Polaroid. Kodak. Canon. Nikon. Minolta. Sony.

Despite various names and styles, these digital camera brands share powerful importance: a multitude of memories, all documented with an instant click and flash.

Following the comeback of early 2000’s trends – low-waisted jeans, matching sweatsuits, and bright patterns – old-school digital cameras seem to outlast the assorted components of the Y2K package. 

With the rise of TikTok Shop, the shopping and promotion tab of the app, teenagers from all over are influenced to buy into photography’s latest hit. These cameras can be spotted at numerous social events, including sports games, parties, school dances, and shopping trips – where photos are then downloaded from cameras onto phones, and memories from a special night are shed in a unique and retro light. Whether for personal use or to share with friends, the comeback of digital cameras creates a sense of community and boosts the personality of photo dumps, stories, scrapbooks, and other recreations.

“I have a senior camera that I use, and I take it everywhere. And it’s just for senior year [events]. It brings people together and captures the moment. You can buy the adapter to plug [in] all your photos on your phone, and it’s really cool to see all your memories,“ senior Daniella Miulli said.

There are individuals who have separate Instagram accounts where they post all of their digital camera photos too. After taking photos at an event, they upload all of them and dump them onto Instagram.

“My favorite time to take photos is football season, I would take pictures all day in class leading up to the game and I would take some cute photos with the dance team and take photos at sunset. I enjoyed taking photos of the student section and they were very hyped up,” senior Alexa Correa said.

It is no surprise that the digital photography teacher at West Chicago Community High School is well-aware of the trend as well. While Megan Dulkinys does not expect to start teaching students to use film cameras, she recognizes their place in the industry.

“I know there’s kind of been a throwback to some film cameras, and I respect that. I think it teaches you a lot of the technical skill of photography because you can’t see the pictures right away; you have to pay attention to your lighting and your focus,” photography teacher Megan Dulkinys said.

Considering the world’s multiple innovations, one would argue that cameras lie at the top of the list. Popularizing around the mid-1990s after extraneous prototyping and experimenting, the digital camera carries its legacy through modernized society, and offers a vintage glimpse of technology.

Originally, owning a handheld camera was considered cool or grungy, as it was the hot topic of the 90s and was mostly used for special events. The kids of these camera owners, Gen Z, carry on this tradition while they search closets or neglected basement boxes for these nostalgic items. As more and more teenagers are spotted in social scenes with digital cameras and ‘grainy’ Instagram pictures, parents can reminisce on their younger years through their children’s work to repopularize an essential element of the past. 

“Polaroid was big when I was a kid; they kind of went away and then had a resurgence, and then Polaroid went out of business and Fuji bought it. I think Polaroid bought it back from Fuji because it just hit off again. Your generation and kids have been picking it up, and I think it’s really cool,” Dulkinys said.

Moving forward, technology and cameras will only continue to grow in sharpness, clarity, and mechanics. Although modernized industrial science progresses with innovations, such as the idea that smartphone cameras can mimic high-quality lens cameras, the idea of nostalgia will always stay. Whether that be rummaging through old boxes for vintage digital cameras or diving into the world of film, new generations will open new trends and rebirth old ones.

“None of it is going to go away. I think digital cameras are around and people live in those images. We share those parts of our lives quite a bit, so I think that’s always going to be there,” Dulkinys said.