Happy Days

I obtained two rolls of exposed Kodak Verichrome Pan film in the obsolete 620 format from eBay, figuring that if nothing else, I can always use the spools for my vintage cameras.

The rolls were only loosely taped over and I had my doubts if there were any photos left after probably bouncing around some desk drawer for the last 40 years. But I dropped them off for development anyway and here are some of the results.

The first picture was the best of 9 photos on the first roll, all of them from a winter holiday in the mountains. The second picture is the only useful image on the other roll which was probably fully exposed when the camera was inadvertently opened.

Looking at the pictures, it is striking how different people posed for photos in the sixties, when for many young families it was still a novelty to have a camera and to record their memories for later.

But if photos were still something so special, it is disturbing to think of the reasons why these pictures had to wait for some 40 years before they would be developed by a complete stranger. Why would nobody in the family develop these rolls, even if they were found many years later? Especially if they were found later.

The photos in front of us have no answers. All that is left is the shadows of chemical reactions on film, tiny particles frozen in time, holding on to a long-lost memory of Happy Days.