Sadly, this roll of found film got separated from the camera it came with, leaving me with only the roll and any images it contained, without a backstory. Kodak T-Max 100 is a professional black-and-white film, so finding a random roll of it could mean there’s something interesting on it. Or not. It’s kind of a crap shoot; a roll of the dice every time I send found film off to a lab to be developed. And yet, as I have mused and written about several times previously, I wait with eager anticipation for each roll’s contents to be revealed!

The problem with found film is — even if it’s rewound and seems fully exposed — it may have simply been forgotten after loading, abandoned for years, partially or never used at all. More often than not, it’s partially exposed color film, left so long inside the camera that colors shift to faded purples and oranges. Usually, the film is flared by whoever opened the camera years later, muttered “Oh crap!” (or similar expletive) upon seeing film inside and closed the camera immediately!

In the case of black-and-white films — especially professional and panchromatic — there’s a slightly better chance of a good result from an old roll. For that reason, I had high hopes for a roll of T-MAX 100, but as you can see below, my hopes were dashed. Well, at least there were two amusing and interesting images, and one of almost nothingness.

The Gang of Three

Not much of a contact sheet, but when it’s found film, you get what you get…

Radio Casque D’ecoute

The composition makes it seem like an unintentional exposure of a “radio headset” and portable radio, with a light-leak flare from an accidental “oops” opening of the camera with film in it. Or maybe it’s an intentional shot of a headphone box and radio which got a little “solarized” when they opened the camera before rewinding the film… Who knows?

Accidental Up-Snout

You see these up-nostril, chin-by-jowl, OMG I’m a monster types of accidental shots all the time with mobile phones, but of course, they happen with film cameras too! For this one, I imagine the guy picked up the camera, thinking to himself, “Does this thing still work?” as he looked into the lens and pushed buttons and levers randomly, when something CLICKED and he thought, “did it just take a selfie?” after which he put the camera down and forgot about it for a decade or two, until it was sold at an estate sale or auction… 🙂

Almost Nothingness…

What can I say about this one? No matter how much you stare at the two light flares and ghostly hints of blurry possibility, we will never really know what the contents of this random, accidental, film photo might be.