theGazette
Friday, February 28th
by Bradley Metlin
M.J. Irdeza
Desperate for their caffeine, the University Community Centre basement is usually populated with students seeking solace in the less hectic Tim Hortons. Others occasionally dart by with grim expressions, heading to the Book Store after realizing they will need a previously unpurchased textbook for a midterm. Yet, more recently, the UCC basement has been engulfed by those craving musical stimulation. Boxes of CDs are scarcely looked at, the stacks of DVDs are occasionally scoped out by the odd onlooker; but the milk crates, that’s where you’ll find the high traffic — and the vinyl records. The meticulous thumbing over of the cardboard casings as some wipe away specks of dust, and the strikes on the cellophane wrappings are oddly mesmerizing. These vinyl sales might start to become more of a mainstay, argues M.J. Idzerda, manager of the Forest City Image Centre in the UCC basement. A spectacled, articulate man, he could easily be mistaken for an impassioned professor. In addition to his role as manager of the Image Centre, he also takes archival photos for the university on occasion. It’s clear that he has a finger on the pulse of the university community and the photography industry at large. “The industries that were set up to provide you with vinyl records, film, and the books are collapsing. So what I think is starting to happen is that niches are starting,” Idzerda says. “The fact that there’s a vinyl sale is a niche, the fact that I see film cameras sales is a niche.” Idzerda has been the manager of the Image Centre for four years and says when he started, there
were essentially no sales in actual film. Now, there appears to be a movement towards analog, which would suggest a resurgence in the popularity of film photography. It’s a trend that Idzerda says might not have begun how most would assume. “It wasn’t the hipster crowd,” he notes. “It hits more mainstream now. Basically, the student demographic is buying film cameras, they’re not as interested in Instagram anymore.” Using analog technology such as film might seem archaic to a generation which is so routinely described as tech-obsessed. Generation Y, or “Millennials,” is the generation to which most Western students belong, and it is characterized by this obsession. Indeed, an infamous Time magazine cover from last May featured a teenaged girl taking a “selfie.” The headline? “The me me me generation: millennials are entitled narcissists who still live with their parents.” The cover got the Internet talking, but perhaps the folks at Time did have a point. After all, research conducted by the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association in 2012 found that 72 per cent of 18–24 year olds owned a smart phone, with that number rising rapidly each year. Idzerda believes this environment may be leading to a wider response from today’s young people. “It’s all about authenticity. That’s what [Generation] Y is very interested in,” he states confidently. “Everything they deal with is inauthentic. You don’t know if you can trust Facebook. It’s intangible. So when you make a photograph with a film camera, it provides that [tangibility].”
In a world where everything can be done virtually instantaneously — from chatting to mashed potatoes — perhaps this generation craves more meaningful and thoughtful outlets. Robyn Obermeyer, a second-year English and creative writing student and former Chapters employee, agrees with this sentiment. “I am a lover of a physical book. I just think the experience of having a physical book in your hands is more exciting and special,” Obermeyer says whimsically. “Being able to feel the pages, and the spine of the book. I love the smell of books, especially old books.” Obermeyer has seen the proliferation of e-books within the industry during her time working at Chapters and says she has an ambivalent relationship with the medium. “I think that they provide people who normally wouldn’t be reading with a way to read. It allows people to have books on their computers, on their phones so in that way, it’s good because it’s getting people excited about reading,” Obermeyer says. The rise of e-books has been implicitly linked to the death of the physical book. News of this death, however, seems grossly exaggerated. The Association of American Publishers notes that 23 per cent of all book sales are now e-books. That said, when looking closer at the level of e-book sales, the growth they show from quarter to quarter seems to be shrinking quickly. This suggests that sales of digital books is >> see ANALOG pg.5
Photos by Kelly Samuel and M,J, Irdeza, Design by Mike Laine