For the last few days we’ve been clearing out our loft before moving to a new bungalow. This morning, squeezed behind a tottering pile of boxes, Ali found a shopping bag full of negatives and prints that I thought were long-lost. They are mostly snappy snaps from a back packing trip to The Gambia fifteen years ago and I’ve just spent a happy hour looking at pictures on paper rather than a screen – so much easier to stay mindful when you have something physical in your hand.
The experience has rekindled my love of film photography and I now want to create a darkroom at the new place we are moving to (as well as the gallery and still life studio, on my to do list) – just have to persuade my wife Ali that it’s a good idea!
Here are some scans from the hoard of photos. Most are snaps from our travels – a few are early forerunners of the Lomography movement I think!
They were all shot on 35mm neg. If you enjoyed these, you can find more in the 35mm film page of the blog here along with information about where and when they were taken (just underneath the Israel / Palestine pictures).
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I felt very nostalgic sliding my hand into each envelope of prints with a feeling of anticipation about what would be inside.
Amazingly, the Canon T70 that took most of these is still in working condition and had charge in the battery when it was also saved from the loft a few months ago!
Sadly missed though, is a personally precious box of black and white prints from a 1992 trip through Eastern Europe. I’m hoping to find them and when I do, I’ll be sharing them here on Mindful Photos.
Don’t forget to check out the 35mm page.
Have a nice Thursday 🙂
Words and pictures © all rights reserved Miles Pilling
mindful photos 
Is anyone still making film? Do you think it will make a comeback….like vinyl LP’s? I loved the darkroom work I did in college in 1977.
Lovely photos. I should do a post with some of my Kenya/Tanzania shots…also 35 mm.
Thanks Michelle, glad that you like them. You can buy film on Ebay these days. A lot of it is out of date. I think there has been a bit of a film comeback with a trend called Lomography where people use plastic cameras and out of date film etc to see what the end results look like. Thanks for your comment. Always appreciated 🙂 I’d enjoy seeing your African pictures. Miles.
Hmm, need to do a post on my blog with the Africa pics which have already been scanned into my computer (from prints)….I didn’t scan all of them, my safari in 2005 I shot 35 rolls of film. It took six months to afford to finally get them all processed….even at a “cheap” place.
I’ll work on it. Of course it is mostly animals and landscapes.
Yes, digital is a lot less expensive, once you have bought the kit isn’t it.
Indeed! It’s that initial outlay that kept me from getting everything I needed before the 2005 trip. That and the fact that the safari lodges turn off the generators overnight while people are sleeping so no way to charge batteries!
Hi Miles,
I have a negative scanner if you want to borrow it?
C
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That would be great. Maybe after we’ve moved. You can get an interesting effect scanning from old prints but it would be nice to see what the negatives really contain. Thanks 🙂