Topic: Desert Film Diaries

[jharr]

Another chapter in the ongoing saga of Satish's 'Desert Film'. You remember, this is the film that was purchased by Satish's second cousin Rajah. He took it home to his apartment in Mumbai with the intention of sending it to his cousin in New York. Unfortunately, it was monsoon and the film was washed away in a sudden flash flood. It lodged in a tree where it was found during the following dry season by a young seller of paprikash spices. He sold it to a police officer from whom it was immediately stolen by an international (read: "French") art thief who mistook it for a relic from the Kulashekhara Dynasty. It traveled to Casa Blanca in a secret compartment in his steamer trunk, which he lost playing roulette. The casino owner already had a nicer steamer trunk, so he threw the Frenchman's out of a 4th story window where it smashed to pieces and the film was carried off by a Moroccan sand rat and buried nearby. It stayed there for a number of years until it was found by a lost American looking around the casino for lost change. He figured he could get a good price for it on ebay.mar. It sold to some film nerd in New Jersey who paid $85 to have it shipped only to find that US Customs required another $127 to accept it. It sat in the back room at the Newark airport for another 7 years until the case was declared dead and sold in a lot to a Red Cross Thrift store. They put it on ebay and Satish bought it from them. Then he sent some of it to me and I took these pictures on my recent business trip to Las Vegas.


Pentaxk1000-Ektachrome-007 by James Harr, on Flickr


Pentaxk1000-Ektachrome-009 by James Harr, on Flickr


Pentaxk1000-Ektachrome-012 by James Harr, on Flickr


Pentaxk1000-Ektachrome-013 by James Harr, on Flickr


Pentaxk1000-Ektachrome-029 by James Harr, on Flickr

[Indofunk]

The story keeps getting better every time  How did you shoot and develop these? I am continually amazed that you're able to coax any images at all out of them 

[jharr]

I set the iso on my Pentax K1000 at its lowest setting (12) and tried to over expose one stop. Then standard Unicolor C41 processing. I think I might have color corrected the first two. Everything came off the scanner very warm and saturated. It's probably an artifact of under exposure, but for Vegas, I think it turned out well. Maybe this film is just 'at home' in the desert!

I suppose when I use this all up, I will have to find another storied lot of film.

[Indofunk]

  Yeah, I bet it really does like being back in its native environment. How many rolls do you have left?

[jharr]

How many rolls do you have left?

Still six rolls left, so I am a ways off from running out. If I split them, that will stretch the supply even farther. I feel like The Martian of film.

[Bryan]

I like the colors, especially the glass art.

[Domingo A. Siliceo]

Not sure what it is, but the thing in the third shot really appeals me. The first one also has very pale delicate and nice colours.

[Francois]

I must admit that I'm impressed by the colors.
Don't show this to Kodak as they might start selling their expired stock at a premium.
For some reason, the colors remind me of some old polaroid sx70...

[jharr]

Not sure what it is, but the thing in the third shot really appeals me. The first one also has very pale delicate and nice colours.

Thanks Domingo. The thing is an installation of Dale Chihuly art glass that covers a large area of the ceiling at the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas. It is beautiful and this film really saturated and shifted the color in a sort of unpredictable way.

[astrobeck]

love the epic and the photos!

this is making me want to shoot more color.

 

[Urban Hafner]

Hell yeah! These are really brilliant!

[jharr]

Thanks all. Telling the tale is almost as fun as shooting the film!