Found Film and Three Strollers

I imagine that this stroller would face all sorts of safety recalls if it were made today. Although I doubt that it could compete price-wise with the plastic models. I think this photo was made in the 1940s. Notice the brace on the child's leg. I am guessing this may have been the result of polio.

I found this image in some negatives that I bought a while back in St. Joseph, Illinois. So far I haven't found out much about them other then they seem to have been taken mostly in the 1940s. I think they may have been taken around St. Joseph, Illinois. I posted some of these photos back when I first started this blog.
Found Film Negatives from the 1940's & 1950's 
More Found Film and some World War II History
Fixing 1940's Found Photos
Family Reunion at Crystal Lake Park
Found Film Negatives from the 1940's & 1950's

I think this stroller may be one of the Taylor Tots. Taylor Tots were a popular stroller that was made from the 1920s up to the 1970s. I believe that the metal plate beneath the child's feet can be removed to make the stroller into a walker.

Looks like this kid might be heading off the edge of the porch on his stroller/walker. At least it looks like the woman in the photo is moving toward him to stop his progress in that direction.

Hope someone finds the photos of old strollers interesting. I can't say that I remember much about strollers from my youth. I can remember pedal cars and tractors.  Also tricycles and bicycles. However I don't remember ever using a stroller. Still some people must have memories of them since they are a fairly popular item for collecting and restoring.

First Found Film of the Year.

I have been catching up with some film scanning.  The first roll I got to was one that was in a Minolta Maxxum 7000 when I bought it last summer.  The film was Kodak Gold 800. Looks like someone started the roll with some kind of graduation thing and then put the camera aside permanently.

I did a little correction on the color shifts.  I would guess this film had set in the camera for at least ten years.

This is from a roll of Kodak Max 400 that I bought as expired last summer.  Since the leader was out and it was still in a canister I figured it had not been shot.  So I ran it though another camera and was surprised to see this image when I got the negatives back. It looks like someone didn't finish the roll and put it back into the cannister.  There are about ten frames that were exposed.  I wonder if anyone knows where this waterfall is?

Looks like another from a visit to the falls.  The film here had an expiration date of May/2000. I have used some other rolls from this batch, however this is the first that already had images on it. 

More Images from the Forties

If you have looked here over the past few months you may have already seen the galleries I made with some negatives I found in old film containers.  My best guess is that this was from a family centered around Saint Joseph, Illinois. And were mostly taken during the 1940's.  Here are some of the other galleries:

Found Negatives
Found Film 2
A 1940's Visit to the Country
Family Reunion at Crystal Lake Park

This roll of negatives is all of people. Some of whom you may have seen before in other galleries, and at least one new family member.

When I first saw this image the word, "King Baby" popped into my head.

Notice the women reflected in the mirror.  I was hoping that I might also be able to see the photographer in the reflection, however I could not.  Still don't know what camera was used for these pictures. 

This couple and the child have been other rolls of film. Until now I had thought thin ties were the fashion of the Forties.

I don't mean to be unkind, however my first thought about this image is that she reminds me of Margaret Hamilton from the Wizard of Oz.

Lastly, here is a man who makes some appearances on other rolls.  He appears to be in the Army Air Forces. I talked some about him in an earlier post.




















So far I have scanned maybe ten rolls of film for the images in the various galleries.  And while they all have been very curled, along with dust spots and scratches, they again show films value for the long-term storing of images.

Fixing 1940's Found Photos

Just have a short time to make a post today.  Over the past few months I have been posting photos that I made from old negatives that I purchased at an antique shop.  Most of the film strips have been in fairly good shape and haven't needed much work. The latest batch has been an exception. Most were underexposed, poorly composed, and dusty.

One of the images as it came out of the scanner.  I used curves in the scanner software to improve the underexposure somewhat.

This is the result from some fairly quickly done work in Photoshop.  I used a curves adjustment to improve the exposure and contrast.  To further lighten it I made a new layer which I overexposed and then blended with the existing layer. The clone stamp and spot healing tool took care of most of the dust and blemishes. I also used a small amount of LAB sharpening.









If you ever do work with this type of image it is very helpful to at least learn about some tools like the clone stamp and spot healing.  These are present in both Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.  If you don't want to spend money to buy that software such tools are also available in The Gimp.

While I think this image is interesting because of the extended look at the vintage decor, the intended focus likely was meant to be on the woman and child.

Using the same tools as before.























If you ever tried to fix an old photo back in the days before digital than you may be like me and sometimes see the tools available in programs like Photoshop as being almost magic.

This also needed some fixing up, however I am showing it because the girl is holding a camera.  I finally was able to see that it is a Kodak Target Six-16












Also the man in the undershirt and the woman with the child on her lap were in one of my favorite images from a previous post.

Looks like a Visit to the Country in the 1940's

I don't think that many parents today would let young children sit where these kids are. Still looks like they are having a good time.  I wonder what all the glass jars are there for?  Maybe they made a lot of sun tea.







I didn't get many usable pictures off this roll.  Most were very out of focus or had cut the subject off too much.  Most of the problem seemed to be with close-ups.  Kinda reminds me of images taken with an Argus A.  Which could be the case considering the era and the popularity of that camera.

Looks like the kids are using bamboo fishing poles.  I remember when I was a child that we used one of these until we were considered ready for a real fishing pole.








Can't think of much to say about these pictures other then most of them appear to be from a visit to a place in the rural country. There are a few more images in the Visit to the Country Gallery.

Family Reunion at Crystal Lake Park

It is not easy to see, however there is another photographer at this event.  The man in the middle is holding some kind of TLR.  TLR's were a popular style of camera in the 40's and 50's.









I had not scanned any of the rolls of negatives that I bought earlier this year in a while.  So last night I figured it was time.  What I found in the next roll appears to be a family reunion that took place at Crystal Lake Park in Urbana Illinois. Going by the cars and the clothes the time appears to be in the late 1940's.  There aren't any images that stand out like the little girl with the gun, or the couple hopefully just carving a turkey from past found film. Still it is pretty good coverage of a type of event that I think was once more popular than it is today.

Looks like there was a good turnout.

There was even some live music. Radio or recorded music wasn't easily portable in those days.














These negatives were in the best shape of any of this group that I have scanned so far.  They required very little in the way of cleaning up.

Here is the rest of the Family Reunion Gallery.

Found Film Negatives from the 1940's & 1950's

Image from some of the found negatives.







Saturday I visited a couple of antique shops in St Joseph IL looking for camera stuff.  Didn't find much until I came to a bookshelf piled down with cameras and assorted film items.  Upon a closer look most of the stuff was broken or dirty and priced like the dealer thought his stuff was mint.  The only thing I ended up getting was a box with some old film containers and a 1951 issue of Popular Photography. 

The box with the film containers was wrapped in plastic so I didn't check it out much until I got home.  Once I took a closer look I found that the containers each held at least one roll of developed film.  There also were some rolled-up 35mm film loose in the box.  I also found a few black & white slides which were mostly unmounted. Overall there are probably enough developed film to make a few hundred images.  In the past I have found underdeveloped film in cameras, however this is the first time that I have come across discarded developed film.

Mostly the film is in fair shape.  It has some dust and scratches and some deterioration, however most should be able to give a usable image.  I don't know if these were made by one photographer or by several, or who the people in the images are.  The results I have gotten so far are mostly family type pictures from what I am guessing is the late 40's or 50's. Hopefully, I can get some information about the source of these pictures from the dealer that sold the negatives.  Scanning the negatives looks like it will be a slow process since they have a lot of curling and therefore require some effort to place into the negative holder.  So far I have just scanned a few strips.  A few of the images that were the most interesting to me are in the gallery below.  As I do more of the images and maybe find out more about the source  I will share the results and information with you.
Found Negatives Gallery

Found Film from the Ukraine

In May I bought a Smena 8M from a dealer in the Ukraine.  When I opened the back of the camera there was a re-loadable film cartridge with film in it. When I developed the film I got what were the most interesting found pictures that I have so far experienced. 

I am guessing these are photos from a visit to one of this young couples grandparents.  Maybe the grandparents are meeting their grandchild for the first time.  One commenter on my Flickr said that the clothing looked like the styles in the Ukraine in the mid-nineties.

If this is grandpa he doesn't appear to be very comfortable holding his grandchild.  I do wonder why the pictures were never developed and I imagine that may always remain a mystery to me.  Here is a gallery if you'd like to see more of these photos.
Found Film from the Ukraine

Here is the camera that took the photos.  I admit that I got it because it is red.

More information about the Smena 8M

Canon SURE SHOT Zoom 85/Date Camera and Found Film

I got this camera at a garage sale last summer for $1.  It had a working battery and a roll of film in it.  I am often curious about the kinds of photos that people leave in their cameras.  So I took the last few shots and sent the film to be developed.  The only real interesting photo was this one:

Maybe this photo could activate a macabre imagination

Overall the Sureshot 85 seems like a competent if not exceptional picture taker. I made a SureShot 85 Zoom Gallery

It you would like to know more about the camera there is a lot of information here .