A couple of weeks ago, I found an old camera : A Kodak Instamatic – with a now defunct 126 film cassette, still inside. I decided to risk wasting a few quid to see if there was anything on it by sending it off to be processed at a specialist lab. This morning, it arrived back from the lab and I was overjoyed with the results! A lot of the photos – due to the low angle I guess I shot myself as a wee snip of a bairn, but there’s photos of my Dad – of which we don’t have many and who’s sadly no longer with us, as well as a bit of my mum and I think (to be confirmed) bits of other relatives.
As well as being very pleased with these from a sentimental perspective, I’m loving the effect the aging has produced. These are straight out of the camera – I’ve not done any Photoshop work or applied any effects of filters. Regular followers of my blog will know that I’m quite a fan of experimental photography, particularly lomography – and any photographic techniques that produce odd results. This batch is a bit of a triumph in that respect. Pre LOMO Lomography!
All I need to authentically reproduce this effect is either a time machine (so I can jump back 30 years), or the will power to leave a roll of film alone for 30 years (tempted to try – a time capsule could be a good project). I think the latter is more achievable. I’ve commented before on how film stands apart from digital because of ‘the wait’. I think this has got to be a personal best!
View the full set here on my flickr stream »
[…] quite as wow factor 10 as the photos of my dad and I that had developed from a camera that had been sat around for about 30 ye…- but still – a pretty cool […]
[…] I wrote a spate of technology articles, on such subjects as Interior orientation, the Techno pushchair and Lifelogging by Memoto and wondered Where will Nokia be 5 years from now. I did some experimental photography and wrote about it in a piece called Double X, X-Pro. Speaking of experimental photography (a hobby which I’ve docuemtned frequently throughot the year) the best result was when I found a 30 year old camera with film still in it. […]