The Gadgets Page

This picture of a beautiful couple was taken over fifty years ago. A few shots were taken with an Argoflex camera, the rest were waiting for exposure, but they never got their chance. The camera was abandoned, then found at a flea market or an estate sale, then ended up in the hands of Gene McSweeney.

• Film Found In Old Cameras

Gene rescues old film from old cameras and carefully develops them, displaying the photos for us to see. He philosophizes about the discarded cameras, photos and film, wondering where the subjects are now.

“There’s a marked sadness to photographs like these. Photos that are lost. Photos of long-dead people that stopped for a moment and smiled for the camera.”

I also see ghosts in these neglected photographs. Was the film undeveloped because film and developing was deemed more valuable than the image of those photographed? What would the families of these subjects feel if they saw those lost photographs now? Would they even recognize the faces?

Gene and I exchanged a few emails and he stated beautifully why these old cameras can still compete with the technological beasts of today:

“I’ve got more cameras than you can imagine. Some of them are very expensive and complex. I use the complex ones every now and then but I prefer the “junk” cameras as they free me from all the technical stuff. Junk cameras boil everything down to light and form. The basics of photography.”

I am so grateful that I live in the digital age. I can click a photo whenever I want without guilt or even contemplation of the expense of film and developing. These photographs remind me how it used to be before we carried cameras and telephones in our pockets.

Via: Boing Boing: Photos from undeveloped film in antique cameras