This morning, as I went to pull the vacuum out of the coat closet, I saw up on the shelf our old Pentax K1000 SLR. Nostalgia quickly flooded my system; this was the camera that really got me into photography, the one that carried me through my first photography class.
I couldn’t resist the urge to grab it and start playing with it, despite not having any film for it, and desperately needing to clean my room before our holiday company arrived. Well, the camera took precedence. As I reacquainted myself with the layout of the camera and took some photos, I decided to pop open the back, simply to see if I remembered how. When I did that however, I quickly learned that there was, in fact, a roll of film in there. Now, this roll is probably years old… like a decade old maybe? I’m pretty sure I was the last person to pop a roll of film in this particular camera, and that it was a very very long time ago that I did it. Well, despite having just exposed a good chunk of film, I snapped it back shut as quick as I could, and continued to use up the film.
I must say, I am rather proud of myself and the fact that I could figure out what all the dials and such were for. Of course I’ve been practicing with my DSLR so it’s not really a surprise, but somehow it seems like a success anyway. I took random photos of stuff around the house and in the backyard, just to use it up. In all likelihood the film is so old that nothing would come out anyway, especially since I already opened up the back, but it’s a rather enchanting thought to learn what was on the film to begin with. I’m tempted to take it to get processed, even if nothing comes out. I really wish I had my own setup where I could develop the film and photos. I remember that was one of my favorite aspects of my photography class I took in middle school. And while I love the benefits of digital – like getting to see the image immediately after snapping it, not having to wait for film to develop only to come out shitty – there is just something thrilling about the mystery of what a film based camera has captured. Hmmm, at this point I am seriously considering getting the film developed. 😀
Photobean 
Skunkie
November 24, 2010 at 8:19 pm
Maybe you should Google to see if there is some easy and quick way to jerry-rig something up in the bathroom to develop the film. Crazy how life hacking has come a long way for stuff like that. 🙂
beansai
November 24, 2010 at 8:52 pm
Oh I was definitely planning on it. The thing is gonna be getting ahold of the right chemicals for it. Obviously I’ll have to do some research. Maybe I’ll take it one step at a time and just see if I can at least develop the film and then I’ll think about photos later. 🙂