The story starts on the 22nd of December 2011, when I was Christmas shopping in Tunbridge Wells with friends and happened to come across a vintage shop; spending several minutes looking through their collection of LPs and Vinyl records from the past...
On leaving the shop, I only went and spotted an old camera. A Box Brownie Six-20. Remaining undated it was a rare find with guesses of 1950s/60s - if you happen to know then let us know!
Still in classic leather case, with original documentation and photography guide, it was a rare find.
Opening the back of the camera was a moment of intense excitement, for an exposed (but undeveloped) film lay inside! This camera HAD to be bought, and for just £20 it was an easy decision.
On the day, I was keen to use the camera for photographic purposes (or in the case of it not working, just to put on the shelf!) However the idea of developing someone else's film, left in the camera, for who-knows how many years was an exciting motivation.
On returning to school this January, I got to work on developing the Kodak 620 film, eagerly waiting to reveal the results of 40 minutes of spooling (with surprising difficulty), developing, agitating, cleaning, fixing, agitating and cleaning for the final time. At this point, we were prepared for disappointment. Who knows? The film could have expired, could have been exposed to light leaks, or could even have suffered poor developing.
Releasing the developed film off of the plastic spool revealed several inches of blank film, but...to our amazement 5 images had survived and were developed - with astonishing results.
Okay, so after the (seemingly long) wait for the film to dry, the photographs were scanned into the computer and here are the results. It is possible, but unlikely, that the film was in fact colour, and that I had cross-processed the film, however with no real date it was difficult to tell! The mystery film is Kodak Verichrome Pan 620, which I have since researched to find it is certainly B+W film. "The name Verichrome was chosen to suggest “truthful rendition of color” into black and white tones."
Here are the photographs:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
After the tingling anticipation to discover what was on the film (and whether or not I had botched up the developing process), we were delighted to find these images, which are in surprisingly good quality.
Our immediate thoughts; who are in the photographs, who took the photographs, and where were they taken?
One look at image 1, and instantly the location in Northern Italy that I stayed last summer was brought to mind. The South-Tyrol region of Italy, bordering Austria and the Alps looked pretty spot on! The mountain backdrop and style of architecture could only be this German/Austrian/Swiss/Italian region.
After a careful look through all the photographs, with no clues as to where they could have been taken, we took a closer look at image 5, which appeared to have some form of cathedral and a river in the photograph.
With all that we had to go on being a blurred cathedral in the background, we set to work on locating the image!
A quick search on Google for 'Austrian Cathedrals' gave us this website, where I quickly skimmed through Italian, French, Austrian and German Cathedrals:
Two towers was the only real give-away, and the only structure it looked like it could have been was a building called Regensburg Cathedral in south Germany.
Clutching at straws, a look at Google maps was all we had, and with limited user-photographs to work with, this is what we found. It looks like a fairly possible answer, with the two main towers, a thinner tower on the cathedral, a river, and another large structure at the far corner of the photograph; this is what we have:
The image is reversed, but I think this may be because of the mirror effect achieved when scanning the film...still, it's the closest we have to any solid location.
A further look on Google maps shows the proximity of Regensburg to the Austrian and Swiss borders, and furthermore the Alps. This would add up with the rest of the images. Were we getting somewhere?
We compiled this map to show a rough radius in which all the photographs could have been taken.
Point A on the map shows Regensburg cathedral, and the circle (approx 61,575.2 miles sq.) is an estimate as to where 'exactly' the photographs were taken.
So, confirmation of the location/s? Perhaps.
Is this project an obsession? Almost definitely
Maybe this is a lot of work for an apparent 'nothing', but what is important, fascinating and exciting is the closeness that we have experienced to this unknown set of characters, dates and locations from the past. It is a unique feeling; that we have had a touch of someone else's life like this, and it is a motivation and exciting anticipation to discover more.
We still have plenty of questions left unanswered though:
- A date? Possibly 1950s/1960s; clothing could be a crucial tell-tale sign here, if anyone reading understands classic fashion then please comment below!
- Who took our mystery photographs? The camera w/film was found in Tunbridge Wells, England. Yet the images were probably taken on the other side of Europe. Was this a family holiday/trip? Or were the original owners residences of Germany/Austria. If so, then how did the camera find its way into an antique shop in south-east England?
- Why would someone shoot a film, and then not have the photographs developed? Particularly if it was a trip abroad?
The way these photographs and unknown persons have been brought into our lives is purely chance, without any direct intention, yet the connection made is irreplaceable.
It is surely a touch of fate.
P.S. Please leave your comments, thoughts, ideas and suggestions below; especially if you think you know anything about the images. Owners, dates, locations (if you have visited places that look similar, help us out!), film and camera information will be incredibly appreciated.
Our journey of discovery continues, and we will continue to post new findings and developments on this blog, so do follow the story to see where it leads!
Thomas.
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