Topic: beijing-silvermine

[This-is-damion]

Afternoon,

None seen anything posted about this yet  - looks very interesting!

Beijing Silvermine is a unique photographic portrait of the Chinese capital and the life of its inhabitants in the decades following the Cultural Revolution.

Since 2009 Beijing-based collector Thomas Sauvin has amassed, edited and archived more than half a million photographic negatives destined for destruction in a recycling plant on the edge of the city. It was here that Sauvin encountered a man by the name of Xiao Ma who stockpiles negatives, x-rays, compact discs and other detritus to melt down and filter for their silver nitrate content intended to be sold to laboratories. Recognising a rare chance to rescue abandoned memories, Sauvin struck up a deal to buy these photographic negatives by the kilo. This ‘silvermine’ of anonymous subjects and vernacular photography styles covers a period of roughly 20 years – from 1985, when affordable consumer film first came into widespread use in China, to 2005 when digital photography encouraged the mass disposal and willful neglect of film.

Beijing Silvermine - Thomas Sauvin on Vimeo

Also a daily instagram account.

[Indofunk]

None seen anything posted about this yet  -

You just didn't go back far enough http://www.filmwasters.com/forum/index.php?topic=7382.msg95367

[Pete_R]

from 1985, when affordable consumer film first came into widespread use in China,

First time I went to China was in 1984 and there were plenty of people taking pictures so not sure that's true. Most of the cameras were Chinese TLRs but the most fascinating thing were the guys on the side of the road who would dev your film for you. All they seem to have was a couple of rusty tin cans. How they did it without fogging the film I don't know, or don't remember. I do remember people walking around with their wet films drying them in the breeze. What they did with them afterwards I don't know. Maybe there were other guys who printed them.