What the Heck is “Chimping?” – By Cire Llissat

Back in the day, when taking photographs, we gave little thought to viewing our photos on the spot. For those “thrill seekers,” who needed such immediate gratification, Polaroid had a variety of cameras designed to give you your fix, most within 60-seconds.

Before the advent of 1-hour photo drive-through at Target, Costco and CVS, there was the local drug store, in my case “Rexall” in West Los Angeles. We filled out a form, took our film to the counter, and handed it to the nice lady, who promptly tossed it into a bin, presumably to be picked up later by someone from “the lab.”

A few days to a week later, we returned to the store and picked up our processed film negatives and a set of prints. Sometimes we received two prints for the price of one, which excited us, but which I now believe was absolutely a waste of time, paper and resources (but that’s another discussion).

Often, we stood right there and flipped through the pictures, stating, “oooh, oooh, oooh,” for each shot we liked.