Seventy five year old photographs Roll #13 ... Singapore

Peter Wijninga said:
Yep, Indonesia. Grrreat! Best series I've seen on this site so far. I hope there will be lots more.
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Thanks Peter ... I really appreciate the support for this project from you and others.

Only three rolls to go now and an interesting observation has made itself apparent to me. As soon as I finished scanning all the film from this series I started on the scanning for a job I did a couple of weeks ago that involved nine rolls of Arista Premium 400 (Tri-X) ... luckily I don't mind scanning! :p

The comparison between the two films, logically, has to be made as you work ... you just can't help noticing that the film that was shot 75 years ago and stored fairly casually has held up incredibly well and it has a richness in the mid tones that the more modern emulsion lacks IMO. It doesn't have the flexibility of modern film particularly if it's been over exposed where it seems to really loose edge sharpness.

I'm also intrigued as to who may have developed these films because some are really good and others not so much with surge marks through the sprocket holes and a couple IMO were quite badly over developed. Being who she was with money being no object, this surprises me!


Link to roll #14
 
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These are nice too...I suspect the only way for her to get some shots was from the car window...I'm glad she did...
I really like the rice fields and I'm sure see never saw anything like that before...I would have grabbed whatever kinds of shots just like her...And again I have to wonder what all this would have looked like in color way back then...
Thanks again Keith for all you've done ...
 
Keith, what a wonderful project to be involved in. I'm sure you have feelings of accomplishment. These kind of documents are rare indeed and to see some of these points of interest from a perspective of a tourist who also was capable of taking photographs in a documentary style yet highly personalized viewpoint at the same time must give you personal satisfaction and new ideas regarding your own photography.

I'm sure I would come away with some fresh thoughts about my photography after the amount of work you put into saving and restoring these negatives.

Well done!
 
jan normandale said:
Keith, what a wonderful project to be involved in. I'm sure you have feelings of accomplishment. These kind of documents are rare indeed and to see some of these points of interest from a perspective of a tourist who also was capable of taking photographs in a documentary style yet highly personalized viewpoint at the same time must give you personal satisfaction and new ideas regarding your own photography.

I'm sure I would come away with some fresh thoughts about my photography after the amount of work you put into saving and restoring these negatives.

Well done!
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Interesting comments jan!

It's fascinating to see so much through another person's eyes via their camera and there has been a message for me in all of these photographs and the message is ... 'loosen up a little!'

I like the way she just grabbed the moment often missing focus slightly and not too worried about level horizons but still getting a real feeling for what she saw when she clicked the shutter. IMO she was very relaxed about her photography and when I look back through these and see the amount of 'keepers' she achieved through sixteen rolls of film I'm kind of gobsmacked!
 
She did have an eye that seems formally trained and it shows even in shots that don't work as well as some records. Looking at it through your comments I guess it's a matter of "shoot first" review later. If you get it you got it. If you didn't well you tried. Also the discipline of carrying a camera is shown in some shots. The one from the Banff car over the driver is an example.
 
I try to explain to people that are trying to learn to photograph and feel that what they are getting now aren't all that good or are just snap shots...to wait...
I tell them that most photographs may not have a lot of sentimental value or seem very valuable the day after they shoot them ...but to wait and maybe five or ten years down the road these photos will be golden...
Whoever shot these pictures may not have thought much of them then but if given the chance to review them now I'm guessing there would be a few tears and a lot of smiles...and an added thought thanking themselves that they did trip that shutter...
 
Frames #10 and #11 appear both to be taken just inside a large display window at Maison "Roelofs", advertising articles needing cold and frozen storage, including foodstuffs and delicatessen. #10 of the crowd of natives outside observing the expatriate children on the inside being presented to Sinterklaas and his black assistant, Zwarte Piet.

Here in Norway, pre-supermarket food stores were called "kolonialforretning" (colonial store). These two photographs are amazing with all their documentation and symbolism of European colonialism in the East. The huge glass window forming the barrier between the colonial and colonized, between the heat and cool ("koel"), the muslim world outside and christian inside and so on.

Notice the ironic "seepage" between the two worlds, with the expatriate parents and daughter at the back of the crowd, another couple of European children on the right and inside, Zwarte Piet - who appears to be somewhat astounded at the interest of the crowd outside. No wonder - unless those hands are very white gloves, Zwarte Piet looks very much like a young Dutch woman with a very dark, painted face.

What a wonderful pair of pictures!
 
borrel said:
Frames #10 and #11 appear both to be taken just inside a large display window at Maison "Roelofs", advertising articles needing cold and frozen storage, including foodstuffs and delicatessen. #10 of the crowd of natives outside observing the expatriate children on the inside being presented to Sinterklaas and his black assistant, Zwarte Piet.

Here in Norway, pre-supermarket food stores were called "kolonialforretning" (colonial store). These two photographs are amazing with all their documentation and symbolism of European colonialism in the East. The huge glass window forming the barrier between the colonial and colonized, between the heat and cool ("koel"), the muslim world outside and christian inside and so on.

Notice the ironic "seepage" between the two worlds, with the expatriate parents and daughter at the back of the crowd, another couple of European children on the right and inside, Zwarte Piet - who appears to be somewhat astounded at the interest of the crowd outside. No wonder - unless those hands are very white gloves, Zwarte Piet looks very much like a young Dutch woman with a very dark, painted face.

What a wonderful pair of pictures!
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I was also struck by what you mention about these photographs ... your comments regarding the colonials and the colonized ring so true. Two totally different worlds within inches of each other.
 
My favorite set so far- the terrace shots are beautiful, and portrait of the boy with flowers is a great one.
 
The variations in development are probably due to the lady having film developed just about wherever she could on her travels. Some of these places were pretty well off the beaten track in those days!
 
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