Found Film – Marc Posner

This summer, I came across eight rolls of slide film in a box in my office at work. There was a particular photograph I was looking for from the early 1990s and one day it hit me that I might have brought it to the office to scan. For some reason, out of the blue, it hit me just where it was located. But, I had forgotten that there were other rolls of film that I had never really looked at or evaluated.

The images are from a trip to Boston that I had forgotten about, from the El Toro Air Show, a space shuttle landing, and more. I shared them over 10 days on Instagram.

Each of these photographs was captured on my Canon A-1 35 mm camera on slide film, primarily Kodak Ektachrome 100. I purchased the camera new in 1983 and began shooting film on it again earlier this year.

A man in his early 20s poses for a photo. He has dark hair, a beard, and a ponytail. — Incoming: In the past month, I’ve discovered 8 rolls of previously processed slide film — all shot when I was the approximate age I am in this (self?) portrait. Image drops include the El Toro Air Show, family, the Anaheim Arena, and more.

On Day 1 (August 10, 2024), I shared this image — the only one that I am not certain I took. It’s likely that one of two uncles shot this after I set up for the portrait (shared on Day 2), but I may have been working on with a tripod and took this on timer. At the time I posted this image, I didn’t even remember this trip to Boston specifically, initially confusing it with an earlier vacation. I still haven’t dated it precisely.

Music: “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder.

This song is the only one in the set that isn’t from the 1990s. Instead, it’s from my childhood and the chorus — “I wish those days could come back once more / Why did those days ever have to go?” — really resonated with my for this shot and for the discovery of the full set of images.

A woman in her 70s sits for a portrait. The Charles River is outside the window behind her. — Day 2: Let’s stay on the Charles River today for this portrait set with my grandmother. She is approximately 80 here (I still haven’t figured out precisely when I made these images). I had completely forgotten about these portraits, which were taken in my aunt and uncle’s condo in Boston. In late 1996, I saw her for the final time and asked her about her amazing life — but I’ve always regretted the poor quality of those photos. As a result, finding these images is even-more meaningful to me. The first frame is the only time I took a formal-style portrait of her, while the next two are included more so because they are how I remember her — especially the open-mouth smile, which is when you knew she was genuinely happy.

Day 2 (August 11, 2024) brought this portrait of my grandmother. The setting is the same as the portrait shared on the first day, but I do remember setting up to take this photo of here. This is why I was taking pictures this day. There are two other images that were part of the panel on the Instagram series, but I have elected just to share the main images in this blog posting.

For years, my grandmother worked at Lord & Taylors and I am pretty sure that is where her beautiful scarf is from. I honestly don’t remember her dressing up a lot, so I think she may have been convinced to be fancy for this portrait. Interestingly, there are only three or four shots of her, an indication of how we used to shoot film as opposed to hammering hundreds of shots on a digital camera.

Music: “You’ll Be in My Heart” by Phil Collins

I selected this song perhaps exclusively on the title. After I hit post on Day 1, I decided all the music needed to be from the 1990s to match the period, so the decade and popularity of the artist also factored in. My grandmother definitely was the matriarch of our family and someone I revered all of my life.

A C-130 aircraft as seen looking straight up. It is silhouetted against a grayish sky. Two paratroopers can be seen jumping from the plane and trailing behind the tail. — Day 3: This image is a find. By that, I mean that I didn’t know I had captured it. With film sometimes you just know you got the shot you wanted (more on that in a later photo) and other times you’ve attempted to capture a moment, but it doesn’t really stick in your mind’s eye so it’s just one of many shutter clicks. Here we have two paratroopers jumping from a C-130 Hercules at the 1993 Marines Corps Air Station El Toro Air Show. I knew the second I saw this that I liked it a lot. The interesting thing is that the second I saw this May 1993 image was holding a slide up to the lights in summer of 2024. It’s a find.

As I create this post, my Day 3 (August 12, 2024) photograph continues to grow on my. I still don’t remember capturing it. When I held the slide up to the light, I didn’t initially notice the paratroopers and I was instantly intrigued by it — I love shadows, so the backlighting on this really resonates with me. When I realized the dots trailing the plane weren’t dust spots, I did a double take and then put this into the scan pile.

Music: “Free Fallin'” by Tom Petty

This is an iconic 1990s song, but the title of this one also is self explanatory.

Four white biplanes with red accents fly in formation with smoke trailing across a blue sky — Day 4: This group of biplanes — the Red Baron Squadron — performed aerobatics in their signature red and white Boeing Stearman biplanes to promote their grocery-chain owners and a brand of frozen pizza they sold in store. Like yesterday’s images, these are from the 1993 MCAS El Toro Air Show.

Day 4 (August 13, 2024) brought the Red Baron Pizza Squadron. I shot more frames of this demonstration team than any other flight that day at the 1993 El Toro Air Show with the exception of the Blue Angels (I’m still not certain that the Blue Angels photos I took were from this show as opposed to a later year or another location).

I’m pretty sure that I knew of the Red Barons before the show, but I remember swooning over them once they were in the air. For starters, the Stearman sounds amazing, the huge wing surface makes them nimble, and they look fantastic, especially against a blue sky.

In retrospect, this probably isn’t my favorite Red Baron image from the sequence I captured; but, since it was the lead image in the social media series, I’m remaining true to the postings I shared on Instagram.

Music: “This Used to Be My Playground” by Madonna

Madonna performed this song the the “League of Their Own” soundtrack. It resonated on a couple of levels — one is that I lived walking distance from the Marines Corps Air Station, El Toro. The second is that in a different life I might have been very happy to make a living photographing planes, rockets, and space shuttles.

Day 5: Today, we head inside Anaheim Arena, for its public debut. This photograph was taken on July 10, 1993 during filming of D2: The Mighty Ducks, which was the first event in the new arena, which later became the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and now Honda Center. An estimated crowd of 12,000 (LA Times) to 24,000 (D23 blog) served as extras in the film.

Day 5 (August 14, 2024) brought us into the Anaheim Arena, later the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim and now Honda Center, as it opened to the public for the first time on July 10, 1993 for filming of D2 the Mighty Ducks sequel. I remember the excitement of attending an event inside the new building. I have absolutely no memory of bringing my camera. I took only three photos that day, none during filming.

I do remember sitting in this spot to watch the filming. Interestingly, the top left of the photo shows the section where I split season seats with friends. This building holds so many memories.

Music: “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” by BTO

It’s a hockey song, it’s directly out of the period, and it’s on the movie’s sound track. If it were available, I would have shared this with “The Mighty Ducks of America” — the theme song — but, honestly, BTO was almost a no brainer selection. I was so excited to be there in July 1993, but I hadn’t seen anything yet.

Day 6: On Day 3 I mentioned that sometimes you know when you’ve got the shot. This (1992?) photo of Avalon Harbor is the first of two such images I’ll share as part of this project. It was taken on a spontaneous trip to Catalina with my college journalism professor — one that began with me returning a message she left on my answering machine. When I called back, she asked what I was doing that day and when I replied that I had no plans, she said “meet me at Fullerton Airport in an hour.” I don’t remember the date, but I’m certain about the words.

On Day 6 (August 15, 2024), I shared this photo, which is really what triggered my interest in finding the box and digging through it for the bag that contained the film.

I have thought about this flight with my professor and her husband many times throughout the years, and I have thought specifically about this image. I remember the shape of the harbor, the boats and their trails, the richness of the watering the redness of the roof (that didn’t translate to film as much as I saw it in my eye).

But, as my older son is exploring a career as a pilot, I really wanted to find these photos from Catalina. One day, it hit me exactly where they were. The other rolls of film were a complete surprise. This one, was just how I remembered.

Music: “Fly Away” by Lenny Kravitz

I’m probably more adventurous than I give myself credit for, but I’m certainly not the type of person who wakes up and is at the airport in an hour for a flight from Fullerton to Catalina. The song just kind of fit.

A double exposed photograph showing a hockey game being played with the Blue Angles flying in formation layered with the image — Day 7: /The Crushing Mistake/ This mistake might well be why I’m only now evaluating these eight rolls of processed slide film after they sat inside a bag inside of a box for almost two decades. From the time I was a young kid, I loved the Blue Angels. I don’t remember a lot about this group of film, but I remember being crushed when I saw all my Blue Angels shots were destroyed by my mistake of running part of the roll through the camera twice. Perhaps it’s because I got to shoot the Blue Angels (up close) somewhat recently, but 2024 me finds this mistake somewhat cool since it combines two things I love to shoot: planes and hockey. 1993 Blue Angels and 1994-1995 San Diego Gulls vs. Las Vegas Thunder.

Day 7 (August 16, 2024) brought these accidental double exposures that, frankly, are growing on me. They were created at the 1993 El Toro Air Show and a 1994-1995 San Diego Gulls International Hockey League game versus the Las Vegas Thunder (date unknown) played during the NHL lockout.

The Gulls photos (there are multiple rolls of print film that I have seen many times over the years) taught me that hockey is an incredibly difficult sport to shoot. This was really the first time I attempted to photograph hockey after having shot a lot of football, baseball, and basketball in high school and college. Shooting hockey was humbling. This game featured some household names who were playing at the IHL level during the lockout.

One of those players was Dave Karpa. he would later coach my oldest in travel hockey. I’d like to believe that I have gone on to be a pretty credible hockey photographer. While that doesn’t show here, I do think that the Blue Angels shots would have been pretty good.

Music: “Come Out And Play (Keep ‘Em Separated” by The Offspring

Ha ha ha. The double meaning of this song, renown as a post-hockey-fight anthem, is a perfect fit. I should have kept these shoots separated (except they’re kind of cool now).

Space Shuttle Endeavour lands on its maiden voyage. It is seen from the side with the nose gear still in the air. — Day 8: This is Endeavour’s maiden landing. I had rented a 300 mm lens to shoot this landing, but as the training jets did test runs, I decided to go with the wider 200 mm. For years I’ve doubted my gut call that day, but I’m OK with the lens selection now. I can’t wait to see and photograph Endeavour again when its new home opens at the California Science Center.

Day 8’s (August 17, 2024) entry is probably the best film photography I have of a space shuttle landing. Discovery’s return-to-flight mission (STS-26) in October 1988 would be the other possibility, but I am not sure where those images are now, and I’m not sure I shot anything in color.

At any rate, this is the conclusion of Endeavour’s maiden voyage (STS-49). As noted in the information shared in the social posts, I made a gut call to use the wider lens for this landing and I’m happy with how that worked out. I have a similar shot of Atlantis landing on STS-117, which was the first time I used a digital camera to cover a landing.

Endeavour (as evidenced by an earlier post on this site) has become even more special since it resided here in Southern California. I am glad to have discovered this image and to add it to my Endeavour collection.

Music: “Fly” by Sugar Ray

“I just wanna fly” — this selection is political commentary. One of my favorite quotes is Admiral Grace Hopper’s “A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for.” The space shuttles were magnificent machines and I miss them.

A yellow, red, and orange hot air balloon floats across a blue sky — Day 9: Fun fact — today’s photo was shot one day after yesterday’s. On Saturday, May 16, 1992, I got up early to photograph Endeavour’s landing. I got home late and repeated the schedule the next day to shoot the Temecula Valley Balloon and Wine Festival, where I captured this image of Kodak’s hot air balloon.

Why I ever shot the Day 9 (August 18, 2024) entry is pretty beyond me. I mentioned above that I don’t consider myself adventurous. I am pretty sure that we received media credentials to the Temecula Balloon and Wine Festival, and that must have been the attraction.

I was know I was running on fumes having photographed Endeavour the day prior. But I had that rented lens and I wanted to put it to use (I’m not sure, since metadata didn’t exist on film, that I used it for this shot).

In addition to the balloons, which remained tethered because of the wind, bot America and Three Dog Night played during the day. I know I have photos of them somewhere, I am guessing black and white since they weren’t on this roll of slide film. During one of the band performances, I remember standing next to a Secret Service agent who worked in the Clinton White House. I’m glad I ventured out.

Music: “Joyride” by Roxette

I know, I just said that both America and Three Dog Night played at the event. But, but I wasn’t breaking up the ’90s music on the second-to-last day of the series. The balloons just reminded my of a fun ride, so this Roxette tune seemed to work for me.

Photograph showing the exterior of the cockpit of an F-117 Nighthawk stealth airplane. The frame is black with stark lines and angles. The side window has an orange hue and the front window has a purple hue. — Day 10: I didn’t need a screen on my camera to know I got this shot. Without seeing the result, I could close my eyes and picture the sharp angles and the purple and yellow of the F-117 Nighthawk cockpit windows. It’s this feeling I hinted at in the Day 3 post. I believe that image and this one contrast in a manner that illustrates the magic of film photography — serendipity on Day 3 and execution on Day 10 — along with the waiting and the anticipation of seeing the results.

Day 10 (August 19, 2024) brought the series to an end. I certainly have more photos I could share, but this one is an image I’ve wanted to print for years. I can only assume that in 1996, when I finally developed these images, that I simply didn’t have a budget that facilitated an enlargement.

One reason this image resonates with me is that I enjoy industrial images. Two space shuttle close ups (one of Atlantis’ main engines and the other of Endeavour’s main engines) are among my favorite images. This one joins that group.

When I close my eyes, I could see this image, even without ever having seen it.

Since I started shooting the Canon A-1 again this year, I sometimes instinctively look down at the back of the camera to see if I got the shot. I’m met with a torn-off cardboard box top with the film speed and type, but no other information.

But this shot, even in 1993, I didn’t need a display on my camera to know. I knew.

Music: “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC

If the United States Air Force made a promo video, I imagine this plane screaming by at 680 mph and Thunderstruck playing as the under bed, so it seemed an obvious selection for me.

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Larger images, higher resolution

a composite of all the images on this page

Enjoy viewing these images (and a few others) at a larger size and resolution in this gallery: https://marcposner.smugmug.com/Legacy-Film.