Photographic time capsule

photographic time capsule 1, originally uploaded by jayavant.

Here's another found film. It was stored in similar conditions to the other and is a few years younger, but for some reason has faired much worse. This film was exposed in the early 80's and developed just last night.

It shows my eldest son, Kim, with his mother, Jan. There is an odd dendritic intrusion across the image. Fungus? Bacteria? Static electric discharge?

The denity of the image is very low. When I took the negs out of the tank and hung them up I thought there was nothing on the film at all. It was not until I examined them closely that I saw faint mages - barely there at all.

I like lo-fi photography, and I like found films.As a technique though, leaving a film for years before it is developed requires a lot of patience.

Here's an idea. Shoot a roll of film, seal it up and bury it for 25 years. Then dig it up and develop it. I think I may just do that. I know just where to put it too. Watch this space in 25 years for the result....

I may experiment with simply mistreating films. heating them, feezing them, then developing them. I don;t think I'll get those detrite forms again though.

Brisbane - found film

Brisbane - found film, originally uploaded by jayavant.

Found films are fascinating. this is my fourth. I am so interested in found films now I am starting to look for them. In second-hand shops sometimes you will find and old camera with a film still in it. I have found one like that.

In this case however, I found a negative file among my negatives, containing photos that I did not take.

In the 70's, some of my friends used my darkroom occassionally and one of them must have left these negs behind. So I have scanned them and they are a fascinating collection of street scenes in Brisbane taken it seems in 1978.

Many of the photos show a crowd of people waiting to watch a parade of young Aussie athletes returning from the Commonwealth Games. Some show scenes of Brisbane streets which take me back to Brisbane's quieter country-town-like days. This was during the Bjelke-Petersen years, when we used to call New South Wales "the socialist south". There are even cigarette ads on buses - they became illegal long ago now.

Seems like a good time though looking at these pictures. Brisbane was not yet Brisvegas. Old codgers like this walking along Queens Street (before it became a pedestrian mall) in his Akubra and suit, were common-place.

See the rest of this film here.

Or as a slideshow here.