“Ghost” Carol – 1978

April 17, 2017April 17, 2017Chris and Carol 2 Comments

Playing with my Canon F-1 (1978 Version) in our backyard in Yokohama, Japan 1978.

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The marks are on the dry mounted original print. Copied under studio lighting with my Fujifilm FinePix S9900. No cropping from the original.

By the way, all pretty “ghosts” smile. ^.^

Chris

Forgotten and faded Florida…

December 2, 2016December 8, 2016Chris and Carol Leave a comment

U.S. Highway 17 was the way to enter Northeast coastal Florida in days past – long before I-95 was even imagined. If you came down from the North in the late 1940s, you entered Florida over a way too narrow bridge over the St. Marys River – the official boundary between Georgia and Florida. The two lane road was well traveled and one of the last cities you would pass through before the bridge was Kingsland, Georgia… just a few miles north of the river. The next city wasn’t until you reached Jacksonville, Florida – a long way south. You can’t really count the in-between hamlets of Yulee and Oceanway – they were home to flashing lights just to make you slow down a bit.

To be the first attraction – or motel – or restaurant – or bar – or whatever along this busy corridor meant something I imagine. Where would the tourists stop to take a picture or pause to, you know, rest? Highway 17 was the bomb – it was the way south. Then I-95 came and it was over in a hurry.

What’s left of the Florida firsts?

U.S. Highway 17 bridge over the St. Marys River. Looking north into Georgia – this would have been your first step on dry land that was Florida.

After your safe passage over this way too narrow bridge, you would be treated with your first photo op…

Everybody stops to get their picture taken in Florida! What better place then this sign… and with palm trees too! This is the sign along U.S. 17 a little south of the border.

Gotta have a plaque to dedicate the sign.

All that’s left of some of the ‘firsts‘…

‘Souvenirs’ and ‘Whiskey’.

Nothing left to buy here except more time I suppose.

More than a few tourists walked through this door… come in please.

Faded Florida.

Last one out.

A wonderful place to explore… that first half mile of faded Florida along Highway 17. Many more opportunities to be sure. It was the first motel in now forgotten Florida. The people are elsewhere but the photo ops remain.

Thanks for your visit. As always your comments are appreciated.

You can also visit me at https://www.flickr.com/photos/127540935@N08/

Chris

One last shot – a modern I-95 Florida welcome.

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‘Found Film’… are there ghosts in my camera?

November 17, 2016November 17, 2016Chris and Carol 5 Comments

In all my years of collecting vintage (well they weren’t always considered vintage) cameras, I’ve come across my fair share of ‘found film’. I enjoy finding a roll of film left behind by the previous owner of the camera – from a collectors viewpoint it’s a great way to add some vintage film cartridges or 120 rolls to your collection of film. It’s fun to see if you can guess (from the brand and design) the what and when the roll was purchased and then the why didn’t they finish it… and of course, the who took the pictures? The who took the pictures really didn’t interest me. Sounds strange to write that being a photographer, but I’m more about the subject and not the picture taker.

I’ve never been tempted to have the film developed – why spend good money to look at things and people I don’t know? But there’s always been a slight twinge of curiosity inside me… very slight. Until recently. Money be damned! I’m lookin’!

The ‘Found Film’ from the 1960s? Maybe late 1960s.

The camera is a Yashica model A twin-lens reflex (TLR) from 1961. The film could be from the late 1960s or early 1970s but the camera is in mint “new” condition and doesn’t look like it had any previous use. So in reality, it could be from 1962 or so. Just guesses here on my part. So I spent the nearly $20 to send the film off and waited to see what developed (sorry about that). But then Carol (my wife) and I discussed if it was right to look at other people’s pictures. You know, privacy and all that. I reminded her that the pictures could be nearly 50 years old – no privacy issues there. But what about… ghosts? You know if there’s pictures of people they may be dead now and you know, they’d be ghosts. Not everyone becomes a ghost I reasoned. Just looking at them doesn’t mean they’re even dead. If they’re young people they might still be around and they might even want to see the pictures. It would be hard to find them I thought. All we knew is where the camera was from… not a small place by the way. Maybe a landmark or two would help.

Panic! Wrong time to panic. What if there were, “bad” pictures in the camera? Oh crap! Wrong time to think of that after the film was sent off! I’d call them. Call the company that was about to develop the film and explain that it wasn’t really my film and if there was something “bad” on them not to accuse me! We didn’t call – we took a deep breath and decided to wait and see what happens. We promised not to send other people’s film off ever again.

Since it was Kodacolor II negative film and was nearly 50 or 60 years old we didn’t expect much. The lab did the best they could. We did tell them ahead of time that the film was really old. Everything had a strong blueish tone so I’ve converted them to black and white using a red filter. Check it out!