This image of sailors didn't come from a slide, but it was included in that bag of stuff from the slide dealer. There's always a fair amount of detritus in these bags, including (in this case) several old photo negatives -- big things, measuring a couple of inches across. I'm not sure what kind of camera they're from, but they're not 35mm.
I set the negatives aside, thinking I'd scan them, and yesterday I tried. But the scanner doesn't have a source of light from the back, so the scans just looked like black squares. Not very useful. (I think I've made that mistake before with my own negatives, actually.)
So instead I hung them in the dining room window, backed by the white wintry sky, and took pictures of them with my Canon. I then put those pictures into Lightroom, turned them from negative to positive (which is easily done by flipping the tone curve) and adjusted the contrast. Et voila! Sailors!
Here are some more:
I think those are all the same boy, who is probably related to the guy on the beach with the kid on his back. They're good-quality pictures. Someone knew their way around a camera.
This bag of slides is also interesting because of the many formats I'm encountering.
Here's a sample. At the top right is a normal 35mm slide, the most common kind. Left of that is what I believe to be a 110 film slide, dated 1980. Apparently you could get slide film for both 110 and 126 cartridge cameras -- I never realized that. (There are some 126 slides in this bag as well -- they're square and not very good quality, just like 126 pictures on paper!)
Below that is a stereoscopic slide, designed to be viewed in a stereoscope for 3-D effect. (I would love to know what that looks like, but I'm not buying a stereoscope to find out!) Apparently they can be professionally scanned somehow, but I'll just scan one side and leave it at that. "Vivienne" is in black and white, wearing a sweater and admiring an amaryllis.
And finally, at lower right is one of the negatives from the photos above -- just so you can see how big they are.
Lots of weird stuff in photo world!
Hello sailor, and how good are all these photos! The boy in the last photo looks a good bit slimmer than the earlier photos.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure it's all the same boy, but they're similar enough that they must at least be related, if not the same person.
DeleteCan you tell which navy those sailors were from? I am not good with identifying uniforms. US?
ReplyDeleteThey are Royal Navy uniforms. See the little bow at the side of some of the hats? American hats don't have that.
DeleteBritish sailors and clothing from 1930's?
ReplyDeleteDefinitely British -- I'm not sure about the time period. I'd say '50s or even '60s, maybe.
DeleteThese are great photos.
ReplyDeletePretty nice finds for a box of junk!
DeleteThe photos of the boy are endearing - especially (if that's him) with the little girl upon his back on that wide beach. So evocative... but where are they now? It is likely that they have both left this stage that we strut upon for a little while before we make our exits. Keep up the good work Steve!
ReplyDeleteWell, if they were taken c. 1950, which is my guess, and the boy were about ten years old at the time, he'd be in his mid-80's now. The little girl (from the beach photo) would be younger, and if that's the same boy he seems older in that photo so it might be more recent than the others.
DeleteI love the photo of the boy with his dog. So sweet.
ReplyDeleteIt is, isn't it? I like that one too.
DeleteMany years ago, I bought a couple rolls of 110 mm film, put it in my grandfather's camera and took pictures with it to see if it worked. I did it for a black and white photography class that I was taking at the time. I even developed the pictures myself. One of those pictures I ended up enlarging and it hangs on one wall of our hall bathroom to this day.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised it made a good enlargement -- 110 photos were so small and the resolution wasn't great! That's a fun photo project, though.
DeleteThe process you described in getting the negatives to positives was very interesting, Steve, and the results were outstanding. The candid photos of the boy showed someone had a great eye for composition.
ReplyDeleteYeah, whoever took those pictures had some skill.
DeleteI love the sense of joy in the one with guy and the girl sitting on his back.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great photo, isn't it? I agree.
Deletethose bigger square negs probably come from a quality camera..and being bigger, compared to 35mm will have finer detail in comparison.
ReplyDeleteOne of tjise cameras
sorry..hit the wrong place!
ReplyDeleteone of those cameras that you look down into the top and see the image upsidedown and back to front!
I've got one....not a Hasselblad...always dreamed of one of them!
I wonder where that boy is now
I've never used a camera like that, but I know what you mean! The boy would be quite old now, if the pics were taken c. 1950, which is my guess.
DeleteGreat conversions. 2 1/4 by 2 1/4 is 120 film in a square format, the iconic Rolleiflex used that format as did Hasselblad (if I win the lottery, I won't tell anyone but there will be signs, a Hasselblad being one of them.) 120 film could also yield 2 1/4 by 2 3/4 negatives (or positives.) The Mamiya RB 67 and Pentax 67 were the two most common SLRs in that format. I owned a Pentax 67 (the pregnant Pentax it looked like a spotmatic blown up to about 4 times the normal size.) I have some 126 slides, taken with Instamatics. I have never seen a 110 slide. I used the Pentax 67 to shoot Ektachrome for Postcards and other commercial printing projects. I sold it in the early 80's, for more than I paid for it in 1977.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they could be from a Rollei or a even a Hasselblad. I don't know the Mamiya camera. Instamatics and Magimatics used the 126 film and those pictures were always junk. Pretty good to sell a camera for more than you paid for it! That never happens!
DeleteVery nice, everything, so many wonderful things to say about these pictures. Black and white, they remind me of old films and early days of television and photography. The clouds, the sand, the ball, the dog - happy days and leisure 🩵
ReplyDeleteI also liked your previous post; the three piles and getting round to fixing the broken ring 😊 I know the feeling. We fixed something yesterday - finally; we hung some curtains that have been waiting in the ironing cabinet for more than a year 😀😛
It feels good to cross something off a to-do list that's been there for a long time!
DeleteI've never seen slides like that and your are way too clever with the window-reverse technique. I just love the photos of that boy. They're all wonderful and he's a great subject.
ReplyDeleteHe is really good at posing, isn't he?! Maybe they're professional photos.
DeleteI love how these slides are teaching you new things (old things) about photography technology. Pretty cool. That first photo of the sailors is definitely a good example of how black and white can be the absolute best choice in which to shoot.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the stark white uniforms look really good in B&W! I do learn a lot through all this old photo stuff, but personally I would never want to shoot film again!
DeleteThis bag of slides provided a nice history of film. Your ability to work with all sorts of slides and produce an image is impressive. Each photo is magnificent.
ReplyDeleteI, too, think about the people in the slides. They all look so vital and vibrant. Each photo is a snapshot of frozen time and place.
Nice work Steve.
That's why I feel compelled to try to save the images -- they are a snapshot of time and place and people, all never to return.
DeleteWhat strikes me is how white the sailors' uniforms are as if they just got dressed. I wear white and I become a dirt magnet. I notice those sitting are sitting on towels or some sort of covered board so as not to get their butts dirty.
ReplyDeleteGood observation about them sitting on towels! I hadn't noticed that.
DeleteThose came out so well, Steve. I really enjoyed studying each photo.
ReplyDeleteGlad you liked them!
DeleteI think that large negative is from a 2 &1/4 box camera. I used to have one by Yashica and used it often. One or two have appeared on my blog. The one I posted on November 1st is a good example. The one I took of my niece with the teddy bear. I also used to have a small camera that took slides like that 110 you see here. I remember a trip to Disneyland back in the 70's when I took a whole bunch of slides with that camera. They are all gone now.
ReplyDeleteThese photos of the boys on the beach are really good. They have a professional look about them.
My brother had a 110 camera and I had no idea it was possible to take slides with it! Good guess about the box camera.
DeleteThese Are Fabulous - Stories Immediately Began Rolling Around In My Head - Thanx A Million For All The Efforts Here - Well Done - Retirement Looks Better And Better Everyday
ReplyDeleteWalk On ,
Cheers
Glad you liked them. Every picture tells a story, as they say!
DeleteThose photos turned out very well. It sounds like a lot of work and a challenge, but it also sounds like you enjoyed the process.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's fun, but it IS a lot of work and it takes time!
DeleteIt is so exciting to get a first glimpse of your recent find! I love the photos, my favourite is the one with the kid on the back of the young man. They really are good pictures, aren't they; well composed and all that.
ReplyDeleteThey are very good -- maybe even professionally shot.
DeleteOf course the one with the dog is my favorite. I'd be curious about the stereoscope image, too.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wish I could see it in stereo for full effect. Maybe I could take it to an antique camera shop and see if they have something with which I could view it.
DeleteThey look semi professional
ReplyDeleteThey do, don't they? Maybe they were professionally shot and the photographer gave the client the negatives.
DeleteMy father had a Rollie camera that produced those large square negatives and slides. Camera is long gone, but I still have the slides.
ReplyDeleteCould very well be a Rollei. Keep those slides! :)
DeleteYou did well to work out those negatives, the photos are really great. I have never seen negatives as large as that square one.
ReplyDeleteAnd the one with the sailors is even bigger -- and rectangular.
DeleteThose boy and beach and bag ones look professional quality. I wonder if they were produced in an ad design place.
ReplyDeleteThey could be advertising photos, I suppose!
DeleteI always wonder about the people in those pictures, where they are, if they have had a nice life.
ReplyDelete