Cascades, WA, 1999

I could give several reasons why I think this is a nice photograph, but it’s enough to just say, “I like it.”

There is a softness to it that, I think, helps generalize the scene from a specific place to something more than….

I’m not saying I had that sort of insight/ambition in making the photograph, in January of 1999. We had bigger things to worry about back then, with the countdown to Y2K Armageddon running.

This was just me playing with one of the new point-and-shoot digital cameras (the Nikon CP-900) during some free time in the Cascades, trying to get a feel for this budding technology, and the tools for using it. Compared to the high resolution sensors today, with the detail they capture, the early sensors were pretty poor quality. The thing I like most in this photograph is the limitation I probably bemoaned at the time. Go figure.

The thing that was immediately evident was the attraction of/addiction to seeing one’s photographs immediately; of knowing right then if you got what you wanted, or could re-shoot. And to be able to share widely, easily. Remember: we are the generation that was thrilled to pay a premium to get our pictures processed in one hour. What’s not to love about instant gratification?

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index