WINTER /SPRING2016
MOUNTAINLIFE
25
“Time Flies”
Oh, does it ever.And, no question, especiallywhen you’re having fun.
My old light table still standswhere it always has
—
up against thewall in the basement office
—
but nowadays the
on/off switch takes repeated flicking to get the fluorescent bulbs to fire up simultaneously. Requests for images on
film are becoming increasingly rare.The cost of couriers, scans and shipping/handling insurance are too expensive
and time consumingwhen compared to the free, near instantaneous transport of high quality digital files.
And so nowadays, the old light tablemostly just sits there, a bit of a relic from another era (somemay draw a
parallel here), but when those lights finally do come on, another world awakens.Aworld full of friends, trips to
distant places, andmemories of laughter and experiences shared.
Thirty-six ‘clicks’ per roll, one roll at a time
—
this library of ‘keepers’ was built, frame by frame, over the years.
Conventional thinking of the daywas that this library of favourite imageswould be a retirement savings plan that
would yield income for years to come. Somuch for conventional thinking!
This light table holds stories beyond the images captured. Eachweek, a drive toVancouver to get the film
processed, and then home again to spread the individual slides over the light,magnifying loupe in hand.The highs
and lows of the processwere often intense,with victories less frequent than disappointments. Exposure, focus and
framing all needing to be very nearly perfect, right from inside the camera.Therewere no ‘after the fact’ alterations
possible, an expensive and environmentally unfriendly process.
Laying the film out on this glowing table always felt a lot like being a kid onChristmasmorning. Rarelywas it
exactlywhat I’d hoped for, but it was usually still pretty good. Looking back, I think the high cost of pressing the
shutter and themany challenges of successfully embedding an image on filmwas possibly part of what helped give
each frame a little extrameaning.
It’s been 35 years or so of working as a full time pro ski photographer andmy library of images totals in the tens
of thousands. But, if each image took an average of one five-hundredth of a second, the total exposure time for all
these imageswould be less than twominutes long.And yet, on just this one, old industrial light table, I can see a
lifetime of places near and far,with good friends and amazingmemories. (When I can get it to turn on that is.)
PHOTOGRAPHY
THELIGHTBOX
By PaulMorrison
FEATURED LEFT
IanMorrison, Ski Scamp.
ABOVE
IanMorrison, BikeChamp.Time is not the only thing that can fly. PAULMORRISON .
