Usually when people talk about found film, they are talking about film they found, perhaps at a tag sale or online auction, that someone else exposed but never developed. It’s usually very old film, and people enjoy the mystery and the possibility they might find something exciting on it. Here are some examples, and of course it’s how Vivian Maier was discovered.

In my case, the found film is my own. I have exposed but undeveloped film in various hiding spots around my house. I enjoy shooting film, but I have a difficult time sending it off to be developed, for a few reasons. The obvious one is that developing and scanning is expensive. But I have always had a difficult time putting things in the mail, film included. My whole life I have written letters and prepared packages and never actually mailed them. I have some theories about why, but I won’t get into them here. Over the years so many rolls have been exposed and then stuck in a basket or a drawer, waiting to be sent off for development.

Now that I have been developing my own film at home, when I have space in the tank or a little extra time, I add in one of those older rolls. I usually have no idea when I took them or what camera they were in. One roll I developed was over a decade old. Some are just from a year ago. It’s always fun to see what’s on there. I have some photos I remember taking but others are mysteries to me.

So far, most of the rolls I’ve found have been ones I stuck in my Canon Sure Shot WP-1. It’s a waterproof camera that I have used for several summers, but I never sent off any of the film. Many of the photos are of me and my friend paddle boarding over a few summers. Between the camera’s plastic lens and the camera being wet, the quality is pretty low, but these photos scream summer to me.

That last one is of me, taken by my friend, and if you look closely at the one with the dock, you’ll see a heron. Now that I actually seen the photos this camera takes, I might try some different things with it this comingsummer.

Here are a few from a roll I took the White Slim Angel, which is similar to the Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim. I used that camera so rarely that I had photos spanning several years. The lens is so wide that most of them were ruined by a finger in front of the lens.

I’m still in the learning process with developing and “scanning” (I use a digital camera). I found an old roll of Provia 120 (slide) film and accidentally cross-processed it in c-41 chemistry. Turns out I took them in my Zero 2000 pinhole camera. I don’t remember taking them. I was horrified that I cross-processed them, but the wacky colors are growing on me. Maybe I’ll try it again sometime.

This one was my favorite discovery. It’s over ten years old. It has photos of my daughter and our cat Fred who sadly passed a few years later. I was so happy to see him again! Most of the rest were of the flowers at our CSA.

I used to feel guilty about not getting my film developed. Now I’m delighted that I left these time capsules around my house. They’re like gifts. I am excited to see what is on the next one!

~Deirdre