Picture perfect

Lately it seems that cameras, whether they are attached to your phone or not, have become a staple in most purses. People are obsessed with documenting life’s most important – and most trivial –moments. Perhaps this is because taking pictures has never been easier or more fun. Gone are the days when you would have to print every photo out and get stuck with a bunch of lousy shots. In this digital era, you can immediately erase an ugly picture and keep clicking until you get a good one. Anyone can look like a million bucks if they know a good Photoshop artist. You can even kiss away the hassle of printing out a copy for every single person who asks for one because they can get it online.

That’s why at a time when CDs have taken the place of most big, bulky albums, I was stunned to find some rolls of film and old negatives among my stuff the other day. Although I had loads of them before, I hadn’t used or seen them in a long time. It was almost like uncovering an old scrunchie tucked away in your closet. Curious to see what was inside the film and unable to find the corresponding pictures, I headed to nearby DPI Photo Center at Astoria Plaza. At first, I thought that it was simply a developing center with lots of sophisticated machines but I found so much more. Aside from the walls being adorned with an exhibit of a well-known photographer’s work, there were truly impressive, fully equipped studios for rent. They also seemed to have every scanning, printing, and editing device that you may need. You could either work on your pictures by yourself or be assisted by someone who clearly knows a lot about the craft and has a genuine passion for photography. While the place was apparently originally designed as a hub or business center for photographers, they had lots of services for non-photographers like me. I thought that developing my film would be short and simple but I was presented with so many options, from something as simple as what paper to print it on to whether I wanted my pictures turned into a mosaic. They can even take all of your old pictures, scan them, make them digital, and organize it for you or retrieve files from broken memory cards. Who knew that you could do so much with pictures nowadays? The possibilities are intriguing and even a bit overwhelming. It’s like trying to choose what kind of coffee you want at Starbucks or trying to get through all the merchandise in Topshop’s flagship store.

When my photos were printed, I walked away thrilled that I managed to avoid losing my pictures and the funny moments that they had captured. I vowed to come back with the rest of my archaic photos, sadly hidden in old rolls of film. After all, life is a lot more complicated these days and it’s easy to lose sight of what is truly important. So on the days when you feel like a lovely new pair of shoes or this season’s most coveted bag is the only way to rise above a sad spell, it’s good to have pictures around to remind you of how nice it is to be with the people that you love and care about, how much fun all your crazy nights used to be, how exciting it is to be somewhere you’ve never been to before, and how good you’ve actually had it all along.

* * *

DPI is located at Astoria Plaza, Ortigas. For inquiries, call 6360167/6336095, or e-mail dpiphotocenter@yahoo.com.