Monday 22 July 2019

Pictures Are Our Only Defence Against Time,


although in this digital age,


of photograph manipulation that phrase might not still be true, which is why most forensic photographs are still shot on film, using film it makes manipulating them easier to be seen than digital photographs that can be easily altered, so going back to those days of having your films developed by post or a trip to the chemist, you may still have a roll or two of film in a drawer somewhere waiting to be developed, and that is where the latest craze comes in, over the past three years the subscribers to the Forgotten Film forum on the discussion website Reddit have jumped from 822 to more than 3,000 people, the photograph I have posted above is a rediscovered family portrait from Evansville, Indiana, probably 1940s, actually that has given me an idea, whilst moving back here I found some old photographs of my grandfather, so that is my mission today, try and find out a little more about them, back to undeveloped films, for Levi Bettwieser, a 33-year-old video producer from Idaho, an interest in forgotten film can be both expensive and risky. Bettwieser estimates he has spent “upwards of $10,000” on rolls of film over the past five years, and says he “can get 10 rolls in a row that come out blank” due to the film being degraded, “A couple of years ago, I was winning and buying every single roll of used film on eBay,” Bettwieser says. “There’s always a feeling of overall excitement that you might get something amazing, something historically viable. Or you might get more cat photos.” Bettwieser now runs a non-profit scheme, the Rescued Film Project, where he encourages people to give him their old rolls which he then develops, “Part of the reason I’m doing it is because I like the idea of being the first person to ever see these images; even the photographer has never seen them.” so there you have it, next time you open a drawer or box and find a roll of film why not have it developed, you never what could be on it, now there's a worry!


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