Category: Found Film
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Found Film from the 1940s: Prudential!
Some of you who have looked at my blog once or twice are aware that I used to develop “found film” that was found undeveloped inside cameras, either that I had bought or that someone else had found inside a camera and didn’t know what to do with. Occasionally it would be a trove of…
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Camera Review: Ansco B-2 Cadet
For reasons known only to them, camera manufacturers have, over the years, felt that “cadet” was a good name for a camera. There are at least 20 or so cameras (plus an exposure meter and an enlarger) called Cadets, to include at least eight made by the Ansco company. There’s the Ansco Cadet A8, B2,…
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Found Film: Horse Sense
Recently I bought a few lots of cheap plastic point-and-shoot cameras – the kind we all had in the 90s – where you slide open the front, the lens comes out with a buzz, integrated flash pops up… I’m planning to do a photography class with some local kids, and for around 20 bucks you…
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The Rescued Film Project
So I like processing “found film” and discovering lost images, and it’s a relatively unique hobby, but this is kind of an extreme way to look at it. It’s really not as complicated or as amazing as he makes it sound. But I guess that’s part of the art of making a good documentary.
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Found Film in a 100-year-old Camera I got for Christmas
So my parents gave me this old camera for Christmas – a large, worn leatherbound aluminum case with shiny nickel fittings, that concealed intricate, shiny brass knobs, dials and gauges, along with a set of pristine red bellows. As my mom put it, it was a bit “like a Chinese puzzle to open,” but I finally…
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Found Film: Safari!
This latest roll of found film is a 35mm roll of (I think) slide film. I say “I think” because I actually developed this some time ago and have been carrying the digital versions only. They were pretty dark and I had to use a homemade lightbox to photograph the negative, invert it and change…
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Found Film: My Very First Camera
What was your first camera? Mine wasn’t the one pictured above, but it was close: A Kodak Instamatic X-15 like the one pictured below. This camera was manufactured between 1970 and 1976. I got mine toward the end of that period, when I would have been 8 or 9 years old. But mine is somewhere in…
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Vintage Camera Test: Brownie Reflex Synchro Model
The Brownie Reflex Synchro Model was made between 1941 and 1952 in the US, and until 1960 in the UK, and closely followed the (non-synchro) Brownie Reflex. It was called a “Reflex” because, like most SLR (single lens reflex) cameras still in use today, it used a mirror to reflect the image from the lens…
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Found Film: Photos that tell your fortune!
I’m often surprised by what I discover on a roll of “found film” – but this roll was especially unusual: these photos included a fortune on each one! All mundane photos, shots taken of almost random places on the streets of Portland, Maine. I was able to track down the location based on the unusual…
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Found Film: Portland, Maine
I occasionally acquire rolls of film on eBay or inside old cameras that haven’t been developed, and were never seen by the photographers. You never know – sometimes they’re old, sometimes they’re not. This roll is not. At first, I thought this was shot in Boston. But boats move around, and this could be any…
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Found Film: The Happiest Place on Earth
It has been some time since the last time I wrote a “normal” found film post – i.e., one which hadn’t yet been developed. In fact, since October, I have been sharing a box of already-developed found film shot by the late Raymond Albert. I had a bunch of film piling up, and I have…
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Raymond Albert’s Photos: Postscript
Since October 2014, I have been scanning, restoring and sharing rolls of film that were found in an estate sale and subsequently put up on eBay for sale. Unlike the “found film” I usually develop after it has been neglected in an old shoebox or left inside a forgotten camera for decades, this film was…
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The Androscoggin Flood of 1953
The Androscoggin River roars past the Rumford Dam in Maine during the March 1953 flood. Compare the river to this photo of the same dam taken recently. Since October, I have been sharing a collection of photos rescued from the estate of the late Raymond Albert – believed to have been taken by him in and…
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Raymond Albert’s Photos: One Last Wedding
For months, I have been sharing photos believed to have been taken by Raymond Albert in the late 1940s through the late-1950s. In total, the collection consists of about 23 rolls. This post highlights roll number 22, probably from around 1958 or 1959. As an aside, Raymond Albert would have been 89 today. This roll features…
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Found Film: Grandpa Albert’s House on the Coast
For months, I have been sharing photos believed to have been taken by Raymond Albert in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. In total, the collection consists of about 23 rolls. This post highlights roll number 21. I’m guessing the current roll was taken around 1956 or 1957. In this roll we are mainly looking at…
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Found Film: Lakes and Rivers
For the last few months, I have been sharing photos believed to have been taken by Raymond Albert in the late 1940s through the mid-1950s. In total, the collection consists of about 23 rolls. This post highlights the 19th and 20th roll I am sharing/have shared, in the approximate order they were likely taken. I’m guessing the…
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Found Film: The Alberts visit Quebec
For the last few months, I have been sharing photos believed to have been taken by Raymond Albert in the late 1940s thru the mid-1950s. This latest post features photos from a trip the family took to Quebec, circa 1955. On this trip, they visit a number of different cultural and/or religious sites. I was able to identify…
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Found Film: Trips to the Zoo and to Montreal
This is another post in the series on the photos taken by Raymond Albert in and around Rumford, Maine in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see “Introducing the Alberts”). In this post, I share two rolls of film, in which they took pictures of 3 different trips, including one to the zoo, and one…
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Found Film: The Alberts – Two Weddings
For the last couple of months, I have been sharing photos believed to have been taken by Raymond Albert, circa 1950. This latest post shares the photos he took of two different weddings, a few years apart. All of the “conclusions” I have reached about who is pictured is pure guesswork, based on who is…
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Found Film: Albert Family Outings
A couple of additional rolls this week from the series of photos taken by Raymond Albert in and around Rumford, Maine in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see “Introducing the Alberts”). This looks like spring and summer, 1952, in which the family takes a trip to the beach, and also some nice shots from a…
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Found Film: The Alberts at Christmas
This is another post in the series on the photos taken by Raymond Albert in and around Rumford, Maine in the late 1940s and early 1950s (see “Introducing the Alberts”). I’m guessing this roll is from Christmas, 1951. It’s always interesting to see what’s under the Christmas trees from yesteryear. The top photo comes from…
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Found Film: The Alberts, Summer and Fall 1951
The story of Raymond Albert’s family, as told through his lost and found photos, continues as we enjoy a late summer in Rumford, Maine around 1951-ish. There is no real theme to tie these photos together – they come from three different rolls, each of which only had a few turn out well for some…
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Found Film: The Alberts Go Fishing
It’s time to share another batch of Raymond Albert’s photos. In this batch, Raymond (shown above) goes on a fishing trip with some friends and family. I’m not sure where this lake is – probably in Maine, but there are so many… Here a shot of the inside of the boat: Fishing fashions of circa-1950:…
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Found Film: The Alberts and the Korean War
We met the Alberts a few weeks ago, when I introduced Raymond and his family, whom we know from a box of about 20 developed rolls of film Raymond left behind recently. This installment appears to have been taken around 1950, and daughter Louise is about 4-5 years old. I’m guessing the Korean War is…
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Found Film: Introducing the Alberts
Raymond Albert was born on March 20, 1926 to Willa/Vila/Ovila (depending on the source) and Annie (Chenard) Albert, who were born in 1892 and 1895, respectively, in Canada and came separately to Maine as teens. According to the 1940 census, at age 14, he and his family lived at 318 Waldo Street, in Rumford, Maine…