The mystery camera that had film inside for 28 years!
This is probably the most interesting thing that has happened to me in 2023 (and probably one of the most interesting things that will ever happen to me). Because let’s face it, this sort of thing doesn’t happen very often! This is the story of how I ended up with a film camera, that had photos on it from 1995! And I was able to reunite the lost photos with the family, with the power of Facebook.
How I became interested in vintage film cameras…
So you may already know this but I collect vintage film cameras. My love for film cameras started back in 2018, when my Grandad's old film camera (a Zeiss Ikon Nettar) made it's way to me. I had no idea if the camera still worked, but I thought a good way of testing it out would be to take it along to some weddings I was photographing at the time. I remember telling the couples not to get their hopes up about any photos I took on the camera - I could have been using it all wrong, not focusing properly or perhaps the camera wouldn’t work at all anymore. But once I’d used a roll of film up, I had the photos developed and I could see the camera did work - it worked extremely well. The pictures were gorgeous, they took my breath away. Here are some of the photos from the very first roll of film I shot on my Grandad’s camera.
So from then on I've been interested in film cameras. And I even created some special packages that couples can choose to add on to their wedding coverage called Go Vintage. Adding Go Vintage onto your wedding photography package means I'll take my Grandad's film camera to your wedding and take some photos with it. I also have some packages that include Polaroids from a vintage Polaroid camera.
Anyway, I've been collecting film cameras ever since. I now have roughly 15 film cameras (but Grandad’s will always be my favourite). And one of my cameras ended up being VERY mysterious indeed…
This simple, plastic, point-and-shoot 35mm camera holds so much mystery. A mystery that will probably never be solved. Owning this camera has led me down a fascinating rabbit hole.
How I ended up with the mysterious camera…
My other half, Pete, used to work at Plymouth Railway Station. During his time working there, an unknown man approached Pete whilst he was working, giving him a bag of things and saying he'd 'found it outside'. Now, Pete didn’t work on the lost and found desk, so he told the man where he should take it, but the man just left it with him and then walk off. This happened on more than one occasion, just randomly dropping things off to Pete and then walking off - very strange. So my partner would then have to be the one to take these things to the lost and found.
Back in April 2022 that man dropped off a plastic point and shoot 35mm camera to my partner (pictured above). Pete knew I collected them so he took a photo of it on his phone and said ‘if no one claims this, do you want it’? So that's how the camera eventually ended up with me. When he did bring the camera home, I wasn't very interested in it. It's essentially a reusable version of a disposable camera - very basic. I barely looked at it and it just went in the cupboard with my others.
Then, I discovered there was film already in the camera…
Fast-forward to August 2023, when I randomly decided to get all of my vintage cameras out and see how many I had. When I saw the camera again, I genuinely couldn't remember ever having it. My partner couldn't remember it at first either. Anyway, I opened the back of the camera and saw there was film in it!! So I quickly closed it. But that's when it became mysterious because I knew I wouldn't have used my film in a plastic point and shoot camera. So I knew I didn't put the film in there. From the very quick look I got at the film, it looked to me like it had been loaded in and then not used. So I thought maybe I've only ruined that first bit of film. I was curious to find out because when you use out of date film you can get a really quirky effect. So I took it along to a wedding to see if I could use up the film.
Whilst at the wedding, the film seemed to be jammed in the camera, it wouldn't advance anymore. So my fun was over, even though I'd only taken a few photos with it. None the less, I was interested to see if the wedding photos would come out. So I took the camera to So Perfect Images vintage camera shop on Ebrington street in Plymouth. The owner of the shop, Russell, managed to get the film out using a dark bag. We could finally see what film was in the camera - it was a colour reel, manufactured by Boots. Russell's first impression was that Boots stopped manufacturing film in the 70s! This excited me SO much! I couldn't wait to see if any of my photos came out and what quirky effects I’d get from using such old film. So I had it developed…
This is the roll of film from the camera.
The photos I’d taken on it didn’t come out very well at all…
However, there were photos on on the film that I hadn’t taken…
I was in complete shock! I did not expect any other photos to be on the film at all. My first thought was that it must be one of the cameras my family gave me, so I shared the photos with my mum and auntie and I was sure they would know the people. But they didn't. It then occurred to my partner that this was the camera from the lost and found at the railway station. He checked his camera roll on his phone and we could see it was the same camera he had handed into him back in April 2022! But these photos clearly weren’t taken in 2022, they’d clearly been waiting to be developed for a very long time.
Investigating…
I spent some time zooming into the photos to see if I could find any clues about where or when the photos were taken. I did spot a t-shirt that said 'Manchester Reds Doubles Winners 1994' and that shattered the possibility of the film being from the 70s. The photos were clearly couldn’t have been taken before 1994 and I was a little disappointed that the mystery had lost 20 years but it was still incredibly exciting.
Unfortunately I couldn't work out anything else by myself, so I needed Facebook's help. I posted it on my profile and on a few Facebook groups and it got a lot of shares very quickly. Within two hours we had found the people! They commented on my post saying ‘This is us!’ And from looking at photos of them today, I could see straight away that it was the same people (they haven't changed much).
Getting to know the people in the photos…
I was really keen to reunite the family with their photos, so I started talking to Gareth and Ali on Facebook messenger and told them the story of how I ended up with their lost photos. I realised then, how lucky I was that they were as excited and happy about the situation as I was. They could have been the opposite and been angry that I've shared their family photos all over Facebook and they could have even been suspicious of me for ending up with the photos. But they were ecstatic and kept thanking me for what I'd done. Rather than posting the photos to them, I wanted to meet them and they wanted to meet me. So they invited me to their house. I was a little nervous about meeting them and I was half expecting it to just be a 5 minute chat on their doorstep but they invited me in!
We looked through the photos together while Gareth and Ali told me everything - who was who, where and when the photos were taken. The baby in the photos is their son, Tom. Tom now lives in London and will be turning 30 soon. The older woman in the photos was Ali’s late Grandmother, Carmen. Ali had ready to show me, some photos of Carmen as a young woman - again it was so obvious that it was the same person, Carmen’s smile hadn’t changed over the years. Also pictured in the photos is Jim, the baby (Tom’s) uncle, and he’s the one that was wearing the Manchester Red’s top. There are some photos (that didn’t come out so well) where you can see that the baby (Tom) is blowing out some candles. So I was hoping we’d be able to pin point the exact day the photos were taken. But Gareth and Ali explained that Tom was born in December 1993, and because so much was always going on around Christmas time, Tom often had a second birthday celebration in the summer months. So we’ve narrowed it down to sometime in the summer of 1995!
Gareth and Ali were such an open book to me, telling me family stories, talking about their lives and interests. I couldn't believe how wonderful they were and again I felt so lucky that my mystery led to these people. We talked about recreating some of the photos from the 90’s when Tom is next visiting from London. Ali says that Jim (uncle in Manchester Reds top) is happy to try and pick Tom (baby) up on his hip again and that she’ll at least give it a go or we can try to work out a way of staging it. Tom should hopefully be back in Plymouth in April 2024, so hopefully they’ll be able to get everyone together so we can do a little photo shoot. I’m looking forward to seeing them again and looking forward to meeting Tom, Jim and any other family member that wants to join in for the photo shoot. I can’t seem to stop referring to Tom as ‘the baby’ so it will be strange to meet him as a 30 year old man. They did have a photo of Tom from his graduation and we used that photo to do a recreation of sorts on the day we met, but this is just a placeholder recreation photo until they can get the rest of the family together.
I stayed with them at their house for roughly an hour, I loved chatting with them and getting to know them both. They bought me some sunflowers and a can of gin to say thank you. They also let me keep the camera, which is amazing because I've grown quite attached to it and the mystery it holds.
When the photos were reunited…
I decided to upload the recreation photo (above) on facebook, so show people that I'd reunited the photos with the family. There were so many people that had shared the original post for me and helped me to find this lovely family, so I wanted them to see the happy ending to the story and know that they all helped to make it happen. I've had so many comments saying how lovely I am for doing the right thing. And it's lovely to have so many compliments but I genuinely believe that anyone would have done the same in my position. No one would have put the film in the bin would they? No one would have developed the film and then kept the photos to themselves. Everyone has a bit of curiosity in them so I feel like anyone else would have done exactly what I did. The compliments should all go to Gareth and Ali, for welcoming some random mystery lady into their home and being so kind to me.
And our story has captured a lot of people’s attention. It’s just one of those feel good stories I guess (with a touch of mystery). It’s been covered by Plymouth Live and printed in The Herald (Plymouth’s local newspaper). It’s so nice that social media has been used for good, to reunite a family with photos that were taken 28 years ago! I feel so lucky that the camera eventually made its way to me, so that I could be the one to meet these lovely people. I just wish there was some way of us knowing how the camera ended up at the train station in 2022 with the film still in it from 1995?? The original owner of the camera (Ali's mum, not pictured) doesn't recall the camera at all, doesn't remember losing it. But she still shoots with film cameras today and it's not like her to have forgotten to develop photos. They don’t think she would have taken it to a charity shop for example, with film still in it. But when did the camera leave her possession and how did it end up with the unknown man at Plymouth Railway Station? I guess it will always be a mystery.