View fullsize

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.

View fullsize

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.

Fashion photography isn’t something I’ve done a lot of in the past, but it’s always fun whenever I get the chance. So a few weeks ago when I was asked to do a photoshoot with my good friend, the lovely Miss Laura Haithcock, I had to take her up on it.

Laura operates Birdie Royale Adornments and a corresponding blog of all the cool stuff she makes and thinks. And it was because of all this, she being featured on the Seattle fashion blog, FreshJess, thus needing some nice new photography of three outfits she wanted to showcase. That’s where I came in. So we set out across Queen Anne and Pioneer Square dodging wind, rain and random bits of sunshine to capture said photographs. It all seemed to turn out pretty nicely, too. Although, it definitely helps having a good model to work with like Laura.

She also gave a nice interview on her style, influences and thoughts on the Seattle fashion scene. So be sure to check out all the photos and the end result right here.

For a while now, I’ve been against the idea of the fake Photoshop-action apps people use on their mobile phones, but since Instagram has come along, I’ve changed my tune a little. I still feel that photography is slightly cheapened by just selecting from a few predetermined filters with a couple of finger taps (which goes for pretty much all photo apps), but it was the social aspect of Instagram that seemed to make all that okay. Sure you’re still shooting though a crummy camera-phone lens (until the technology catches up), but at least this way everyone is using the same tools on an even playing field. And then you get to share everything amongst one another to see what they choose to do with it. Making it more about having fun and community. Which is not so bad if you look at it for what it is.

Anyway, I hope this doesn’t subtract anything from my film photography, but if you’d like to check out any of my Instagram shots, you can find me @awestbrock, or I’ve gathered a few into a Flickr set.

Also, if you want to read another great take on the rise of Instagram, check out this post done by Mullen’s own, Edward Boches. He has insightful thoughts on pretty much everything under the advertising sun, and he’s a super nice guy to boot. Plus, he’s a fellow road biker, so there’s one more reason to give him a listen.

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.