[officiousbystander]

Found photographs or 'vernacular photographs' can be appropriated to tell other stories unbound by time and space. They are transitional objects which can be synthesised to create new realities. Surely we all already know this.

When Found Photographs Tell New Stories

[Sam_I_am]

I remember reading about an old roll of film being found and developed. Turned out it was pictures of a cat. Really old pictures of a cat, but it showed that everyone loves cat pictures.

[pentaxus]

Many times when people donate cameras they don't think of the possibility of film or media in the camera. I returned a memory card to someone recently and they were quite happy to find "old" family pictures.

[ecostigny]

You can never be sure what will be on somebody else's film. I remember one time that I was picking up a box of newly-developed slides at the local developer. The counter person, who knew me from many previous visits, admitted that she had used an aerial slide from my box to demonstrate a Polaroid instant printer to another customer (This was the mid 1980s, when film developing was a labor-intensive process and any presumption of photographic privacy was probably not realistic). She then said that she had begun the demo with slides from another customer, only to realize that the customer had used his slides to document his steamy lunchtime trysts with his secretary. Whoops!

[leekil]

On several occasions I have bought a used camera *only* for the undeveloped film inside.

[ZombieArmy]

I'd be wary of doing this - should there be any illegal material on the film, the processor is duty bound to inform the authorities and, even if you convince them of your bona fides in the matter, the interview will still be recorded, which could affect prospects, say for employment or insurance. Safer to bin the film securely, or do a low-level format on the cards.

I think this is an odd mindset. Lots of cool bits of history have been found on old undeveloped film. If you're that paranoid about it just develop it yourself.

Most people don't commit crimes you know, at least not ones you'd have to worry about being on an old roll of film.

[Huss]

I developed a roll of film from an old Nikon I found at a yard sale in Memphis. It had what appeared to be some snaps of Elvis hanging out with Sasquatch, but as I wasn't keen on the way they were composed I returned the film to the seller.

[DWS1]

If I had established any type of a personal connection to the seller or person donating it, I would offer to return it. From an unknown seller or source, I would just destroy the film/card.

[UncleVanya]

I developed a roll of film from an old Nikon I found at a yard sale in Memphis. It had what appeared to be some snaps of Elvis hanging out with Sasquatch, but as I wasn't keen on the way they were composed I returned the film to the seller.

Now that's just gold.

[Just1MoreDave]

When we went through my father-in-law's stuff, he had one SD card with images on it, and two unexposed rolls of film. The digital images were what he took when he got the camera. I haven't developed the film yet. There was so much stuff to go through, it became overwhelming. On day one, you could get distracted by a cool memorable, valuable or antique item. After a week, it was more "chuck that in the pile to give away". So I can see film getting overlooked. My father-in-law had some stuff dumped on him by other deceased family members so the film might not have even been his.

[Sam_I_am]

Nice discussion, and what a mixed bag it has been. I might actually get the next roll I find developed...by one of you guys. 😉

[Astro-Baby]

I'd be wary of doing this - should there be any illegal material on the film, the processor is duty bound to inform the authorities and, even if you convince them of your bona fides in the matter, the interview will still be recorded, which could affect prospects, say for employment or insurance. Safer to bin the film securely, or do a low-level format on the cards.

Wow !!! The paranoia in todays world is truly frightening. We should all be fighting this kind of thing. Innocent actions resulting in a fear of unreasonable retribution, we may as well be living in Stalins Russia instead of the free society we are supposed to enjoy.
Screw it....I just had two rolls developed from a pair of cameras, some of the shots arent bad at all and the seller was pleased to get some pics of her family back.

[Michail_P]

... I opened the back to see if the shutter was firing and the lens was stopping down. Inside was a roll of film. I stripped it off and threw it in the trash.... Uh-oh. Yes it was hers, and she had absentmindedly sat it down on one of the tables for the charity sale and forgotten it. The pictures were from their recent vacation.

Oh my god..... that’s why I was thinking “I would develop the roll myself and then we’ll see...”

[gaweidert]

I never realized people took 35mm cameras to a dealer to be loaded with film. I started with shooting my dad's nikon F2 as a kid and just bought film at Kmart or the gas station. I don't remember if he showed me how to load it or if it just fooled around and lucked out.

Loading 35mm film into a camera can be daunting to some people. 35mm as a popular consumer format did not really take off until auto assist loading cameras came into being. Before that, the cartridge load cameras were all the rage.

[AgentL]

Nice discussion, and what a mixed bag it has been. I might actually get the next roll I find developed...by one of you guys. 😉

I'd happily self-develop a found film roll... but all the found film I've ever found is color neg, and I haven't developed color yet!