The grainy flash of an old Canon or the instant glow of a Polaroid is making its way back into teenage hands. What started as a nostalgic experiment has turned into a trend, as students swap their phones for cameras that capture memories in raw, imperfect detail.
For senior Annika Mysore, the shift happened by accident. She stumbled across her cousin’s old pink Canon in the garage and decided to bring it to school.
“The flash was insane, like everything looked sparkly and a little chaotic, and it just felt different from phone pics,” Mysore said. “After that, I was hooked.”
For Mysore, digital cameras capture high school differently than phones do.
“Phone photos feel like something you post on Instagram so people know you were there,” Mysore said. “Digicam pics are more like a memory. They are grainy and messy, and that is exactly how it actually feels.”
For other digital camera users, the trend started earlier. Senior Lily Jang first brought a camera to outdoor ed in sixth grade before she even had a phone. Even after she got a smartphone, she continued carrying her digital camera with her.
“I truly believe digicams can capture something that phones cannot,” Jang said. “With a camera, there is no filter or editing. It captures that exact moment in time.”
She also added that digital cameras capture the moment in different ways than Iphone’s can, making the experience, especially in the moment, seem different “There is a big difference between mindlessly scrolling and sitting down to really look at photos with friends,” Jang said.
Senior Paisley Koh shared a similar perspective. For her, using a digicam feels less about curating for social media and more about documenting daily life.
“I love how the photos come out,” Koh said. “Sometimes the lighting is weird or the angle is off but that is what makes it real. Every picture feels like its own memory.”
She explained that each picture carries its own weight. “I feel like each photo taken captures a distinct moment or memory that phone pictures cannot,” Koh said. “With phones, you end up spamming photos or filling shared albums, and sometimes it feels like the meaning gets lost.”
Koh added that the best part is reliving the images with friends after their experiences.
“We will sit around a laptop, go through the files, and laugh about the little things we forgot happened,” Koh said. “It is a way of keeping those moments alive instead of letting them get lost in a huge camera roll.”
As students rediscover old cameras in garages, closets and family drawers, what started as a trend has become something more meaningful as a memory.
