When I was a kid, I always fantasized about finding treasure in my home’s attic one day. Well, David J. Whitcomb did. When he bought a building, he discovered a 100-year-old photo studio inside of it and a bunch of prints from the late 19th and early 20th century. Now that’s what I call treasure!
These “shoebox negatives” will take you on an emotional journey to 1930s Chicago
Many years ago, Joan Tortorici Ruppert’s mother handed her a box full of negatives. You see, Joan’s father was an avid photographer, and Joan began to be interested in it too. So, her mom wanted her to have these photos that he’d taken and developed back in the late 1930s.
Joan took this “time capsule” and carefully scanned all the photos. She did it all without a lightbox, enlarger or a scanner, but she came up with a DIY approach that let her quickly cull through hundreds of negatives. And finally, she ended up with an admirable collection of black and white photos that show life as it was in pre-war Chicago.
How exposure affects film
OK, so for a while we’ve been wanting to explain a couple of film technicalities that we’re pretty sure will change many people’s understanding of film and exposure.
Alright, take a deep breath ‘cause this stuff is easy but sometimes difficult to explain in written communication.
FilmToaster lets you use your DSLR to digitize film photos
Even if you’re a film photographer, it’s likely that at some point you will need to digitize your negatives. While Scanning is the optimal solution in terms of resolution and quality, it’s also possible to use a digital camera to take a picture of the negative, effectively giving you a true digital negative to work with.
This isn’t my method of choice, but if it’s yours, photographer Cecil Williams has created a new tool just for you, the FilmToaster.
Negatives Found In Antarctica After Being Frozen For Over A Century
In 1914 Sir Ernest Shackleton launched his second expedition to Antarctica, an adventure that would make him the first to cross Antarctica from the Weddell Sea to the Ross Sea via the South Pole.
Ahead of Shackleton’s main crew though was a group of brave men, known as the Ross Sea Party, whose goal was to create vital depots of supplies for Shackleton to use along the way. While setting up depots was the main goal, a team photographer also took photos of the punishing adventure.
For almost a century, the resulting photos from the Ross Sea Party team has been stuck in Antarctica, frozen together inside a small box that lay inside the 1911 darkroom of expedition photographer Herbert Ponting.
The images have since been found though, and as part of the mission of the Antarctic Heritage Trust, the 22 cellulose nitrate negatives have been painstakingly brought back to life despite spending a century clumped together inside a box on the cold, barren block of ice that is Antarctica.
Quickly Browse Through Your Film Negatives Using Only Your iPad
Have you ever scanned film negatives on your own? If so, you know it can be a time-consuming process. To help make sure you don’t waste time scanning unwanted negatives, YouTuber Adam of Ekenstam has shared a clever way to preview your negatives using an iPad.
Can You Help Locate The Photographer Of These Vintage Negatives Recently Found In A Thrift Store?
A Richmond, Virginia based photographer, Meagan Abell, made a truly delightful discovery while browsing the shelves of a local thrift store. Sitting there on one of the racks, Abell found a box of old photographs, which also happened to contain four sets of medium format negatives. Like any good photography enthusiast would do, she purchased the box and brought it home so she could scan the negatives.
Much to her (and our) delight, the images on the negatives turned out to be pretty stunning. At this point, I think it pretty much goes without saying that we need to know who took the photos so we can enjoy more of their work and get a little background info on the few images Abell has found.
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