29 August 2012

The Lost Roll

About a year ago I came across an antique store in a town I don't frequent. I came across a basket of cameras, mostly modern film point and shoots, but also a Spartus Full Vue twin lens reflex. Priced to sell at $10 (it's insane what people price mid century cameras at compared to what they're really worth), I was excited to take it home and give it a whirl. At the bottom of the basket of cameras was an exposed roll of 120 film. I assumed it was from the Spartus, so I put it in the camera, excited to see what developed (heh) when I processed the film at home.

photographer and date unknown
The roll clearly wasn't from the Spartus. The negatives are not square, and whatever camera this is had aperture and shutter controls, unlike the set settings of the Full Vue. This image of the humming birds in my favorite. There were 6 bird feeder pictures of the 10 exposures on the roll.

photographer and date unknown
A quick search informs me that Griswold's Inn was in Pomona, CA. It seems that there is Double Tree Hotel there now.

photographer and date unknown
Who are these ladies, that (at least) two people are photographing them? It was the 1980s, so who knows. I like to imaging that it's Mia Farrow on the left, chatting with Sharon Stone on the right.