№ 00112: Roll of T-Max 400 film
Black and white and lost all over.
Hi [sheepish wave].
I love this project, and for a few weeks, I’ve just been unable to work on it. My motivation has been pretty low, overall. But I’ve also been very excited to write this one and sometimes our own excitement can feel like too much of a demand.
So without further ado, here is № 00112: Roll of T-Max 400 film
Item description:
Article or kind of material lost: Roll of T-Max 400 film
Color: B+W
Size: 1” cylinder x 2½” tall
Approx. date lost: 1988
Location: Boston – Montreal
Here is what claimant № 00112 had to say:
“Somewhere in the Fall of 1988 I lost a roll of B+W 35mm Film containing photo’s of one of the last standing Elevated Orange Line train stations in Boston’s South End. I think Northampton + Dover. I really want to see those photos + what I took. → Photo’s Have Become Better + Better every year in my mind.”
I used to shoot Kodak’s T-Max 400 film, too. In high school and college, hiding behind a camera lens, looking for a different view.
It made me feel like a “real” photographer, using the professional film.
So if I close my eyes I can imagine claimant № 00112, and I have no idea if you are a professional or were like me — trying to find your place in a space by capturing it on film and making it your own.
But there’s something about lost film. It never was developed; the images never became real. They are suspended somewhere in between captured light and a visual story, exposed but unfinished.
When was the last time you shot on film and got pictures developed? For me, I think it was somewhere around 2005 or 2006.
I do have one recommendation for our claimant. There is a favorite instagram account of mine, The Museum of Lost Memories. They find old photographs, Super 8 home movies, slides, and albums in thrift stores and post them online with clues to help identify and return them to their owners. Followers join in on becoming photographic sleuths to try and return these lost memories to their rightful place.
Even if your roll of film with images that get better and better with time is not ever found by the Museum of Lost Memories, you can be a small part of doing for others what may not happen for yourself.
So good, “They are suspended somewhere in between captured light and a visual story, exposed but unfinished.” - kinda like life