vdonovan
Vince Donovan
John those are great shots! Are they in the Sierra by any chance? I'm a back country skier myself, and it's great to see the equipment (and the fashion!) of skiers back in the day.
corot
Member
Keith,
Perhaps contact the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra to see what advice they can offer.
www.nfsa.gov.au
Christopher.
Perhaps contact the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra to see what advice they can offer.
www.nfsa.gov.au
Christopher.
FrankS
Registered User
1jz
Member
......................................
surfer dude
Well-known
These are incredible, Keith. What a fantastic project to be involved in! I hope you are able to post some of the results!
It reminds me of a personal experience.
Last year, I discovered that one of my Mum's old cameras still had film in it, so I decided - what the heck - to develop it. Before I did that I took a photo of my wife, as there were a couple of frames left in the little red window (it was a Kodak folder camera).
When I developed the film (HP4) and looked at the results, there was the picture of my wife that I'd taken, but also a picture of what looked like my 18 year old son. But I hadn't taken a photo of him! After some confusion I realized the photo was of me - my Mum (who has now passed away) must have taken it when I was about that age. I'm now 54. So my wife and I appear on the same roll, years apart. How I love photography!
It reminds me of a personal experience.
Last year, I discovered that one of my Mum's old cameras still had film in it, so I decided - what the heck - to develop it. Before I did that I took a photo of my wife, as there were a couple of frames left in the little red window (it was a Kodak folder camera).
When I developed the film (HP4) and looked at the results, there was the picture of my wife that I'd taken, but also a picture of what looked like my 18 year old son. But I hadn't taken a photo of him! After some confusion I realized the photo was of me - my Mum (who has now passed away) must have taken it when I was about that age. I'm now 54. So my wife and I appear on the same roll, years apart. How I love photography!
tomalophicon
Well-known
Yep. or the National Library.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I love your story about those two pics Phil! 
On the subject of what should be done with the images I'm sort of neutral in my thinking. If these were mine I'd definitely be more interested in their future but as for archiving via the national library or similar that really is the decision of the people who handed them to me. Their interest appears to be based purely on curiosity as to what is actually in those rolls of film. I will suggest to them however, some of the ideas that have been generated here!
They are both heading off on an oveseas trip next week and will be gone for over a month so I won't harass them too much about it at the moment. Kylie, who's grandmother took the images, is the director of the Brisbane Ideas Festival and David her partner is an accomplished visual artist so whatever their decision is it will be a carefully considered one no doubt.
On the subject of what should be done with the images I'm sort of neutral in my thinking. If these were mine I'd definitely be more interested in their future but as for archiving via the national library or similar that really is the decision of the people who handed them to me. Their interest appears to be based purely on curiosity as to what is actually in those rolls of film. I will suggest to them however, some of the ideas that have been generated here!
They are both heading off on an oveseas trip next week and will be gone for over a month so I won't harass them too much about it at the moment. Kylie, who's grandmother took the images, is the director of the Brisbane Ideas Festival and David her partner is an accomplished visual artist so whatever their decision is it will be a carefully considered one no doubt.
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oftheherd
Veteran
Now that is a neat story. Thanks.
johannielscom
Snorting silver salts
I'm interested in the box that these rolls were stored in.
Was it standard with a camera? Was it purchased separately? I've never seen one before!
I have five wartime/pre-war films, all unexposed, two canisters even taped. None of the opened appear to are pyro: two are Agfa-Gevaert Superchrom, one is Kodak Super-XX, but the canister is marked safety-film, so no pyro, right? They have their fact sheets with them, Agfa sheets in German, Dutch, French and English, Kodak English only. Remarkable: the Kodak fact sheet asks to return the canisters because of metal shortage. The Kodak has a film leader pre-cut for Barnacks, cool!
Was it standard with a camera? Was it purchased separately? I've never seen one before!
I have five wartime/pre-war films, all unexposed, two canisters even taped. None of the opened appear to are pyro: two are Agfa-Gevaert Superchrom, one is Kodak Super-XX, but the canister is marked safety-film, so no pyro, right? They have their fact sheets with them, Agfa sheets in German, Dutch, French and English, Kodak English only. Remarkable: the Kodak fact sheet asks to return the canisters because of metal shortage. The Kodak has a film leader pre-cut for Barnacks, cool!
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xxloverxx
Shoot.
Great find, but, as others have said, be very careful.
I think they used to use sand to extinguish burning film in cinemas — if you could get your hands on a bucket of it, it might be worth having, just in case.
I think they used to use sand to extinguish burning film in cinemas — if you could get your hands on a bucket of it, it might be worth having, just in case.
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
A progress report:
I'm currently unraveling the films and reverse winding them onto a rigid cardboard center tube from an old paper roll about 6 cm in diameter. I tape one end in place and carefully wind the film around the tube keeping an eye out for fracturing then tape the other end down to keep it all in place. I have three quarters of the sixteen rolls done and so far no disasters ... the film is behaving perfectly! I intend leaving it in this state for a week or two then I'll remove a roll to check on the progress and see how much tension has been relieved. One thing I have noticed is the Kodak Panatomic has a fair amount of shrinkage ... it's really noticable around the sprocket holes.
I've spoken to the owner and he wants me to cut and sleeve the negs as I go when I start scanning which is issential IMO ... to keep them wound up rolled like they have been would be very counter productive IMO!
I'm also about to order four ANR glass inserts for my scanner ... if necessary the film can actually be taped to the inserts for scanning apparently. Doug (Better Scanning) is very helpful and has been great to deal with and the four inserts won't be hugely expensive. I'm very anxious to get started as I'm chomping at the bit to see some of these images ... but haste makes waste my mother told me!
Some more fascinating information has come to light after a conversation with David the owner. The family was split up and high tailed it to other parts of the globe when it became obvious that being wealthy and Jewish was fraught with danger in Austria. The locations on the cannisters relate directly in many cases to where various family members migrated to in escaping Hitler's impending persecution of the Jews.
The woman who was in possession of this film until recently wrote a book some time ago about the family's escape from Austria and I'm hoping to get hold of a copy some time next week.
I'm currently unraveling the films and reverse winding them onto a rigid cardboard center tube from an old paper roll about 6 cm in diameter. I tape one end in place and carefully wind the film around the tube keeping an eye out for fracturing then tape the other end down to keep it all in place. I have three quarters of the sixteen rolls done and so far no disasters ... the film is behaving perfectly! I intend leaving it in this state for a week or two then I'll remove a roll to check on the progress and see how much tension has been relieved. One thing I have noticed is the Kodak Panatomic has a fair amount of shrinkage ... it's really noticable around the sprocket holes.
I've spoken to the owner and he wants me to cut and sleeve the negs as I go when I start scanning which is issential IMO ... to keep them wound up rolled like they have been would be very counter productive IMO!
I'm also about to order four ANR glass inserts for my scanner ... if necessary the film can actually be taped to the inserts for scanning apparently. Doug (Better Scanning) is very helpful and has been great to deal with and the four inserts won't be hugely expensive. I'm very anxious to get started as I'm chomping at the bit to see some of these images ... but haste makes waste my mother told me!
Some more fascinating information has come to light after a conversation with David the owner. The family was split up and high tailed it to other parts of the globe when it became obvious that being wealthy and Jewish was fraught with danger in Austria. The locations on the cannisters relate directly in many cases to where various family members migrated to in escaping Hitler's impending persecution of the Jews.
The woman who was in possession of this film until recently wrote a book some time ago about the family's escape from Austria and I'm hoping to get hold of a copy some time next week.
NathanJD
Well-known
what a poignant task Keith! especially with this being the 70th anniversary of the blitz here in the UK there's quite a buzz about WWII. what you have there is a very important piece of family history! that's very cool
beyond
Jason Beyond
Looking forward for more updates Keith. Thanks for sharing.
SolaresLarrave
My M5s need red dots!
Simply put... wow...
I'm glad it's you doing it, Keith. I would have taken a pass... but then, I don't know the type of people you know. Keep up the good work... and thanks for sharing the story and the experience with us!
I'm glad it's you doing it, Keith. I would have taken a pass... but then, I don't know the type of people you know. Keep up the good work... and thanks for sharing the story and the experience with us!
Chuck Albertson
Well-known
You might contact the folks at the International Center for Photography for some tips. They went through a similar drill with the "Mexican Suitcase" negatives.