Kodak moments

I imagine many my age have raised children from newborns, and seen them grow, mature and in turn, raise their own families. In old photo albums (people once had devices that captured images, and when treated by a process, those images were transferred onto paper!) I see many photos that chronicled my infancy. As my wife and I have joked with our boys, the first child often has dozens (digitally today, possibly hundreds or even thousands) of photos. Succeeding kids seemed to get fewer pictures. Birth. Crawling. High School graduation. Does the novelty of new parent wear off? Or do parents have to keep hawk eyes on their kids that the camera is forgotten?

And group photos? in my own family, especially in their pre- and teen years, rarely could I get everyone in the same place at the same time.

But thankfully, it is not the case with a grandchild! Last night, our grandson spent several hours with us, being held, tickled, eating teething biscuits and cheese. At nearly eight months of age, Zander is really becoming a little person, and for the first time, he was smiling, chuckling and burbling at me while Gramma held him. Where the heck was a camera, I thought, to capture this “Kodak moment”?

I doubt anyone under the age of forty has a clue to what a “Kodak moment” was. But the camera in every cellphone owes its origin to a man who made photography available to the average person. In 1888 George Eastman received a trademark for Kodak, and his camera company’s product dominated the world market. Whether you prefer an IPhone or an Android, or use a Nikon camera, I think Kodak will still capture the moment.