Classic film Test
The Beatles??? What's The Beatles?
The year was 1964... June 1964, and this film had just
expired. We often use the term "expired" to mean "dead".
But was it? Or maybe just sleeping like a silver halide
Rip van Winkle?
The film came in a "3 Roll Economy Pak". There
was still a price tag on the box that displayed the
exorbitant price of 89 cents. What a deal! At a little
over a quarter a roll you got film that you could use
in any kind of weather! Since they left it up to me,
I chose a sunny day out on the prairie.
Ansco film deserves an Ansco camera, I always say.
I loaded up a roll in my neat, fun and handy
Ansco Shur Flash. Don't let the spelling fool ya...
It's a good camera for a box type. You can read
more about it here.
I headed out and just shot away. Nothing to set
on the camera, but being Ansco made this film to
work in their cameras (this camera even specifies
All Weather Pan) I figured it should be a snap.
When the eight frames were exposed, I developed
it in PC-TEA for 15 minutes, printed 'em on Agfa paper,
and here's what I got:
This half of a gateway is made of old farm implement round things.
These are all BRT's (big round things, as opposed to LRT's). Some
old tractor wheels, saw mill blades, and an occasional large drive
gear from a steam traction engine or stationary thresher.
Prairie Art!
There has to be a barn shot if I can get one. This one is enormous.
The smaller shed on the right could house a couple of D8 Caterpillars.
This is the only shot of the bunch that is not full frame. I couldn't
get very close to it without crossing private property. There was no one
about to ask permission, and I didn't want to go traipsing around the place.
The full size print is 9x12 inches. It's soft. Partly my shutter technique,
partly the film, I suppose.
The Denver (not Colorado) cemetery, established 1898. In the print
you can easily read the date on the sign. I was talking to an elderly
friend of mine in town a while back, and boy was she mad! She wants
to be buried here with her late husband, and had just heard that the
county had raised the price of burial plots over 100%. They are now $15.00.
Fifteen! The nerve.
Ha! A barn, a cemetery and a bench on the same page!
Such good fortune. Must be living right.
This is the Denver flour mill. The only remaining building from
the old prairie town of Denver. There's no longer a town here. There
are still homes, but they are not from the era of the old town. Mills,
and more commonly, large granary co-ops used to dot the prairie. They
were all between seven and 11 miles apart. There was a specific reason
for this. Depending on road gradients, somewhere between seven and 11
miles is as far as a healthy team of horses can pull a loaded grain wagon.
These large draft animals were very valuable to the individual farmers,
and they wanted to make sure the horses weren't overworked between
their rest stops. They took good care of their stock, and in turn
the stock took care of the farmers.
Thanks for stopin' in!
Dean's Photographia
deansofidaho.com