1 HOUR PHOTO

 

 

1 HOUR PHOTO

Time is relative so they say

Back when the store on Jamaica Avenue

Put up the yellow awning announcing

1 hour for your photos or better yet 45 minutes

Would've seemed like a miracle

Previously you'd drop off 

The roll of film and wait up to a week

To see what you had

Actually many times when you picked up the 

Pictures you didn't quite know what you'd find 

Because you probably kept the roll in the camera 

For a while before shooting all 24 or 36 exposures

Film wasn't cheap and neither 

Was the developing 

So you didn't just snap away

At anything that captured your fancy

You thought about each of the pictures you took

And then after you finished the roll

You might keep it around

Until you had a few rolls before you finally

Went to have them developed

Waiting all that time 

Sometimes built excitement as

To what you'd get

You prayed you didn't waste your

Ten or fifteen dollars on nonsense

When you actually saw the pictures

Most of them were usually awful

But somehow if your were lucky

You might discover one or two

That truly were better than you remembered

And then it would all be worth it

What is it they say

All things come to those who wait

Now an hour for a photo seems 

Like a lifetime

We've lost  the adventure

The anticipation

The surprise

A small price to pay perhaps

For instant gratification