Since I collect (rescue) old, abandoned photographs as a hobby, I sometimes forget that I have old family photographs that are not abandoned at all.
They are not lost; they have just not been seen for fifty years.
Here are five old Polaroid Swinger photographs.
I believe they were taken late May 1968.
There were typically eight photographs to a roll of Swinger film so perhaps there are three more prints from this event somewhere.
And typically, the Polaroid Swinger turned out some bad shots. Maybe the other three frames missing from this roll were just thrown out. I don't suppose I'll ever know.
These photographs are just about the only memory I have of this event from nearly 50 years ago. So technically poor shots or not, that makes them very valuable. They hold a special place. They are a bookmark on a very special time. If it were not for these photographs, I probably would be unable to remember it at all.
Go back to THE MAIN INDEX PAGE
There are now more than 8,000 photographs in the Lost Gallery. Or try out the NEW BACK PAGE INDEXBassingbourn 1944 
Long lost negatives taken during the winter of 1944-45 at Bassingbourn AAF base in England.
Area 51 and a Half 
You are probably not authorized to see these.
Don't take my picture! Oh! You DID didn't you! 
This is a collection of photographs that disappear on the way home from the photo processing shop.
And don't missCabinet Card GallerySquare AmericaTattered and LostVernacular PhotographyThe bestFOUND PHOTOGRAPHsites on the web. And for postcards try POSTCARDY And see what's going on over at Sepia Saturday!
All images are the property of Lost Gallery and the author. Permission must be granted for their use. All rights reserved.
THE KIDS 
It is always a mystery how a photograph of any of these precious children could end up lost or abandoned. Here are a few. You will probably say "Ooh..." at least once.
Dee and the Business School 
The beautiful Dee. A curious story; What do you see?
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?
"What are they doing?"
I like that description of "bookmark" for photos. I know my faulty memory is more about the camera's image than the otherwise forgotten event.
ReplyDeleteOn a side note I recently tried out some 12 year old Polaroid film in a 1980s One-Step. The batteries worked but the resulting "images" were more an abstract painting. That long pause waiting for a Polaroid picture to form doesn't have the thrill it had when the technology was new.
Thanks Mike Brubaker. Perhaps those of us who treasure photographs so much, do so because they are important to the function of our memories. We are conscious of a feeling that our memory is not perfect so we use devices like cameras to help us retain our mental grip on our own realities. But that's maybe just me.
Delete