Remember the days when you had to send your exposed film away or take it to a store for processing?

You waited for the mailman or returned later to the drug store for your prints.

You couldn't wait. You opened the envelope right then and there. Of course, the photos were in black and white and there were just a few of them. But they were wonderful. They captured a moment in time, and you smiled when you recalled that moment frozen in front of you.

Memories for me are often associated with odors. Right now, I can remember what the inside of my first brand-new camera smelled like. It was black plastic, and that first whiff was captured in my brain forever. It was a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Camera Outfit with Flash and it took size 620 film.

I was 13 in 1950 when it first showed up in the Montgomery Ward catalog. I just had to have one. It took a long time and lots of lawn mowing to save enough for the $7 price, but it was well worth it.

Somewhere in this old house there remain prints from that camera, and I still chuckle when I look at those golden memories.

I could buy the entire outfit used today on the Internet for about $18. I'm tempted, except that I'm not sure the film would be readily available. I recall that it used M2 flash bulbs and that you could burn your fingers if you touched them right after use.

MOVIE MOGULS
I've owned many cameras since then, some simple and others complicated, but that one was special. Like everything else I've saved in boxes and drawers around here, I still have other old cameras from long ago. My wife, Kaye, would no doubt have a question if I bought that Brownie Hawkeye online: "What are you going to do with that old thing?"

My answer would be, "Nothing. I'd just look at it."

I remember a very old French movie camera around the house when I was growing up. Apparently, it was nearly impossible to buy film for it, so it was relegated to toy status for my brother, Jim, and me. We wound it up with the crank on the side and ran around the house making believe we were movie moguls, making the film of the century.

Kaye reminded me that our son Michael once had an expensive French camera that he left here when he went into the service. One of our other sons got hold of it, completely dismantled the thing and made some kind of toy out of what was left. When Michael returned from Germany, he was less than a happy camper.

I took many 35-millimeter slides and still photos over the years, and the slides today are still crisp and clear, but I want to have them transferred to a format that doesn't require setting up a projector and screen for viewing. Kaye also took hundreds of terrific pictures with various film cameras, and we love to go through them together.

THE DIGITAL AGE
We had several of the self-developing film-type cameras and enjoyed being able to view the prints quickly. They had to be pulled out the side, then the image solidified on the spot. When we go back and look at them today, most of the color has faded badly.

Now, of course, our cameras are digital, and we take hundreds of pictures without worrying about cost for developing. We simply upload them onto our computers and edit them any way we like. In Ireland recently, I took more than 1,100, and my laptop groaned at the task of adding them to the mix.

The other day, I checked and found about 8,800 photos on the computer. What a ball I had going through the first 500 or so, refreshing my memory of vacations and family occasions from the past several years. Of course, I labored over which ones I could delete to make room for new ones.

That took the better part of an afternoon. I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day.

I figure at this rate, I'll be 106 years old by the time I weed through the remaining photos. Excuse me, please, while I go and get started.

Have a great day and please, don't text or take photos while you're driving a car. In other words, drive carefully.

Gordie Little was for many years a well-known radio personality in the North Country and now hosts the "Our Little Corner" television program for Home Town Cable. Anyone with comments for him may send them to the newspaper or e-mail him at gordandk@aol.com.