Have I mentioned the 6 rolls of film that sat on my office shelf undeveloped while collecting dust for years? They sat on the smooth wooden surface of the walnut shelves my Poppop built in high school shop back in the 1930s, used in my office these past twenty years. They sat for so long, I had no idea when I’d taken them.

Okay, that’s a lie. I knew I’d captured them in the past ten years–probably closer to five, but just like I’m sure that I mentioned them, I was equally unsure of when I’d tapped those shutters, certainly for more than half of them.

There were three disposable cameras and three rolls of 35mm film. I had a vague idea about the expired film, faintly recalling I’d joined a film project well before Covid in the hopes of finishing the rolls sitting dormant in my various film cameras. The disposables? No clue.

That is until recently.

Earlier this month, I promised myself I’d drop by Indie Photo Lab after my morning shoot. I’ve been there once before–definitely more than 10 years ago, after my last foré into film. And so after photographing a medical lecture on neonatology, I transitioned from the clinical, corporate campus in west Philadelphia to the urban, artsy edginess of Fishtown submitting my film for development.

A week later the mysteries were solved.

Actually two mysteries: one quickly uncovered after seeing the photos, the other defined by their absence.

Two of the disposable cameras I’d gifted to my then six and eight year old niece and nephew on a visit to China back in 2016. Their photos were mostly random snapshots of the visit, several taken of me!

The other, I recalled finding (sometime) and finishing (years later) after my parents had moved from their home of 23 years in 2012. It contained at least one hidden gem (photographer unknown, probably Mom), of our first Aussie Ben shortly after his first big trim. The rest spanned my travels circa 2015.

As expected, two of the rolls were from the unfinished project, the third completely blank. “That’s right!” I remembered. I’d accidentally rewound a new roll of Portra after asking myself, “What does that one button do?

Safaris, Mexico, Christmas, Lake George, home, and Major, sweet Major!, along with his buddy Fergus in the park. So many memories hidden for years.

I wished I’d developed these rolls sooner, so that the colors look less expired. But then again, my cameras are old, my film skills are rusty and who knows how they’d have looked had I developed them once taken. I know at least one of those rolls were 15 years old when I loaded it.

And that’s the story of my 6, er 5, rolls of expired, long-on-the-antique-shelf film. How about you? Do you have any stories of film lost and found again to share? I’d love to hear about it in comments.

Until next time,
Holly (from at least 2018)