A record pop. Dust on film. Artisanal food. Our culture is craving nostalgia on a temporal, iAge of pixels and clouds. We require immediate gratification, yet yearn for things that show character and took time to mature. The pops on records (hell, records in general) show a uniqueness that MP3s cannot muster. The imperfections help us see the world through the non-glossy lens our minds need, when everything else has a faux-sheen veneer applied to look new and important. The massive megapixels shoved into tiny devices need to be manipulated to show a harkening to an analog age for significance. We are bound by our nostalgia and for the first time ever have the ability to fuse the now and the then. But is it cheaper as a result? Take today’s photo for example. It’s a parking garage ramp. The photo itself was mediocre. Intentionally shot that way too. Perhaps it’s composed decently…nothing too impressive, but the light flare, grime, soft filter, color shift make it so much more, by making it so much less of a representation of what was actually there this morning. We’re drawn to the fascination of memories. I love that our phones have helped us communicate our worlds around us more now than ever before. Even though I can’t recall the last time I had an actual phone conversation.