Developed

Developed is a disposable camera. Twelve shots on a roll, a plastic thumb wheel to wind on between them, a flash that whines for a couple of seconds while it charges, and a small scratched viewfinder that shows you the world rather than the photo you just took. Then you wait. Sending the roll off empties the camera, and the lab takes five to ten days over the prints. You are not told which day. One to three days after you send it the lab logs the film in and posts a fresh roll back, and loading that roll is the only way to get more film. The prints come back in a paper envelope with the negatives, and nothing in the app opens it early. The wait is the point. You can't judge a photo you haven't seen, so you stop judging, and a week later the prints turn up as a surprise rather than a review. Some of them will be bad. Every roll of twelve comes back with at least one frame ruined and…