Monday, August 2, 2010

Found film photography: Moscow and Muscovites

Few years back I have started my "found film" project. It has started from the old folding "Life-O-Rama" camera with the roll of film forgotten inside by the previous owner. There were few pictures on the roll, dated probably late 90s, i.e. not very old, but I started looking for the old cameras with film inside. Now, after hundreds of cameras/developed rolls of film I still can't stop doing this.

The pictures from these rolls are often related to each other, they form stories, they can be explained, speculated on, dated, placed on the map etc.

The most intriguing part of course is who took them, who was the photographer, why they were not developed and all this story of camera with film sleeping for so long in some mystic fold of Times.

From now on, I will be publishing some of my findings here. Just look for the 'found film stories' tag. Here is the last one:
Ansco and Agfa simple cameras with 2 rolls of film, Miami, USA, 2010. Street Photography of Miami, San Francisco and Key West by Emir Shabashvili, see http://street-foto.com, http://miamistreetphoto.com, http://miamistreetphotography.com or http://miamistreetphotographer.com

...received all of this plus more from Moscow, ID.
There were 2 cameras as you see, Agfa Pioneer and Ansco ReadyFlash, plus:
- portrait attachment for Ansco
- 1 flash
- 1 case
- 2 rolls of film, one unused, one exposed
- manual for Agfa ("The Agfa Pioneer camera is modern, compact camera especially designed blah-blah...").
All for $9.99 and just because of the exposed Verichrome Pan.
Here is the story on the film:


Only the first picture is somewhat sharp, the rest is blurred. I think they used the portrait attachment on the rest. These attachments were not designed for the group portraits, should be used at closer distances for the headshots. Anyway, I think they are even better this way. Love them all. I think this is Moscow, Idaho in mid to late 60s. At least what it looks like. The girl in the frame one is getting ready for the first communion. I wonder where are they all now. Streets are emptier these days, no kids playing. Everybody's inside, myself included. Oh well...

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