Image Station is Closed!!!

Sob sob! Why do I expect anything to last forever is a big question. But - I did expect imagestation by sony to at least keep it's members informed. Maybe they did but it was probably some inactive email account that they sent the information to.

I wanted to revisit the website and download the images of myself and my space in Jakarta in 2003. Alas, that is not meant to be. So those images are gone forever - thank goodness they weren't really important pictures.

However, I realise that in this modern world, things are alot more transient indeed. Images captured lovingly often get trapped in the digital world - fondly shared for a few days and then eventually forgotten. Staying on the subject matter of photographs, all the photographs that we have taken from when I was young, right up to when the digital age set in, I treasure those. It is a paradox though that it is digitalisation that enables us to preserve these cherished pictures from the wear and tear of time and yet pictures taken by the digital camera remain there for years until someone takes the effort to develop them or print them at home.

I bought one of those multi-functional printers in the Computer Fair in 2005. I also bought tons of photo paper that was being sold at a huge discount. I have used the printer only a handful of times. What is the hestitancy about printing all the digital images on paper? Somehow digital images don't carry the same value as photographs taken by the older version of cameras where one has to take the film roll and develop them at the kodak or fuji stores. That fear that the roll could have been spoiled, the anticipation of how the photos turned up and whether the images have been captured the way that one envisioned them to turn up - I guess what is missing is the sense of mystery and wonder of the good old days. The price of perfection ...