Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Kodak Roll Mystery

When my scanned film photos arrived, I was excited to see how my Banaue shots turned out.  I wasn't prepared for what I saw.

Photos from eight years ago.  Not mine.

They were photos of ige's family, including his grandparents--who have since left their earthly lives behind.

I was confused and bewildered.  I immediately asked ige if he remembers giving me a film roll.  He doesn't.

*dun dun dun dunnn*
 

First, let me go back to the circumstances surrounding the film.

I had in my possession a Kodak Max 400 film with its film lead (the part sticking out of the film) already inside the canister.  It's been with me for such a long time I don't even remember where I bought it.  I believe I was supposed to use it on a different camera before, then changed my mind, rewinding the film back into the canister.  I turned the rewind knob a little too much and ended up with the film lead stuck inside the canister.

This May when I was about to go on a trip to Banaue, I decided to use the film.  I had a photo lab pull the film out (I was too lazy to make my own film puller), and put the film in my LC-A.  Then I snapped away, taking pictures not only of the rice terraces but of family and friends as well.

When I finally had five exposed rolls (five being the maximum number of film rolls that can be scanned and burned to a cd), I took them to Digiprint, and waited.  I was excited because the films have been sitting undeveloped on my bedside table for two months--this is the kind of waiting that digital junkies will never understand.  Haha.

The cd containing the scanned photos was delivered to my doorstep three days later.  I immediately opened the package, borrowed my mom's laptop (mine's already zonked out of service), and popped the cd in.  I looked for the Banaue folder, clicked on the first photo, and saw this.


Ah, the view from my window in Banaue.  So nice.  And look, a frame lightleak/ frame burn!  
What's next, I thought.


Well, this came after:
 
 That's ige's grandfather Lolo Jim.  He died in 2005.

 Can you see the outline of the upside-down mountain?


 I also brought the camera on a swimming trip (if you look at the upper portion closely you'll see a poolside).


The double exposure, clearly.

So what happened here?

Obviously, I exposed an already-exposed film that resulted in double exposures.  My exposures didn't affect the pre-exposed film enough to completely wipe out the first exposure because it was brighter than my (dark) exposures.

The film lead was in the canister not because I thought I'd over-rewound it; it was in the canister because it was already exposed.  How long it's been in my film box, I have no idea.

How did ige's film get into my stash in the first place?  He says he must have given it to me, and must have forgotten to tell me to have it developed with the rest of my rolls.

But how come I don't remember?  I don't remember receiving any film roll from him, fresh or otherwise. 
And, even if he did forget to tell me, how come I don't remember asking him what is was, if he needs it to be developed, what do I do with it, etc.?

Neither of us remembers.  Weird.

Wanna know a bit more?  The day before I got the cd was Lolo Jim's death anniversary.

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