In honor of the first day of fall, here's an old photo I took along the Superior Hiking Trail in 2003 as Lucas Will and I were doing the year end trail maintenance on a section near Silver Bay, MN.
For some reason this shot always stuck out in my memory, even 12 years later. Must be the crazy fall colors on that blue Minnesota sky!
Taken on Kodak 35mm film.
I was going through some old photos recently, and came across this one I had always liked. It was from the first roll I ever shot through my old 1950s Toyocaflex TLR 120 camera while I was out walking around in the fall of 2011 to give it a test. I was down in SoDo near the port, and happened to be walking past an old favorite dive bar near where I used to work called Hooverville. So I pretended to take a shot of the glowing neon sign while this (probably) tough biker guy enjoyed himself a cigarette. Although, he didn’t seem to care one way or the other.
Yes, this is a picture of a polaroid of a Polaroid also taking a polaroid of the Polaroid which took the polaroid that you are currently looking at. It’s also a picture of a very talented designer by the name of Kinsey Gross. Check her out!
I don’t know how lucky you have to be to find three rolls of old, lost film over your lifetime, but apparently I’m that lucky. Film that went forgotten about for decades and decades, locked away in a camera that was also forgotten and locked away in some box in a closet somewhere. And somehow these rolls of film keep finding me.
What’s extra interesting about this roll is that I actually have been able to find out a little about it’s background and the people in the photos. Here’s the story:
One of my all-time best friends back in Minnesota, Katie Yernberg, came across five old cameras at a family garage sale for Steve & Bev Steberg, who have been very close to her since she was a wee girl. Knowing me, she knew they would make a perfect Christmas gift for a guy who collects vintage cameras. Also (from what I hear), I’m apparently difficult to shop for, so Katie was just relieved to find me anything I’d like. But little did she or the family know, one of the five cameras she gave me contained another present, a roll of Kodak Verichrome 620 film.
So after I got them developed we found out a little more about the backstory. The cameras belonged to the family’s late-grandfather, Clifford Steberg, the older gentleman in the photo above. It should also be noted he was a veteran of WWII, where he lost a leg and was obviously a total badass. The photos were taken around 1964 to 1965, and had been waiting patiently in a Spartus Full-Vue camera. On a side note, the camera is actually built for 120 film meaning someone had re-spooled it for 620.
The first three photos were from when the family was moving a new house onto the farm near Willmer, MN where Steve’s mother, Val was actually born. The kids in the photo are Steve when he was about 8 years old, his older brother Jim, and their cousins Gary and Mary on the right. From what I hear, this was a pretty big event on the farm, and it’s pretty cool since you can actually see the blocks and the crane they were using to lower the new house onto the old foundation.
The camping photos were taken at a state park somewhere in Minnesota where we find Steve at the water fountain when he was about 9 years old. Not only does Minnesota have numerous state parks, but they also run thick with water fountains, so it’s difficult to pinpoint which state park they could be in. The car to the right of the awesome camper trailer is apparently a ’56 Chevy Station Wagon, and the young man crying in front of it all is a friend who was visiting for the camping trip. What had him so upset is lost to history. The mother, Val Steberg, also makes her first appearance. And I may be to blame for the black stripe across the top of the last photo. I didn’t expect there to be a roll of film inside the camera when I first opened up the back, and unfortunately it wasn’t completely rolled through.
But either way, it’s always incredible finding a roll of film that had been lost for almost 50 years. The family was as happy and surprised as I was to finally see the pictures, which it felt good to actually be able to get them in the hands of some true owners. Which was rewarding and an added bonus (that hadn’t been the case in the other two rolls I’ve found seen here and here). And it’s another good lesson in always keeping your eyes open for hidden treasure.
It’s funny thinking about having to get to know a piece of equipment, but I’ve found myself having to do just that with an old camera of mine. People obviously have quirks and moods, but apparently inanimate objects can too. So a while back some friends and I made a trip over to Harbor Island in the Port of Seattle to do just that with my Toyocaflex TLR.
Being that it’s over a half a century old, it sort of behaves like an old man. The viewfinder is a little dark and cloudy, sometimes the shutter sticks at low speeds and it’s a bit heavy. It also has a bladder-control problem and eats dinner by 5:30pm. But I still love it, and I enjoy learning new things about how it behaves every time I take it out.
For over three and a half years now, I’ve been living just a few blocks from the world famous Space Needle (if you point the webcam to -45º you can see my apartment just left of center). Everyday I’m lucky enough to see something that symbolizes the great city of Seattle, and also one of the most iconic structures in the entire country.
So with that being said, I thought I’d dig up some Holgas I’ve taken over the recent past of this needle of space, as a reminder to myself to not take this beautiful thing for granted. Because I’m sure I have. My eyes have probably passed over some bit of its 605 feet and not a thought ran through my head about how incredible it is, or how lucky I am to view such a massive piece of art day in and day out. Here’s to being lucky.
After finding my first roll of mystery film, I’ve been instantly trained to pick up and open every old camera I see while in an antique shop with the hopes of finding another roll. And luckily my persistence paid off and it paid off rather quickly.
Last October while in an antique shop in Portland, I spotted an mid 1950’s Kodak Brownie Hawkeye with a little paper tab sticking out the bottom seam. And what do you know, that little paper tab was attached to a roll of Kodacolor-X 620 film. So after buying a camera I already had for $15, it was all mine.
The problem is, being that it was color film that hasn’t been made since 1974, the chemicalsto process this film also haven’t been made for over 30 years. So after some detective work, I found I could send the film to a select few labs in the country that specialize in antique film and freeze these old chemicals to develop everything in large batches. The place I settled on and got the best vibe from was called Film Rescue International all the way out in Fortuna, ND. Also, I learned that whatever you do, don’t send your film here.
And as luck would have it, Film Rescue happened to have a batch deadline coming up. So Iquickly mailed in the mystery film, waited a few weeks, then they called and said they would start the processing in four weeks. After that it was another four weeks to see what developed. Then they emailed me back with thumbnails of whatever they could find on the film, and luckily there actually was something to see. So after months of waiting, I finally got my first glimpse of what has been locked away in the back of that forgotten camera for over thirty some odd years.
Unfortunately, the wait wasn’t over just yet. It wasn’t until another three weeks that I finally received a nicely packaged package with the results from a find made way back in October. But it was well worth it. The waiting, the money (definitely the most expensive roll of film I’ve ever developed) and the anticipation of not knowing was all worth it. Here are the results to the left.
Now all kinds of other questions can arise. Who the hell are these people and where are they? Why didn’t they develop this film themselves? Where did that guy learn that steely-eyed stare and does he still have those sideburns? Are they even still alive? We may never know.
It’s always fascinating to think that these images were burned into light-sensitive photographic film all those years ago, then sat forgotten about in the back of a camera which was soon forgotten about, and one day left the hands of the original owners and wound up in an antique shop. Then how I managed to stumble upon it is beyond me. But I feel pretty lucky.
Also, I should thank Film Rescue International for the wonderful job they did on turning that old roll of film into something. And note the reason these photos are in black and white as opposed to their original color has to do with their age. After sitting around for roughly 37 years in some unknown place, the color just doesn’t hold up in the negatives like one would hope. Good thing they still look pretty cool in B&W.
While visiting Cannon Beach, OR over the summer, I took these three shots of Haystack Rock, then somehow forgot about them. And being that you only get twelve images out of a single roll of 120 film, you’d think that would be pretty hard to do. Well I did, so now I’m trying to right my wrong and give these photos some recognition. Enjoy!
In my book, anything that’s described as a monolith is pretty cool. And anything that appeared in the movie The Goonies, is also pretty cool. Therefore, Haystack Rock is pretty cool. Take that Arthur Fonzarelli.
You may notice the title to this photo is Haystack Rock Holga No.3. Yes, that is indeed the world famous Haystack Rock near the coastal town of Cannon Beach, OR. And it was indeed taken through the plastic lens of a Holga medium format camera on Kodak Professional 120 Portra 400VC film. But, “No.3” you say? “Where are the other two?” Well, tune in tomorrow you’ll find out.
As for this photo, if you look closely you’ll notice little purple-ish red specks in the sky. Those are actually kites, and there were a ton of people flying them up and down the beach. Never before did I feel such a strong urge to buy, rent or build a kite, or even attach a sting to a seagull. Anything to make use of the constant winds coming off the mighty Pacific.
Recently while searching through an antique shop, I bought a vintage camera, an Argus Argoflex E to be exact. It’s an old twin-reflex camera, made sometime between 1946 to 1948. But that’s not the cool part. Inside this camera was a little gem. Or at least the possibility of being a gem. Because inside this 70 year old camera sat an undeveloped roll on 620 film. The only thing was, no one knew what was on it, if anything. For all I knew, it could have been damaged beyond recognition after years of rotting in some musty basement and from the outside you couldn’t even tell if it was black & white, color or slide film.
But all that doesn’t matter because it was far too interesting to remain sitting in the back of this camera any longer. So Ibrought it down to the Panda Lab and got it developed. And to my surprise, it had ten beautiful images waiting to blow the minds of all who gaze upon them.
The thing is, only more questions arise now that it’s developed. Things like, “who is this family?”, “What happened to this camera to why it lay forgotten for what appears to be 45 years?” and “where are these people now?” It’s mind boggling and frustrating to think these questions will most likely never be answered. How could you take photos of your young family playing in the yard, only to then leave the camera and the film sit untouched for decades and decades? It’s even confusing to think about how the camera ended up on the shelves of an antique shop.
But as for now in the year 2010, after all the things that must have fallen into place for these images to cross my path, I feel mighty lucky.
NOTE: Thanks to the detective help of Andrea Nelson and her automotive scholar dad, they were able to decipher the white car in the photos to be a ’66 Ford Thunderbird and the others are early 60’s Dodges. So perhaps if the Thunderbird is a few years old, it could mean the film was taken sometime around 1968.
To help my friend, Laura Haithcock (a.k.a. Birdie Royale), in her bid for the Mad Men Casting Call, I volunteered my photography services with her submission. We even broke out theHolga to help aid in the look and feel department. Luckily, Laura does a pretty good job herself of looking like she just stepped out of the 1960s. She definitely made my job that much easier.
If you haven’t seen the Mad Men Casting Call, it’s a pretty cool promotion for the show. Check it out and be sure to vote for Laura. She’d be a great fit for the cast. And not only does she look the part, she’s even a seasoned ad veteran. Plus, they wouldn’t even need to run her through wardrobe. And if you need more convincing, take a look through the extra shots from our shoot.
As promised, here are some more images captured through that magical plastic lens of the Holga. These exposures come to us from a few locations from around the Pacific Northwest. Namely the Oregon coast, beautiful downtown Portland, OR and finally the remote beaches of Olympic National Park, along the Washington coast.
I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of shooting with my Holga. Its pure simplicity can’t be beat, and the beauty of film can't be denied. The more popular digital photography gets, the more rewarding it is to shoot film. So with that in mind, hopefully it won’t be long until I can expose a few more rolls and post some more.
Keep your eyes open for some new Holga shots coming along soon. Here’s a little taste of something that was hiding out on the hard drive.
As we speak, exposures are being prepped to take a swim in the developer, a quick dip in the stop bath and then finally soak in the fixer. It’s always an exciting time because you never really know what the end result will be. It’s one the beautiful things about film and it gets amplified even more through that magical plastic lens.
Keep an eye out for more Polaroids. After I round up enough, I’ll start to add them into the Photography page. But for now, please be patient. Or go check out Robert Whitman’s portfolio. Specifically under the “8os My Livingroom” and “Eryn Brenie” sections. You’ll find enough Polaroid goodness to quench your instant-film thirst there. Also be sure to check out his other work. He’s the guy who shot everything for that awesome Canadian Club “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” campaign that’s been running over the past year and some. Or maybe it’s been two already.
But this also brings up the topic on how awesome photographers are. Not just what they do as a profession, but who they are as people. And the test of a good photographer is how much cooler they are than the average human. They’ve traveled to the deepest corners of the world, slept with more models than they can remember and met more celebrities than most celebrities. If you take a stroll through Mr. Whitman’s work, you can tell that guy has lived a life worth capturing on film and has plenty of stories worth listening to. And having that kind of person behind a camera has to make for better images. At least that’s my philosophy anyway.
For instance, Whitman has photos like this, whereas I have a few shots of an kitchen appliance.
Real Polaroids can never be replaced by some .99¢ iPhone app. But the way things are moving lately, it’s really quite a shame when you think about it. There’s a certain joy you get hearing an old Polaroid camera come alive with that buzzing sound as it spits out your newly exposed picture. No app can capture that. Also, now that 600 film is hard to come by, every picture you take is special. One of a kind. Real. Nobody out there is stockpiling, then rationing how many pictures they take on their iPhone. And sure being able to shoot without care is nice for somethings, but it definitely cheapens the experience.
Perhaps the saddest part in all this is that Polaroid themselves is part of the problem. They’re a company that for decades has made their own product obsolete, just to force people to buy a new camera that uses different film because they think they’ll make more money. Unfortunately, their constant short-term thinking will probably be the thing that finally kills them one day.
Back in September I was lucky enough to receive a medium format Holga for my birthday. Now after a few months of toying around, I finally finished shooting a roll and got it developed. It was fun shooting with such a simple camera (and not just through a lame point-n-shoot) and it got me back into using film. You might as well make the most out of your trip to get it developed, right?
The real story here should be about how difficult it is to get film developed these days. In only a few short years of digital photography taking over, photofinishers have taken quite the hit. Many places have gone out of business and have also resorted to sending film out to a central processing center in a far away land. Thinking about it just makes me sad.
Luckily, there are a few good places left. I ended up taking mine to Moon Photo Lab in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood. The owner Bob Mullins, even stayed 15 minuted after they closed just so I could pick up my order after I got off work. He’s a hell of a guy and he’ll definitely get more of my business in the future.
