I just wrapped up the manuscript for a big project (UNICORNDOG book three!), so I’m slowing down and writing out a few things.

Today's newsletter is about a strange discovery made in the attic of an empty house.

In my last newsletter, I suggested a summer sketchbook drawing activity. “Draw something you obsessed over before a trip.”

As I mentioned then, I’ve had lots of these over the years. Most fall into the “waterproof” category, like waterproof shoes and jackets.

One of my most recent pre-trip obsessions was WHICH 35mm film camera to take to Scotland. We were there for over a month for two incredible sketchbook retreats.

Here’s why this happened. The story starts roughly five years ago.

Don’t sigh! I’ll make it quick! Plus, there are some visual aids!

A STRANGE CAMERA FOUND IN THE ATTIC.

 

Sometime in 2020 or so, I found a very strange film camera. It was in some boxes that had been tucked away in the attic of my grandparents' house. The house had been empty for a few years, and it was our job to go through some of the remaining items.

I say the camera was  "strange" because it has four side-by-side lenses

It also says 3D on it, which is confusing for a film camera.

We noticed there was a roll of film that had only been half-used STILL IN THE CAMERA.

By our math, the camera had been sitting for at least 15 years (it turned out to be way more!), so we had little hope that whatever photos had been taken with it would still turn out if we got the roll processed.

Plus, where do you even get film processed now? Does the pharmacy still process photos!? I know some of you photo nerds know this stuff, but before this little adventure I hadn’t shot a roll of 35mm film in years.

We took the camera home with us.

And then? We forgot about it.  

Until..

THE JAPANESE ALPS 

Earlier this year, I was invited to speak in Japan at a few schools and with the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators in Tokyo.
(huge thanks to the schools who reached out!)

While there, we bought a very fancy 35mm film camera at a very fancy photography store.

Just kidding. It was a disposable camera from 7-11.

(I saved the box)

We carried it with us during our four weeks abroad. 

We actually got two. I don't remember where we bought the second one, but it had a little logo on it that reminded me of a cross between those bootleg Calvin stickers and the Bad Boy Club logo from the 90s. I couldn't (and still can't) decide if I sort of liked it or mostly hated it.

 

Quick side note.

The first time I was inJapan, I carried a small mini-DV camera with me. It was 2002, and I thought the quality of that camera was peak technology. I recently had it digitized and was shocked at how pixelated the footage was.

Here’s a drawing of that video camera.

(Look at that kid! Also the film camera I was carrying in this video turned out to be broken. I shot 8 rolls of film while there and none turned out.)

Part of of our tour took us into the Japanese Alps, including a visit to Shirakawa-Go, a UNESCO World Heritage village that’s known for houses with thatched roofs. Here’s the drawing I made while there.

So, we took two cameras' worth of photos while there and made sure not to let them go through the X-ray machine on the way home.

GETTING THE PHOTOS DEVELOPED.

When we got back, we randomly discovered a place here in Atlanta that develops film. The timing of it felt like serendipity, so we gathered our exposed film rolls and dropped them off.

We gave them the two disposable cameras from Japan, the roll that had been trapped inside the weird camera for who knows how long.

The film development service we used doesn’t print photos. They develop the film, scan the photos, and send them as high-res files. At first, I was worried that I would feel disappointed to eventually just get the photos back as digital images. Then I realized it would cut out the cost of printing out potentially dozens of photos that would be fully overexposed. We could then just order prints of the ones we liked.

We dropped off the rolls at a small, unmanned kiosk where you write your information on a little envelope and drop it all down into a slot, which makes the process feel a little like a secret mission.

Okay, here it is. The point of this story.

THE BIG SHOCK. 

A few days later came the big shock.

I received an email with a link to the download and clicked it. It turns out that the film inside the strange attic camera had actually survived.

When I saw the first photo, I gasped.

No, really. I did.

The very first photo I saw wasn’t just still visible. It was crystal clear. It was a photo of my dad from 35 years ago. It turns out the first half of the roll had been shot at a family reunion some time around 1990 and then, for some unknown reason, abandoned. Many of the people in the photos were no longer alive.

The second photo that turned out from the roll was...of me.

If you're thinking, "Well, Mike, how strange could that be? It was your grandma's house, right? So having a photo of her grandchild isn't that strange." Good point! However, there weren't any other photos of me in the rest of the boxes. The only one that that survived was on an old roll of film, trapped in a camera, that I happend to find 35 years later and develop! So, get on board. This story is strange!

ONE MORE BIG TWIST.

Remember how I said that weird camera said 3D on it?

Well, it turns out that all four of those lenses take a slightly different picture all at the same time. I have no idea how you were supposed to line those photos up back in 1990, but today I can scan the prints and overlap them in Photoshop to make them into an animated GIF.

So, without further ado, here’s my dad circa roughly 1990-1992.

So, that's the story. I found an old roll of film, had it developed and found some old photos of my family. Put that way, it doesn't sound nuts. But, it resulted in re-kindled love of 35mm film here in the Lowery house.

Here's another photo from that old family reunion that was caught on film.

----

This big discovery of the photo roll with my dad on it, plus the fun of carrying the disposable camera around in Japan, led to us bringing a film camera on our long trip in Scotland.

We ended up taking TWO 35mm cameras, actually. 

This one. Lomo LC-A, which we’d had in a drawer for 15 years or more.

And

This one. Snapic A1, which I purchased specifically for the trip.

To help keep this post a little shorter (too late!) I will give the quick summary like this:

The photos from the Lomo camera are stunning when they turn out, which wasn’t often. Most of them are out of focus because something is broken inside the camera. But, dang, when they turn out, they are gorgeous.

The Snapic A1 is significantly more reliable, but the resulting photos have slightly less character than the Lomo. Oh, well.

A FEW PHOTOS FROM THAT 7-11 DISPOSABLE CAMERA