memories. From film to polaroid to digital, cameras have undergone so many changes in the last century, but that does not stop people of the present revisiting the past. Personally, I have always loved photography, from snapping sunsets on my phone, decorating my room in polaroids, to taking portraits of my friends on a DSLR in secondary school. The summer before heading to University, I distinctly remember helping my parents declutter a random cupboard and discovering a treasure trove of vintage technology, specifically the cameras used to capture my childhood memories. At the time, I was constantly struggling with my love of taking millions of photos and a lack of phone storage, so discovering the first camera that came alive, after clicking in the battery, opened me up to what seemed like endless photo storage. That silver Sony Cybershot captured the memories of my final summer in Singapore and the beginnings of my life in Cardiff. Flash forward almost three years, I’m on my third digital camera, a deep blue Kodak PixPro FZ55. Something about the blinding flash of a digital camera in a nightclub, how it gives everyone a certain glow, and the carefree nature of the photos taken, are just some of the reasons I check my purse before every night out and start the morning after popping out the memory card and hooking it up to my laptop to view last night’s memories. It’s all about chasing that nostalgia; knowing that I can do what my parents once did and show my future children the best times of their mother’s life through a digital camera.
Words by Angelina Mable
My first experience with a camera was when I was about 9 years old and went on my first school trip. I went on a week’s trip to the sea to learn how to sail with my class. Phones were not allowed, but we could bring a digital camera if we had one. Today, I still own that camera with all its faulty perks and have invested in two others since. One of my favourite memories with my first Pentax camera was last summer in Madrid. My sister and I went on a trip to the Spanish capital and joined one of my closest friends. My camera followed me around from colourful streets to nightclubs. I think what made the summer’s memories so special was not knowing exactly how the photos would turn out. Being able to see just enough on the screen but not the full potential of the photo makes it that much more magical when discovering them on your mobile. I always looked forward to plugging my SD card adapter into my phone and rejoicing all of the day’s memories. I believe that had I forgotten my camera, the trip would have been different, and the memories captured would feel less magical. This year, I bought myself an upgrade, a Sony Cybershot DSC-WX100 for my 20th birthday. I was able to bring it along on my celebratory activities during the day, and the photos I took with it are the ones I look back on the most. Compared to my Pentax camera, the quality on this one is much better, but the nostalgic feel of the photos is the same, and that’s what differentiates a phone photo from a camera one; the emotion you’re able to relive.
Words by Charlotte Hardie-Watts
