Essay #2: Squares

While going through some old boxes, I unearthed these bits of history.

Remember these? Back before discs replaced disks?

You may notice that the label on the top center disk reads "Photos." Yes, each of these plastic squares holds up to 1.44 MB of files dating from my first foray into digital imagery. At the time, I was primarily shooting black-and-white film on a Canon Rebel G. Then I got my hands on something marvelous: a Sony Mavica, a wonder of photographic technology that recorded 0.3-megapixel images (no, I did not transpose those digits) directly to a 3.5-inch floppy. Never mind that the image quality was poor and the camera was slower than a drugged slug. It took pictures! And it was digital! And you could pop the disk right into your computer without needing a pesky negative scanner!

I no longer have anything capable of reading floppy disks, but today I'm wishing I did. I'd like to open these up and reflect for a while, not only on how far digital photography has progressed, but on how my perspective has changed. Looking at these images, would I even recognize them as my own? Would I laugh (or cringe) at how poor the photos are, or would I be challenged to revisit the basic skills I first explored so enthusiastically with a low-res clunker? Would I approach those scenes the same way now? Did I see things then that I would pass over now? Answerless questions...unless someone has an old disk reader somewhere?

Specs: 43mm 1/100 f/7.1 ISo 100