Mary was clearing out dusty old things in the house and found a little box, as in the shots below. She was about to throw it away but from curiosity opened it up and found a hundred negatives, with a faint grey bloom of dust or mould on them. She thought to take them to be developed but first suggested I have a look and see if they can be scanned.
I’ve been using methylated spirits on cotton wool to remove the mould and dust, and have started to scan them.
The earliest seem to be from 1929. Sep must have had quite a good camera that took 71mm x 117mm film, as it says on the box; which he developed himself---for he has inked a description on some of them, which comes out white when you make a positive from them.
So I have started scanning them. A few correspond to prints I've already scanned on this blog: sadly the comparison shows that the (positive) prints have survived better than the negatives.
As you might expect from photos from Sep’s camera, he appears only occasionally. As you might also expect from an amateur, the photography and processing may have not been optimum. Add to this deterioration over a period of 84 years ago, and you get what I shall reveal over the next week or so.
