Where did all the money go that we used to spend developing vacation pictures? Not that I can afford a vacation anymore, but back when my house was worth three times what I paid for it, I’d come back with rolls of film, drop them off at the local pharmacy and pick them up a few days later for $7.38 a roll. They’re all in photo albums now, neatly labeled and titled, at the bottom of some closet under some exercise equipment. It would depress me to see some younger, better-looking, wealthier version of myself.

I’ve had a digital camera for seven years now. It’s got a chip in it that lets me put 300 shots at a time into my computer without having to pay developing charges. The digital photos will never fade; they will never curl. I can crop them, fix the red eyes, erase completely the people I don’t like and insert a grove of trees where they used to be, and it’s all pretty much free and fast. So where is all that money I saved?