Kodak moments – your stories of forgotten memories
Readers created a stunning gallery showing their favourite 'Kodak moments' – but some of the photographs have more of a story to tell behind the lens. Here we explore some of them
Hannah Waldram
guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 16.06 GMT
A photograph capturing a special moment with Neil Fitzgerald's grandfather. Photograph: Neil Fitzgerald/Flickr
To many people Kodak means memories, and with the news the 130-year old photographic company filed for bankruptcy we were flooded with images sent it by readers keen to collaborate on a gallery of their favourite "Kodak moments".
Flicking through the photos, not only do the grainy Kodak pictures show something of times past and a collective nostalgia for things lost – but some of the photos clearly have more of a story to tell.
US: Paul Baldwin's great grandmother on break as Kodak girl
Paul Baldwin (photo 38) sends in this image of his great grandmother – one of the iconic "Kodak girls" who worked at Eastman Kodak in the US. His grandparents moved to the US, got married and settled there – and after the first world war returned to the UK.
A close up of Princess Diana captured on Kodak. Photograph: Chris Miller
Many have also been interested in Chris Miller's tale of how he ended up with this close up shot of the late Lady Di at Tidworth in Wiltshire, looking straight down the barrel of the lens in what he calls one of the first times she became visibly upset by the press onslaught.
Not only did readers tell us about their particular memories related to people in the pictures – but also about their fondness for the Kodak technology and techniques used to capture, and record the image.
On our Kodak thread on Flickr, where readers are continuing to share their images, there is much discussion on the methods used and the result – and our pictures editor Roger Tooth aptly describes the fondness for the Kodak products in this comment piece:
"That was the thing about shooting on film and printing on paper: every time, it felt fresh. Fresh film, chilled from a fridge. Box fresh, beautifully packaged by Kodak in cute yellow boxes that opened with one thumb, perforated in exactly the right place."
One Kodak product which has been fondly recalled by the youth of the 90s is the disposable hand-held camera. Found at wedding parties, taken on many a travel trip or bought off the cuff to document the events of a sunny day – the disposable camera was the common companion for those on fun and spontaneous escapades.
Alex Kovalenko tells us about a project he's involved with using Kodak disposable cameras called Disposable stories. The camera is given to someone with the direction to take five photos and pass it on. This chain carries on five times until it's returned to Alex and his team – who process the photos and add them to the project website here.
The photos from cameras which went round the world in September and June 2011 have just been uploaded and you cannot help but be sapped into the camera's own story – tracking a journey around the earth in the hands of excited travellers with their own vision of the world and stories to tell from the trip. Alex says:
"I hope people will continue travelling with those and not only with cameraphones. Such an amazing feeling when you get your photos back from the shop after your trip and don't even really remember which photos you took."
24 Kodak 35mm slides. Photograph: Neil Brown/Flickr
Going back even further in the Kodak production line, Neil Brown on Flickr has shared with us his project of uploading Kodak 35mm slides to the web to make a digital copy. Neil started collecting the slides he found at boot fairs, jumble sales, secondhand shops and auctions, as part of an art project. He writes:
"This is such a shame, I just love the physical element you get with 35mm slides, which is lost with digital."
Take a look at the wall of slides on Neil's website here – each has a story and memory which feel somewhat lost and forgotten.
The Kodak wallet which sparked Mark Davies 'Kodak moment' – prompting him to reunite lost pictures with their families. Photograph: Mark Davies
But reader Mark Davies, from Cheltenham, runs a project reuniting lost photographs with the families to whom they originally belonged.Lifebooth, he says, started with a Kodak folder he found at a flea market in Oxford – this sparked an interest in lost family albums and he soon found many people were selling them on eBay.
"I thought it was really sad those family artefacts of our memory were ending up being sold and I was interested in the stories behind the albums."
Mark thinks the lady connected to the images has since passed away, but continues to laboriously look for clues which appear to track one holiday for a boy called Jimmy who in 1949 is photographed next to his father's grave. He's currently looking for a woman called Nancy pictured in this photo:
Do you know the lady in this image? Help Mark Davies track her down. Photograph: Unknown/User
You can read more about it on his blog here. He writes:
"I made a promise to myself that day when I was semi-resigned to being unable to find them, that if I ever saw photo albums for sale, and if there was any kind of information in them that would help me connect them to a family (even just a surname or a place), then I would try to reunite the photographs with someone who had a personal connection with the people in the photos."
This all eventually led to Mark doing a PhD in family photography and he continues to reunite lost family albums with their owners or relatives here.
But it all started with the Kodak folder – his "Kodak moment".
Old 1980s photographs taken in the Splott, Adamsdown and Butetown. Photograph: Keith S Robertson
There are other similar projects around trying to unearth the stories behind the photographs. And these remind me of one I was familiar with in Cardiff after a pile of photographs was found during a refurbishment of an old music hall – sparking memories of 1980s Cardiff life and calling for residents to come forward with stories and information on the pictures. The project was called Cardiff Before Cardiff and is run by Jon Pountney.
Do you know of any photographic projects unearthing the stories behind the picture? Let us know in comments. You can see the "Kodak moments" gallery here and find out more about getting involved here.
Readers created a stunning gallery showing their favourite 'Kodak moments' – but some of the photographs have more of a story to tell behind the lens. Here we explore some of them
Hannah Waldram
guardian.co.uk, Friday 20 January 2012 16.06 GMT
A photograph capturing a special moment with Neil Fitzgerald's grandfather. Photograph: Neil Fitzgerald/Flickr
To many people Kodak means memories, and with the news the 130-year old photographic company filed for bankruptcy we were flooded with images sent it by readers keen to collaborate on a gallery of their favourite "Kodak moments".
Flicking through the photos, not only do the grainy Kodak pictures show something of times past and a collective nostalgia for things lost – but some of the photos clearly have more of a story to tell.
US: Paul Baldwin's great grandmother on break as Kodak girlPaul Baldwin (photo 38) sends in this image of his great grandmother – one of the iconic "Kodak girls" who worked at Eastman Kodak in the US. His grandparents moved to the US, got married and settled there – and after the first world war returned to the UK.
A close up of Princess Diana captured on Kodak. Photograph: Chris MillerMany have also been interested in Chris Miller's tale of how he ended up with this close up shot of the late Lady Di at Tidworth in Wiltshire, looking straight down the barrel of the lens in what he calls one of the first times she became visibly upset by the press onslaught.
Not only did readers tell us about their particular memories related to people in the pictures – but also about their fondness for the Kodak technology and techniques used to capture, and record the image.
On our Kodak thread on Flickr, where readers are continuing to share their images, there is much discussion on the methods used and the result – and our pictures editor Roger Tooth aptly describes the fondness for the Kodak products in this comment piece:
"That was the thing about shooting on film and printing on paper: every time, it felt fresh. Fresh film, chilled from a fridge. Box fresh, beautifully packaged by Kodak in cute yellow boxes that opened with one thumb, perforated in exactly the right place."
One Kodak product which has been fondly recalled by the youth of the 90s is the disposable hand-held camera. Found at wedding parties, taken on many a travel trip or bought off the cuff to document the events of a sunny day – the disposable camera was the common companion for those on fun and spontaneous escapades.
Alex Kovalenko tells us about a project he's involved with using Kodak disposable cameras called Disposable stories. The camera is given to someone with the direction to take five photos and pass it on. This chain carries on five times until it's returned to Alex and his team – who process the photos and add them to the project website here.
The photos from cameras which went round the world in September and June 2011 have just been uploaded and you cannot help but be sapped into the camera's own story – tracking a journey around the earth in the hands of excited travellers with their own vision of the world and stories to tell from the trip. Alex says:
"I hope people will continue travelling with those and not only with cameraphones. Such an amazing feeling when you get your photos back from the shop after your trip and don't even really remember which photos you took."
24 Kodak 35mm slides. Photograph: Neil Brown/FlickrGoing back even further in the Kodak production line, Neil Brown on Flickr has shared with us his project of uploading Kodak 35mm slides to the web to make a digital copy. Neil started collecting the slides he found at boot fairs, jumble sales, secondhand shops and auctions, as part of an art project. He writes:
"This is such a shame, I just love the physical element you get with 35mm slides, which is lost with digital."
Take a look at the wall of slides on Neil's website here – each has a story and memory which feel somewhat lost and forgotten.
The Kodak wallet which sparked Mark Davies 'Kodak moment' – prompting him to reunite lost pictures with their families. Photograph: Mark DaviesBut reader Mark Davies, from Cheltenham, runs a project reuniting lost photographs with the families to whom they originally belonged.Lifebooth, he says, started with a Kodak folder he found at a flea market in Oxford – this sparked an interest in lost family albums and he soon found many people were selling them on eBay.
"I thought it was really sad those family artefacts of our memory were ending up being sold and I was interested in the stories behind the albums."
Mark thinks the lady connected to the images has since passed away, but continues to laboriously look for clues which appear to track one holiday for a boy called Jimmy who in 1949 is photographed next to his father's grave. He's currently looking for a woman called Nancy pictured in this photo:
Do you know the lady in this image? Help Mark Davies track her down. Photograph: Unknown/UserYou can read more about it on his blog here. He writes:
"I made a promise to myself that day when I was semi-resigned to being unable to find them, that if I ever saw photo albums for sale, and if there was any kind of information in them that would help me connect them to a family (even just a surname or a place), then I would try to reunite the photographs with someone who had a personal connection with the people in the photos."
This all eventually led to Mark doing a PhD in family photography and he continues to reunite lost family albums with their owners or relatives here.
But it all started with the Kodak folder – his "Kodak moment".
Old 1980s photographs taken in the Splott, Adamsdown and Butetown. Photograph: Keith S RobertsonThere are other similar projects around trying to unearth the stories behind the photographs. And these remind me of one I was familiar with in Cardiff after a pile of photographs was found during a refurbishment of an old music hall – sparking memories of 1980s Cardiff life and calling for residents to come forward with stories and information on the pictures. The project was called Cardiff Before Cardiff and is run by Jon Pountney.
Do you know of any photographic projects unearthing the stories behind the picture? Let us know in comments. You can see the "Kodak moments" gallery here and find out more about getting involved here.
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