"No More Buffalo..."

[mtbbrian]

There is a song by one of my favorite singer/songwriters James McMurtry called, "No More Buffalo", and I was kind of reminded of it yesterday when I dropped off some of my Holga negatives to printed.
The chorus goes, ""No more buffalo, no blue skies, or open road, no more rodeo, no more noise. Take this Cadillac, park it out in back. Mama's calling, put away the toys...

I don't know if the song has anything to do with my feelings, but it does have a sad undertone to it, and so did I when I was told by the owner of the lab, that they no longer do "custom color prints", or ones done in the darkroom. They are now 90% digital.
I can't say it was news to me, but it was rather disheartening to hear it. The owner said that the last time I brought in some negatives, which was only a month or so ago, I had been only the third person to ask for that service in as many months.

Will I continue to go to this lab? Yes, I have built up a good relationship with them which means a lot to me.

So as the last lines of McMurtry's song goes, ""But man they were here, they were here I swear. Not just these bleaching bones, stretching across the plains"
Goes the way of the darkroom...


Thanks for listening...
Brian

[another view]

Sad, isn't it. We still have a lab here that does it but it's a service I haven't used (B&W though). They're a business and have to make a profit though.

Thanks again for turning me on to McMurtry - great music. Here's one shot (you've already seen it) when he was in Madison WI recently. Very low key but you just have to listen to what he says.

[mtbbrian]

I was hoping you'd see this one Steve..
Yeah it sure is sad...
It sounded like my lab still does black and white in the darkroom, but I am not sure..
I'll ask when I pick up my photographs..
Well put about James' music..
I am glad you like him. Maybe one day we can see a show together.
Brian