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NPAC Forum => General Discussion => Topic started by: Fred Lum on October 12, 2009, 04:53 PM

Title: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Fred Lum on October 12, 2009, 04:53 PM
Came across this story about a photographer who bought the works of another photographer at an estate sale. Included in the sale were 1000 rolls of unprocessed 120 film. The photographer is slowly processing the rolls and posting them on a blog.

http://vivianmaier.blogspot.com/

There's a bit more background on his Flickr site.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/onthestreet/discuss/72157622552378986/


The unsouped film has echoes of Garry Winogrand who left behind 3000, yep, 3000 rolls of exposed and unprocessed film when he passed away.

Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Blair Gable on October 12, 2009, 05:44 PM
What a great find. There are some really nice frames in there. A book needs to be published.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Bill Sandford on October 12, 2009, 08:02 PM
My God yes! That is a terrific collection from the fifties. I feel such a flood of nostalgia.

I've been sorting and filing negs and slides from my teenage years to the time I went digital. A lot of personal stuff and some from my newspaper career, and this reminds me of my early photography. I was beginning to notice light and how it played around different subjects. I watched movies with a keen interest in lighting and camera angles. It was my learning stage, which of course never ends.

Thanks for posting Fred.

Bill Sandford
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Jack Simpson on October 13, 2009, 11:14 AM
A cool find Fred... and here's my fave .. shooting from the bus window .. a photo well before my
own heart:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUrw6ooCZj4/Ssq_PUaxgII/AAAAAAAAAeA/lunTInxOR5g/s1600-h/CHI-1041.jpg (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YUrw6ooCZj4/Ssq_PUaxgII/AAAAAAAAAeA/lunTInxOR5g/s1600-h/CHI-1041.jpg)

Cheers,

Jack
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Colin Corneau on October 13, 2009, 11:21 AM
Awesome find, Fred. This is really fascinating stuff...makes one really ponder what we'll leave behind.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Jesse Johnston on October 13, 2009, 04:10 PM
Over the past two months I have gone through two big moves. Japan back home to Winnipeg.... followed shortly thereafter by Winnipeg to Toronto. During packing you always seem to find forgotten junk and some real gems. Rolls of film are one of those gems. Unless you marked your rolls with date/time/place or your memory is unreal, the contents are a mystery! After being out of the country for 2 years I came back and rooted through my stuff in storage and came across numerous rolls of undeveloped 35 and 120(color, B+W and slides). I have no idea what is on them, and I love it.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Fred Lum on October 13, 2009, 05:35 PM
I'm FINALLY starting to keep notes, sort of. I print out Avery type labels that have fields for factoids and this gets slapped on each roll as shot. Now when I look at my mess of film that needs to be souped, I'm reassured that I actually did shoot something and that's it's still a masterpiece in waiting...
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Gregory Sawisky on October 13, 2009, 06:50 PM
I found an undeveloped roll of 35mm film at Value Village tucked inside of an appliance a few weeks ago. I wonder what sort of masterpieces will be on it and if it will rival the work of Winogrand? :D

Still, finding an unprocessed roll of film, yours or somebody else's, is like finding a locked treasure chest. I just hope it's nothing illegal since I'm going to Wal-Mart to have it developed ("That wasn't me officer, I swear! I just found the film.")
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Colin Corneau on October 13, 2009, 09:06 PM
Has this happened to anyone else?

This may be the silver geek in me talking, but it sure sounds a lot more intriguing than finding a SanDisk card lying around somewhere.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: David Fuller on October 13, 2009, 10:09 PM
Same thing happened to me this summer. At a value village, too. It was a cheap no-name roll of film that expired in 1989, so I took it to london drugs to get developed. They didn't even charge me because the film was double exposed and light leaked. Either way, it made the pictures a lot more interesting to look since most of them were highschool kids giving the camera the finger or sitting in a locker, etc.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Jack Simpson on October 14, 2009, 10:39 AM
Has this happened to anyone else?

This may be the silver geek in me talking, but it sure sounds a lot more intriguing than finding a SanDisk card lying around somewhere.

Well, you do know For Surethat the roll of film won't have a virus in it  ::)  but you still might find some interesting
images in both  :)

I found my AsahiFlex IIb (cira 1954) when I moved this past August and it had a roll of film in it ... so I got it souped and
found some pics -- which I will put in a separate post  :)

Cheers,

Jack
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film --(Some of) My found pics
Post by: Jack Simpson on October 14, 2009, 10:50 AM
these are from back in 2005: 
a friend, Jay Berman, who still does some writing for the LA Times .. who interviewed and
photographed The Beatles way back in 1964 ...he used one of the Nikon rangefinders which
he still has ...but I moved up to the digital world  :D


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/JSimpson/Photojournalism/Jay_Berman-Summer05-15A_0018.jpg)


A photo of said camera --AsahiFlex BII -- in a photography forum ;


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/JSimpson/Photojournalism/AP_Post-Feb14-05_1A_0004.jpg)


Two(2) street shots from Robson Street @ Thurlow


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/JSimpson/Photojournalism/AP-Girl_IceCream-RSummer05_7A_0010.jpg)


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v121/JSimpson/Photojournalism/AP-Walkin_Sleepin-Jun2005-_5A_0008.jpg)


Cheers,

Jack






Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Graeme Roy on October 18, 2009, 11:19 AM
Absolutely great find Fred - and an amazing find by the photographer that bought the stuff.

There are some really terrific photos in there....I could look at this stuff for hours.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Warren Toda on August 15, 2014, 11:51 PM
The full documentary is here (until September 8, 2014):   http://tvo.org/video/205679/finding-vivian-maier
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Jack Simpson on August 17, 2014, 01:51 PM
The full documentary is here (until September 8, 2014):   http://tvo.org/video/205679/finding-vivian-maier

They've been playing some Vivian Maier doc more than a few times over the last few months in YVR and, wouldn't
ya know it, it's coming back again next month  ???.   I've yet to see and, TBT, the more I hear of Ms. Maier, the less
interest I have.

Jack
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Warren Toda on December 22, 2014, 12:31 AM
The story continues. (http://www.streetshootr.com/toronto-gallery-buys-jeffrey-goldsteins-entire-collection-vivian-maier-negatives/)

Quote
It’s ironic how everything seems to have come full circle. Vivian’s negatives are back in a storage locker and nobody can see her work.



And.... "Finding Vivian Maier" has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature (http://www.oscars.org/news/15-documentary-features-advance-2014-oscar-race).
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: David Chidley on December 22, 2014, 11:00 PM
Just spent a weekend in Chicago and the Chicago History Museum has a good showing of her work displayed.  I enjoyed her work, some great personality in her work, well composed and thoughtful.  Real people, creative glimpses of everyday life.

Looking forward to seeing more now that Bulger Gallery bought the whole collection.

http://www.streetshootr.com/toronto-gallery-buys-jeffrey-goldsteins-entire-collection-vivian-maier-negatives/ (http://www.streetshootr.com/toronto-gallery-buys-jeffrey-goldsteins-entire-collection-vivian-maier-negatives/)
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Fred Lum on December 23, 2014, 07:40 PM
Stephen bought the negatives not prints. From what I understand he probably can't make prints from them and definitely can't sell them unless he has permission from Cook County. I don't think we're going to be seeing any more Maier work for the time being.
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Warren Toda on August 26, 2016, 12:31 AM
Quote from: Fred Lum
Stephen bought the negatives not prints. From what I understand he probably can't make prints from them and definitely can't sell them unless he has permission from Cook County. I don't think we're going to be seeing any more Maier work for the time being.

Update on Stephen Bulger and the Maier images. (https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/visualarts/2016/08/25/vivian-maier-you-can-look-but-you-cant-buy.html)
Title: Re: 1000 rolls of undeveloped film
Post by: Jim Cochrane on October 11, 2016, 11:59 PM
Wonderful.