Author Topic: Found Film (Read 38456 times)

Bryan · « **Reply #50 on:** May 29, 2020, 08:14:28 PM »

This is the last roll that I know of, maybe something else will pop up. These were on a generic roll of 127 film. I dated them to the 1960's based on the furnishings, the Munro table hockey game and skinny ties.

Halloween Costumes by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Family Portrait by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Posing by the Christmas Tree by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

1960's Christmas by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Francois · « **Reply #51 on:** May 29, 2020, 09:29:02 PM »

Looking at the decoration, it's definitely the 60's.
You just gotta love those old synthetic Xmas trees with plenty of mylar icicles.

Bryan · « **Reply #52 on:** June 10, 2020, 02:49:30 AM »

These are from a roll of 16mm movie film I have that's in pretty bad shape. The film has a lot of broken sprocket holes, it's wrinkled and has vinegar syndrome. These are stills I scanned with a digital camera. The film is Kodak Safety film that has a date code of 1939. The code is "oo" so that gives it a date of 1919, 1939, 1959 or 1979. Since 16mm movie film didn't come out until 1923 that eliminates the 1919 date. I was there in 1979, Seattle and Lake Union looked very different by then. Based on other photos I have seen from the 1950's lake union didn't look like that with the saw mill belching smoke. That only leaves 1939. These were taken from a boat going through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks, aka Ballard Locks, in Seattle. I immediately recognized it, I go there every now and then to waste film.

This looks like the West side of the locks with Puget Sound in the background.

West side of Locks by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

You can see the smoke stack in the background next to the wigwam burner, that's an old mil that is long gone from Lake Union. This is on the East side of the locks, that's Lake Union beyond the locks.

East side of Locks by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Boat in Locks by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

I do remember seeing log booms like this around the Puget Sound, that's how they transported the logs to the saw mills. Now logs are all hauled on trucks and there are far less mills in the area. They ship a lot of logs to China now. The Violet Ray sign on the shore is a brand of gasoline that was sold on the west coast, it came out of California.

Tug Pulling Log Boom by Bryan Chernick, on Flickr

Jeff Warden · « **Reply #53 on:** June 12, 2020, 12:47:50 AM »

These are fantastic! Thanks for sharing them, Bryan.

Bryan · « **Reply #54 on:** August 15, 2020, 03:52:28 PM »

This is an unusual find. We were looking through the plans building of an industrial facility that I'm currently working at to try to find blueprints of the buildings we are working on. I found a file box full of boxes of 4X5 film that had been shot around the plant. These have been sitting in a building since the plant was abandoned 20 years ago. I grabbed one box and took it back to my hotel to scan. It turns out it was shot during an open house they had in the 1950's called Family Day Tour of the Mead Works.

A quick look at some of the other boxes were just boring shots of equipment but if I have time I'll see if there is anything else worth scanning. It looks like they may have used infrared film for some stuff. I think these were shot on a Kodak 4X5 roll film. The negatives are thinner than 4X5 sheet film and there is no edge notch. All it says on the film is Kodak Safety Film and there are frame numbers. They were all cut into single sheets.

I think these were shot some time shortly after 1953. The ambulance looks fairly new, it's a 1953 Cadillac. The fashions look like 1950's.

Bryan · « **Reply #55 on:** August 15, 2020, 03:54:38 PM »

I recognize a lot of these buildings, I don't think they tore anything down, they just added to them as the facility grew.

Bryan · « **Reply #56 on:** August 15, 2020, 04:04:54 PM »

A few more from that batch.

Indofunk · « **Reply #57 on:** August 15, 2020, 04:29:05 PM »

That is so cool Bryan!

astrobeck · « **Reply #58 on:** August 15, 2020, 05:46:14 PM »

Bryan, that is extremely cool!
We really used to get dressed up for things and our posture was much better then too it seems...maybe it's just that fill flash that straightens everything up and makes it look so snappy sharp!
Please share more! I was just looking at old photos on eb**.

you scored!

Bryan · « **Reply #59 on:** August 15, 2020, 06:10:34 PM »

I just grabbed some more boxes to go through during my time off. They put the negatives back into the original film box to catalog them so I'm not sure if the film in the box is the same as what was originally in it before it was shot. Some of the older boxes have an expiration date of 1951. I'll be posting more as I get to them.

Francois · « **Reply #60 on:** August 15, 2020, 07:33:08 PM »

The film could have come from a filmpack as these were somewhat popular at one point. Since the film was curled around to move the exposed film to the back of the stack, it needed to be thinner.

Filmpacks had 10 sheets in them, a lot more convenient than carrying 5 holders.

Bryan · « **Reply #61 on:** August 15, 2020, 08:13:53 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 15, 2020, 07:33:08 PM

The film could have come from a filmpack as these were somewhat popular at one point. Since the film was curled around to move the exposed film to the back of the stack, it needed to be thinner.

Filmpacks had 10 sheets in them, a lot more convenient than carrying 5 holders.

That's probably what it was, the placement of the numbers and "Kodak Safety Film" could have ended up on an image if it was roll film.

Bryan · « **Reply #62 on:** August 18, 2020, 06:26:54 PM »

There's a lot of negatives to scan, I've been concentrating my efforts on scanning while I have access to them rather than editing. I'll keep posting some good ones as I get to them. I pulled some of the lowest numbered boxes which I think date to the 1940's. As I said before we pulled some blue prints to see how some of the buildings were constructed. In some of the photos it shows construction of some of these buildings that we're doing demolition on and the blue prints are dated to the 1940's. Many of the vehicles look like they are from that era. Much of this facility was constructed during WWII to support the war effort.

The first photo is construction of a building that we are currently doing demolition on. The second photo is the entrance to the plant with with deliveries of power poles, milk and fuel streaming in. The last photo is a guy turning a valve, some of the best photos show people working in the factory so I'll be sharing more like that.

Bryan · « **Reply #63 on:** August 18, 2020, 06:31:38 PM »

This is construction of the Rectifier building. The building is over 1,500 feet long. If it was standing vertical it would be taller than the Empire State building.

Francois · « **Reply #64 on:** August 18, 2020, 09:29:42 PM »

Power poles, milk and fuel?
What an odd mix.

And that building is bound to be loaded with Asbestos...

Bryan · « **Reply #65 on:** August 18, 2020, 09:52:30 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 18, 2020, 09:29:42 PM

Power poles, milk and fuel?
What an odd mix.

And that building is bound to be loaded with Asbestos...

At that time the plant was operating and under construction so those deliveries aren't so unusual. The plant used a lot of electricity, the scrapers and tweekers had a great time stripping this place of copper after it closed.

At the time many of these buildings were constructed if there was a way to put asbestos in a building product they did. This place was covered with a wonderful siding product composed of corrugated metal covered with a mix of asbestos and PCB tar. Now that the siding has been weathered it's releasing PCB's into a nearby river. That's why I'm here, we're stripping all that wonderful siding from the buildings, hundreds of thousands of square feet of it.

Francois · « **Reply #66 on:** August 18, 2020, 11:02:53 PM »

I know Asbestos was put in so many things in those days it's scary.
On our street lives a plumber who got lung cancer from Asbestos insulated pipes...

AJShepherd · « **Reply #67 on:** August 19, 2020, 03:22:00 PM »

Bryan, those are an excellent find and really cool pictures. There are probably some historians somewhere who'd be drooling at those.

As Francois said, asbestos was everywhere. When I was at school there were asbestos mats in the chemistry lab, some of which had many loose fibres, and some of the 'bad lads' used to snap them in half.
A friend of mine worked for British Telecom, and has had to tested for asbestosis in the past. He came up clear, unlike some of his colleagues.

Francois · « **Reply #68 on:** August 19, 2020, 09:12:57 PM »

Well... I have a big chunk of Asbestos rock in a box at home... The thing must weigh 2 Lbs.
Also got some other weird mineral stuff.

I'm still waiting to find a cube of tungsten or, my holy grail of weird materials: a small cube of depleted uranium like is used to make the shielding on tanks.

Kai-san · « **Reply #69 on:** August 19, 2020, 10:06:25 PM »

Francois, you don't want to be anywhere near depleted uranium, it is not harmless. It's used for tipping bombs and grenades because it can easier penetrate concrete, and now people and especially children are suffering the effects of this in Irak, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya. There has been an explosion in cancer and children born with defects in these countries.

Francois · « **Reply #70 on:** August 19, 2020, 10:47:55 PM »

I actually was thinking of keeping it in a sealed lead lined box as one of my many curiosities.
I can just imagine people going: what's in that box? and me going: Oh! it's just a block of depleted Uranium. You wanna see it?
And then get to see people think that I'm totally insane for keeping a thing like that in a box but be too curious not to take a look at it.

Thing is I have a knack for strange materials and minerals... it's something I take from my grandmother.

In my rarities, I also have a small aluminum ingot, a lump of coal from Alberta, countless crystals, some quartz, some agates, a few sand roses, some mica, all sorts of sea shells, a few corals that date back to the 1950's, a conch horn, a Coolidge tube, some high voltage ceramic insulators, turbine engine blades, a polydactyle ceramic hand and countless other things. Usually the stranger the better... As long as it allows me to tell an interesting story, it's fair game.

I once wanted to buy a dry box fish but mom stopped me... granted the eyes on that thing weren't glossy anymore and it had seen better days.

Bryan · « **Reply #71 on:** August 20, 2020, 12:12:36 AM »

I held a chunk of depleted uranium in my gloved hand once, it was heavy! We we're doing a cleanup where a guy was making yellow cake uranium in his apartment. The FBI saw he was trying to sell the yellow cake on eBay so they shut him down. You would be surprised at how much radioactive stuff you can buy on eBay, not just lenses.

Francois · « **Reply #72 on:** August 20, 2020, 03:37:25 PM »

That's one thing I would never do. When you know how bad something really is for you, you don't want to even touch it.
But you always have to consider the risks. Just like the asbestos, if it doesn't get in the air it's pretty much harmless.
If it doesn't emit radiation, doesn't get in the air as loose particles, is not subjected to water or excessive humidity, pretty much everything is quite harmless.

On a side note, when you buy ceramics that have an orange glaze, the orange color is made using uranium oxide...

Bryan · « **Reply #73 on:** August 20, 2020, 04:31:02 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 20, 2020, 03:37:25 PM

That's one thing I would never do. When you know how bad something really is for you, you don't want to even touch it.
But you always have to consider the risks. Just like the asbestos, if it doesn't get in the air it's pretty much harmless.
If it doesn't emit radiation, doesn't get in the air as loose particles, is not subjected to water or excessive humidity, pretty much everything is quite harmless.

On a side note, when you buy ceramics that have an orange glaze, the orange color is made using uranium oxide...

If the radiation expert for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission didn't tell me it was safe to hold I wouldn't have done it. Depleted Uranium is actually used as a radiation shield, they use it in industrial photography to shield cameras from radiation. It also has several civilian uses.

In addition to the orange Fiestaware dishes green depression glass was radioactive. Also old glow in the dark dials for airplane gauges and watches were made with radium. There's a book called "The Radium Girls" about the women who were exposed to the radiation when they were painting the glow in the dark numbers on aircraft dials.

The guy that was making yellow cake uranium in his apartment had a collection of consumer products that were radioactive including a few Invigerators that are not safe to have. I'm not sure but he may have been grinding down some consumer products to make his yellow cake.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/1/100118-radiation-toxic-water-revigator/

Francois · « **Reply #74 on:** August 20, 2020, 09:21:23 PM »

This reminds me of the Boy Scout who built a feeder type reactor in his garden shed. He was really negligent and didn't put any shielding on the thing. The Atomic Energy Commission had measured high radiation levels from 2 blocks away...

What I find sad is that there are some people who know just enough to be dangerous to people and themselves yet not enough to stay out of harms way.

The problems they have with the uranium shells in war torn countries wouldn't have happened if the material had not been blasted in the atmosphere.

Bryan · « **Reply #75 on:** August 20, 2020, 10:53:37 PM »

FYI, this is the box of film I'm going through right now. There are 42 boxes with between 50 and 100 negatives per box. So far I have scanned 7 boxes and I'm almost done editing my third box. I'm concentrating on getting them scanned right now while I have them available to me. I'm not scanning everything, there's a lot of boring and repetitive stuff like the second photo below. If I see something like that I may scan one and ignore the rest. I'm doing this on my spare time which I don't have a lot of right now so it may take a while to get through it all. I will add interesting photos as I finish editing boxes. I do enjoy doing this, it's fun to discover what the photos are and I have a good workflow set up in my hotel room.

Francois · « **Reply #76 on:** August 21, 2020, 03:02:48 PM »

Looking at the second one, all I can say is that the lab tech had seriously big thumbs

Bryan · « **Reply #77 on:** August 21, 2020, 03:30:24 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 21, 2020, 03:02:48 PM

Looking at the second one, all I can say is that the lab tech had seriously big thumbs

I think those are machine marks, not giant thumb prints. It looks like each photo was a after machining layers from a sample of aluminum.

Bryan · « **Reply #78 on:** August 21, 2020, 03:51:46 PM »

I think I can date these shots to 1951. It looks like the spelled out Happy New Year with aluminum samples of some kind. The second shot is more construction of the plant. There are a lot of construction shots, they were doing major expansion of the plant at this time.

Bryan · « **Reply #79 on:** August 21, 2020, 03:55:49 PM »

Looks like corporate muckety mucks having some kind of event that involved drinking and gambling.

Bryan · « **Reply #80 on:** August 22, 2020, 03:38:57 PM »

So far this first one is one of my favorite shots. Not sure what the second shot has to do with an aluminum smelter but it's a nice shot. I now have the photos organized in chronological order based on the numbers on the photos so I'll be posting them in that order. These are from the box that covers 1 - 50. I think it's right around 1950, possibly a little earlier than that.

Bryan · « **Reply #81 on:** August 22, 2020, 03:46:02 PM »

These ones were not taken at the factory but the fire truck is from Kaiser aluminum. I assume that the factory had their own fire department and also served the local community on a volunteer basis. This was a rural area back then, still is kind of rural today, just a lot more strip malls and big box stores.

Bryan · « **Reply #82 on:** August 22, 2020, 03:58:58 PM »

This may be a view of the fire from the factory, it's number 36, the fire photos directly follow it.

Francois · « **Reply #83 on:** August 22, 2020, 09:31:25 PM »

In those days, cameras and film were very expensive so it only makes sense that the photographer brought the camera home to take some family photos on the company's gear.

Bryan · « **Reply #84 on:** August 22, 2020, 09:59:24 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 22, 2020, 09:31:25 PM

In those days, cameras and film were very expensive so it only makes sense that the photographer brought the camera home to take some family photos on the company's gear.

I can understand that but then it was numbered and archived with the company photos, maybe it was an employee. Judging by some of the photos I have seen I think it may have been an employee appreciation or morale thing.

Francois · « **Reply #85 on:** August 22, 2020, 10:40:19 PM »

Or they had a lab tech who processed the film and automatically archived everything. The photographer just had to ask for the prints.

Bryan · « **Reply #86 on:** August 24, 2020, 03:46:13 PM »

I scanned 7 boxes over the weekend but I'm pretty far behind on editing them. These next ones are from box 51-100, some good ones in this box. these are more construction, the plant was purchased from the US government after WWII and then a major expansion to the factory took place.

Bryan · « **Reply #87 on:** August 24, 2020, 03:59:48 PM »

These are some employee photos. There's a total of 8 of the portraits of women in this batch, some of the same women that were in the Happy New Year 1951 picture I posted earlier.

AJShepherd · « **Reply #88 on:** August 24, 2020, 09:44:29 PM »

For a moment there I thought that first one was a really complicated antique coffee machine!

The third one though is wonderful! Answering the phone, pen in hand, pencil stuck behind the ear, next to a big ol' sit up and beg typewriter with the ribbon spools on top.

Francois · « **Reply #89 on:** August 24, 2020, 10:30:22 PM »

I hadn't noticed that the guy had two pencils... he surely didn't want to run out of lead!
I can imagine that he's probably the type of people who also wear both a belt and suspenders "just in case"

Bryan · « **Reply #90 on:** August 24, 2020, 10:36:50 PM »

Quote from: AJShepherd on August 24, 2020, 09:44:29 PM

For a moment there I thought that first one was a really complicated antique coffee machine!

The third one though is wonderful! Answering the phone, pen in hand, pencil stuck behind the ear, next to a big ol' sit up and beg typewriter with the ribbon spools on top.

That's how we made Espresso back in the day, you young whipper snappers don't know how easy you have it. And if you wanted cream you had to walk up hill in the snow both ways to milk a cow.

I'm guessing that guy goes through a lot of pencils, he's a very busy man.

Indofunk · « **Reply #91 on:** August 24, 2020, 10:37:19 PM »

Man, that second one is so good. Looks like those famous rust belt photos. Also could be included in our "photos with pop" thread

Bryan · « **Reply #92 on:** August 25, 2020, 07:27:41 PM »

Lots of construction and a picture of the locker room.

Bryan · « **Reply #93 on:** August 25, 2020, 08:01:48 PM »

This is a picture of a picture of the bowling league. It wasn't numbered like the rest of the photos, just randomly stuck in one of the boxes. Looks like they have the team names hanging above the lanes, "Accounting Mechanics", "Industrial Relations Machinists", "Metal Service Control Room", "Reduction Carbon Plant". I can't make out what the last one says.

Francois · « **Reply #94 on:** August 25, 2020, 09:13:35 PM »

Wow, I haven't seen wash basins like that since I was in primary school!
You don't find stuff like that nowadays.

Bryan · « **Reply #95 on:** August 25, 2020, 11:06:33 PM »

Quote from: Francois on August 25, 2020, 09:13:35 PM

Wow, I haven't seen wash basins like that since I was in primary school!
You don't find stuff like that nowadays.

Probably don't see them anymore because they wasted a lot of water. At least it was touch free with the foot pedal, the less stuff you touch in a public restroom the better.

Francois · « **Reply #96 on:** August 26, 2020, 03:00:59 PM »

The foot pedal part is one thing I always liked about them. It makes it pretty obvious that you must push it down to get the water flowing. With the infrared sensor taps, you're always hunting for the sweet spot.
Also, the electronic ones are proving to be not quite as sanitary as we think.
In a local hospital they began having surgery patients that developed unrelated infections. It took them a while to figure out that it was related to the new sinks and taps that were installed. It turned out that water didn't get enough flow time to flush out all bacteria in the taps.

Kai-san · « **Reply #97 on:** August 26, 2020, 05:38:46 PM »

Never seen those before, I thought it looked like something from "Plan 9 from Outer Space".

Francois · « **Reply #98 on:** August 26, 2020, 08:48:15 PM »

The ones we had back in school were all concrete with some pebbles embedded in it.
The fun thing is the water came out of the center column in little jets that resemble a garden sprayer.
If I remember the soap dispenser was on top of the column.

Pete_R · « **Reply #99 on:** August 27, 2020, 06:52:39 AM »

You should try visiting UK motorway service stations. A lot have them. Modern stainless steel ones though.