A Soldiers Camera (Part 2)

Frequent visitors know the story behind these photos.<p><a

href="http://westfordcomp.com/foundfilm/argusa/argusa-

2/index2.htm">PART 2<a><p> The original thread is here.<p><a

href="http://westfordcomp.com/foundfilm/argusa/index1.htm"><p>PART

1</a>

Great stuff. Some found film is understandable how it could be long forgotten in a camera. Seems extra weird that no one ever developed these.

 

Alan

There are about eight more rolls to do.

I'm missing words.

 

These documents must be preserved (library, museum, foundation... even Naples city museum ??? Take contact with them).

 

Despite the typical problems due to image latency (a miracle a film could still be processed after having been 50 years in the camera) some of them are, purely photographically meaning (composition, etc), excellent.

 

They remind me Robert Capa's shots taken during the campaign of Italy.

 

A friend of my father was in the general Juin corps alongside general Clark's troups - what he told us about Italy at the end of the war is just pictured here !!!

 

A sure winner of the "50" Camera contest ; nobody else could show pictures from a 50 years old unprocessed film !!!

 

A 1st hand historic piece, again.

After I process all of the rolls I'll make efforts to find a proper home for them. I have no feelings of ownership. I'm grateful that I was able to rescue them from an undignified death.

NICOLAS

 

There was no film in the camera. All of the rolls were in a box with the camera. All of the rolls are rolled completely into the cannister. There is no doubt that this is a big factor in preserving the photographs. The main problem is film curl. Loading the film onto a reel is frightening as hell. It constantly pops out and I'm afraid I'll damage it. It's teaching me patience !

Awesome stuff, Gene. Love the cops in shorts, the woman in white on the balcony... all of it amazing.

Absolute magic, Gene. Well done - so uncertain, yet some of them you've pulled through as though the film were just a tad past the sell-by. The third shot, from the high castle walls, is very dramatic (perhaps one that Nicolas refers to as having a Capa look) while many of the others - the balcony shot, or the man strolling into the frame - suggest a photographer who knew what he or she was creating in those moments. Wonderful.

In the first picture, what is the significance of the newspaper the woman is

holding in front of the soldier on her right?

Cameras with film locked away in them for years are much more common than you think. I've got six old camera with partial rolls in them at present. Pulling film out of a developing tank is magical. Pulling OLD film out and finding images is doubly so.

I have a little 6X4.5 folder (MIOJ) but no film came with it. The soldier's name, rank and serial number is written inside the Neveready case. I often think of what it would be like to meet the soldier, if he could ever be found.

Excellent Gene! This is quickly becoming a beautiful seies. I certainly look forward to the next installment.

 

Will be interesting when someone out there can identify some of the locations.

 

Thanks for your super talent in being able to bring these old films back from the brink!

Talent ? No. Tenacity.

Gene , these are a interesting look back to a time in history that I have read

about , and have images in my head. Now I can put real photos to the words

and stories from the people who were there. I photographed and talked to

over many years the great Photographer Morris Berman. He was the

photographer who had the photo of YA Tittle , quarterback kneeling in the end

zone ,his head bloody after lossing one of his last games. Morris (Mo)

covered the war in Africa and Italy. His Photos and the stories he told me over

the years were a great insight into his part of WW2. He had wonderful images

from Italy during and after the war which remind me of these photos. If you

want to know a little more about MO here is his obit.

 

 

http://www.post-gazette.com/obituaries/20020619berman0619p2.asp

The 18th picture has that Capa look - he used to photograph women and children in Italy, not only soldiers and battles.

Gene,

 

Great stuff in bringing these old shots to life.

 

Paul

There are GI photos from the war and I suppose there are 50 year old films being resurrected (but I doubt it) but what is unique for me is the sequential almost cinematographic record found on a complete roll of film.

 

Here out of a shoe box (and your magic developing tank) has popped a GI on his day off seeing the sights in 1946 Naples. Very poignant: life getting back to normal and our GI photographer taking an interest in ordinary civilian life, which must have been a big change from military life in time of war. Capa yes but also De Sica's films, like the Bicycle Thief. Can't wait to see the rest.

There are many more photos of women on the two rolls. It must have been a real treat to see females again.

Thanks for sharing, Gene M!

 

How do you find the scanning part of these historic films? Do the film strips behave better after development?

Mindful also of films like The Bicycle Thief. Please do submit the entire series for publication and preservation. This would be a great article for Pop Photo - the legacy of film with just a simple camera. 50-years plus and "they" want to rid us of black and white film. I have some then-processed negs from the 60s that just sparkle and, of course, we have seen glass plate negs almost a century old that have survived intact. Don't discount your efforts-brilliant work and intuition.

Amazing Gene! Thaks for savng them and sharing.

These are historical documents Gene. I felt transported to that time & place, more so than in old photographs from my own family , where I sometimes know the 5 Ws. I wonder what a History professor who specialises in that era in America or Italy would make of them.

 

This is one of the things that photography does best. They're a treasure.

A treasure to say the least, looks alot like Naples, Italy.

Very moving shots.

A time capsule from the classical age of photography.