Film Negative Archives - Photo Jottings

Film Negative

Watkins Glen State Park Rainbow Falls 1920s, No.2

Our second post from the Watkins Glen State Park series shows Rainbow Falls, and is located about a mile from the entrance and parking area, which incidentally, was the subject of our first post here.  The image is from a 6.5 x 8.5" glass plate negative taken sometime in the 1920s.  To get an idea about how the scene looks today, go to google images.  If you look at the recent pictures, notice how the staircase has been enclosed with rock, as well as the railings along the left side.  A similar shot to the one above is located at...

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Tenney Cottage, Williamstown MA, 1884

This glass plate negative showing a picturesque second empire summer cottage in the Hamptons was taken on August 27th 1884 at 10:40am, with a 5"x 7" camera, and Ross #6 P.S. lens.  If that isn't enough information, I can include the glass plate brand; a Cramer (57), with the iris set at F/22, and a 'quick cap exposure.'  How do I know this? Because I'm really smart and knowledgeable in this area---No! It's because the photographer recorded the information on the plate envelope!  This house still exists, see it here...

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1903 Cadillac Tonneau, Rear Entrance

Today's blast from the past features a glass plate negative of a 1903 Cadillac Tonneau, with three happy passengers in what looks like a pleasant Sunday drive.  The location is unknown, but possibly Florida or California.  I'm also going to guess the image was taken sometime within a couple years of 1903 as the cars back then didn't last very long.

The glass plates in this time period were Ortho type, which were not sensitive to red, so the images typically showed blown out skies, and reds looked black.  Judging by the very dark color of the car and makers emblem, it might actually be red, like the one below, but it could be black too.

Interesting observations...

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Film, and Smartphone two-shot stitch comparison

I took some photos of this home last year, it's kind of a dream home of mine, and I drive by every couple of years and take a snap, but I can't afford to live there, or even buy the place, it was for sale recently at $2.75m, do a google drive-by if you like.  A few years ago I posted the first 'Kodak Moment' picture, and it was of this Earl Young 'Storybook' style home; I also updated the feature image.

Anyhow, when I was there I took a couple of shots with my Nikon 35Ti, and then a Samsung Note 8.  Both are two-shot stitches from almost the same perspective.  Of course...

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Kodak Disc Film, better than you think, or worse?

Today I have a few Kodak Disc negatives to share.  This small format film (about 1/10 the size of 135 format) has been widely ridiculed since it came out in the early 1980s, and it continues to this day, but is Disc film really that bad, and will it even make a decent small print?

Each Disc negative is 11x8mm, and 110 is 13x17mm, so the 110 format has over 2.5x the area of Disc negatives, that's about like going from 135 format to 6x4.5 medium format.  There are some differences other than size though.  For instance...

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Behind the scenes of the 1958 Western; Buchanan Rides Alone

Columbia Pictures presents; Randolph Scott in 'Buchanan Rides Alone.'  Big Man!  Big gun!  Big Excitement!  Grab a bag of popcorn and  Watch it now!  Today we go behind the scenes of the 1958 Western, Buchanan Rides Alone, starring Randolph Scott.  Much of the movie was filmed in Old Tucson, which is a famous movie location just west of Tucson, Arizona. 

Anyhow, My Dad took his Aires 35-IIIL along for a random studio/location tour, and it just so happens that some of the scenes for the movie were being filmed that day.  By looking at the pictures and shadow angles, it appears the morning was cloudy, and it cleared up in the afternoon...

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Kodak Moment #16, The Fred R White Jr, and Mesabi Miner

Here are a couple of Kodak Gold 200 snaps I took back in 1999/2000 with the Minolta Maxxum 7000 and excellent Minolta  AF 35-70mm F/4 lens while on a trip to northern Michigan.

The two Ore carriers (Taconite) above were leaving the 'Soo' locks at the same time; you could hear the big throaty growl of the engines winding up, and see the churning water from the spinning props behind them.  It looks like the Mesabi Miner pulls a hole shot on the Fred R White Jr, both now hitting about 1 mph!  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to linger and see who won the race to the St Mary's river, and Lake Superior.  I'm guessing it took around 5 or 10 minutes to clear the locks...

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Kodak Moment #15, off to the races at Rillito Park

This installment of the Kodak Moment takes us back to February, 1958; the location, Rillito Race Track, Tucson, AZ.

My Dad took these Kodachrome snaps while visiting the race track with this camera.  Back in 1958 it was known as the ‘Rillito Race Track,’ but now it’s called ‘Rillito Park,’ where you can watch seasonal horse racing, play soccer, …

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