Do you remember some of the sounds we used to hear so often that we took them for granted? Some were from our childhood; others from more recent times. Let’s close our eyes and recall a few…
I remember the sound of chalk when it inadvertently screeched across the slate blackboard in my third grade classroom (a sound not heard on today’s whiteboards.) I fondly remember the corrosive crackling as the needle hit the scratch on a 33 rpm. Sinatra recording of “Come Fly With Me”. There was no avoiding the well-timed (and embarrassing) flourish of sound coming from the crotch of my corduroy pants as the legs rubbed together with my every stride. How I miss the drone of blades cutting through the air as a propeller-driven airplane flew over my house. And whatever happened to the methodically boring tock, tock, tock (minus the tick) of a wood and metal metronome sitting on the piano as we practiced scales? (a sound now relegated to an app on our smart phones). I’ll always recall fondly the fake, though convincing sound, of an engine, coming from the Queen of Hearts playing card attached by a clothespin to the front wheel of my Schwinn bike. Speaking of engines, in the not too distant future the sound of car engines will be replaced by the harmonious hum of an electric engine powering our vehicles down the road.
There are some sounds I miss. Others…not so much. One in this category is the disruptive clickity clack heard during televised news conferences. All of us photogs recognize this annoying noise. It’s the cacophony produced by the good ole’ mirror slap from our DSLR’s. The “mirrorless revolution” which was predicted to take the photo industry by storm didn’t. Everyone who takes pictures, whether for fun or professionally, did not race out and immediately sell or trade in their Nikon or Canon for a slick new mirrorless Sony. However, what does seem to be happening now is a slow turnover to these mirrorless models. Nowadays, if you listen carefully to a televised conference you can actually hear what the speakers are saying (which is not always a good thing!) Their words are no longer totally muffled by the roar of the Canons (wasn’t that a creative use of words?). The revolution has been slow to evolve, but it appears that the younger photographers are purchasing the mirrorless models, relegating the old DSLR’s to gather dust in an attic or on the shelves of the “Used” section in camera stores. I suspect that in years to come, they’ll be found en mass in the midst of other relics on antique store shelves right next to the Kodak Brownie’s and the 35mm film cameras.
I really don’t miss the mirror slap. But if, one day, I’m feeling nostalgic about long lost sounds, I can always get out my old Nikon and press the shutter button four or five hundred times just to hear that comforting sound. Better yet, I’ll wait till Sunday night, turn on Sixty Minutes and watch the show’s intro. What fun, just sitting back and listening to tick, tick, tick, tick…