I always have one camera loaded with film to be ready for unplanned moments worth capturing. (As I wrote this line I realised that in today’s digital world I remain solidly anchored in the past with my love of film cameras and darkroom work…)
Well, I was going to the town center for some street photography. I looked at the cameras I knew were loaded with film and was surprised to find out that my 1954 Canon-L rangefinder had film in it. It should have been just before the pandemic when I did so, and the film had been sitting patiently in that unused camera for almost 3 years.
Here is my Canon-L and the lovely Canon lens – the leafs of the manual lens close to form a perfect circle, allowing for old-fashion photos to be composed
So, I took the canon with me for a walk on a sunny May day.
… There were a couple men in cowboy attire and I took a few photos. Back to my studio, I rewinded the film and total darkness started loading in into the developing canister. When I heard a rupturing sound, I knew the film strip had dried out and it tore during the process. Usually that is lost cause as the reel in the canister would not be able to catch the pellicule and allow appropriate development.
But this time, I wanted to see what surprise could come out once the strip is developed.
Here is a snapshot of the developed strip – it is burned by chemical contamination because the strip got stuck to itself when unable to be captured by the reel.
Clearly, there are no frames that came out developed, except for one with partial shades. Looking at it with a loupe, I could see shadows of the two cowboys among the chemically burned parts of the frame.
So, I decided to print it using my 1950s Hansa Pro enlarger fitted, in lieu of an enlarger lens, with a 1940s Industar lens from a FED camera.
It took a few attempts with variable exposure time to get the shadows take life. The phantasmagoric photo that resulted from my curiosity is at the top of the page. Since the strip got stuck to itself in the developing canister, not only it got chemically burned, but impression from various frames got developed on this single frame.
As such, this photo is of a scene that DID NOT EXIST when I was taking the photos! It is surreal, created by an accident due to old and brittle expired film (which I like to use for surprises).
I had no input into this “creative” outcome – and as such, I celebrated the accident remembering a quote from Mae West:
“You only live one, but if you do it right, once is enough”
May 7, 2022
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2022
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