Where can I find the shooter of a "found film"

Agulliver · Mar 25, 2020

Last year my "partner in photography" came across a roughly 40 year old exposed film in a cameras she bought. We had it developed by the local lab and got decent enough photos of what looks like family outings to St David's Cathedral in Wales and the Cutty Sark & Greenwich Meridian in London. Judging by clothes, cars and other identifiers such as shop names in the background we're sure these were shot in the late 70s.

I've put out a public post on Facebook with some of the photos, which was shared a few hundred times worldwide...no response. We used a historian contact in Scotland to positively identify the cathedral (it's part of their expertise) and they have further sent sample photos across their UK-wide network but haven't had any responses.

These are someone's 40+ year old family memories. There are what could well be parents and children in the pics...perhaps the parents are now gone but the children might like the photos. Or the parents are now elderly and still might like to see them.

Can anyone suggest any other methods of finding out who shot these so they can have their family photos? The camera case had an address of a Northern Ireland military base and the name of a serviceman in it but that doesn't seem to be related to the photos (we've investigated). The camera itself is a 1934 Ziess-Ikon folder so it could have been through many owners between manufacture and 1978.

Any more ideas?

horacekenneth · Mar 25, 2020

dna sleuths

railwayman3 · Mar 25, 2020

Would a newspaper be interested in making a feature of "the find" ? Maybe a local paper in the area where the camera was bought ?

tezzasmall · Mar 25, 2020

railwayman3 said:
Would a newspaper be interested in making a feature of "the find" ? Maybe a local paper in the area where the camera was bought ?

That's the way a guy went, who gave me a film to d & p, via my camera club, as I was the only one doing darkroom work anymore.

A very thankful family came forward to collect the film and prints (of a colour film that I put through b/w chemicals and printed up as best as in my darkroom, as it was a VERY old film that he couldn't get processed in colour anymore).

The local paper than ran a second story about the picking up.

So well worth a try.

Good luck.

Terry S

Agulliver · Mar 25, 2020

The problem is that the camera was bought via an auction, and the seller had no knowledge of the previous owner. Additionally the two locations photographed are over 250 miles apart and both seem to be the family taking a holiday - London possibly being a day trip. There are no clues as to where the people in the photos lived other than I would assume the United Kingdom but that doesn't narrow it down far.

Ballinderry-Michael · Mar 25, 2020

No exposures made in Northern Ireland? A military base named on the case would suggest a protracted posting there, as most non-Irish regimental personnel would rotate fairly frequently. I'm in the North and would be happy to make any local enquiries (self-isolation permitting).

Agulliver · Mar 25, 2020

@Ballinderry-Michael It seems that the serviceman wasn't connected with these photos but I'll look up the details and send them to you if you think you can help?

Ballinderry-Michael · Mar 25, 2020

Agulliver said:
@Ballinderry-Michael It seems that the serviceman wasn't connected with these photos but I'll look up the details and send them to you if you think you can help?

Nothing to lose.

MattKing · Mar 25, 2020

Why not post a couple here? There are a fair number of people on the forum with history in the UK photo scene from around then.

Agulliver · Mar 25, 2020

Here is a selection, one of the cathedral, a couple from the beach (possibly Whitesands near the cathedral) and from Greenwich. Colour where there was enough colour in the negative, otherwise B&W

pentaxuser · Mar 25, 2020

I wish you well, Agulliver in this endeavour. I had a similar instance several years ago but one which on the surface should have been easier to resolve. I found a couple of strips of developed negs in a photography book I bought secondhand in a bookshop in Banbury. The film was I think HP3. I printed a few of the negs and decided to take them and the prints into the local newspaper in the hope that it would print a few of the negs as a story and ask if anyone know who they were. Some were shots of people such as what looked like a young man in what looked like Army uniform doing National Service, others were of a living room and kitchen in a house and one was a young girl of maybe 3-4 years old

Frankly none of the journalists or staff at the newspaper were interested. I left the negs with them and not being a resident of Banbury cannot say that they never appeared in the newspaper but I strongly suspect they were filed in the bin. Of course as the bookshop bought in books from all over there was no guarantee that the persons in the shot were from Banbury but the newspaper certainly could not be sure of this

I recite this little story to illustrate that what I thought might have been a fruitful and even possibly a fairly straightforward search was not or not in my case. It made me realise that it takes a lot of time and effort and the odds probably don't favour a successful outcome but this will not probably not be surprising to you .

For what is worth the negs despite being used as bookmarks were still in superb condition and had to be over 60 yrs old so well done Ilford

pentaxuser

mohmad khatab · Mar 26, 2020

Agulliver said:
Last year my "partner in photography" came across a roughly 40 year old exposed film in a cameras she bought. We had it developed by the local lab and got decent enough photos of what looks like family outings to St David's Cathedral in Wales and the Cutty Sark & Greenwich Meridian in London. Judging by clothes, cars and other identifiers such as shop names in the background we're sure these were shot in the late 70s.

I've put out a public post on Facebook with some of the photos, which was shared a few hundred times worldwide...no response. We used a historian contact in Scotland to positively identify the cathedral (it's part of their expertise) and they have further sent sample photos across their UK-wide network but haven't had any responses.

These are someone's 40+ year old family memories. There are what could well be parents and children in the pics...perhaps the parents are now gone but the children might like the photos. Or the parents are now elderly and still might like to see them.

Can anyone suggest any other methods of finding out who shot these so they can have their family photos? The camera case had an address of a Northern Ireland military base and the name of a serviceman in it but that doesn't seem to be related to the photos (we've investigated). The camera itself is a 1934 Ziess-Ikon folder so it could have been through many owners between manufacture and 1978.

Any more ideas?

You are a good and respectful man
Greetings to you

railwayman3 · Mar 27, 2020

Looking at the picture of the girl and the car in the background........the car registration looks something like FJW974J, which would date the car as from about 1970/71, the same period as the flared jeans ! The car looks a bit like a Datsun, or perhaps a Sunbeam (car experts will probably say that I'm wrong!)? And at a seaside holiday home site ?

The girl's camera (Kodak Colorsnap?) would be from the 1960's. But the use of 1934 Zeiss Ikon folder might point to an older or perhaps more serious photographer, not perhaps the sort of camera which a casual holiday-snapper might use ? It's definitely St David's cathedral, though.

Just speculating, none of this proves anything really ! It's going to be difficult, particularly being holidays snaps, as the people could have been from anywhere, and, while it's summer weather,, the pictures could have likely been taken on two separate holidays or trips.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 27, 2020

@Agulliver I'm on Facebook. Could you link me to you Facebook page, and I'll share them with friends here in Canada... If you don't mind! I've got quite a few US friends, and in other parts of the globe...

Agulliver · Mar 28, 2020

Andrew O'Neill said:
@Agulliver I'm on Facebook. Could you link me to you Facebook page, and I'll share them with friends here in Canada... If you don't mind! I've got quite a few US friends, and in other parts of the globe...

#

For anyone who is interested, PM me and I'll give you my full name. I have very few public posts on Facebook so you don't have to scroll far. Andrew, a PM is on it's way to you.

Andrew O'Neill · Mar 28, 2020

Agulliver said:
#

For anyone who is interested, PM me and I'll give you my full name. I have very few public posts on Facebook so you don't have to scroll far. Andrew, a PM is on it's way to you.

I PM'd you back...

Where can I find the shooter of a "found film"

Agulliver

horacekenneth

railwayman3

tezzasmall

Agulliver

Ballinderry-Michael

Agulliver

Ballinderry-Michael

MattKing

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Agulliver

pentaxuser

mohmad khatab

railwayman3

Andrew O'Neill

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Agulliver

Andrew O'Neill

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Where can I find the shooter of a "found film"

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