Fourteen years ago I inherited my grandfather’s Canon AE-1 Program 35mm camera because I needed it for a black & white photography class I was taking in college. I used it for the class, and never really picked it up again. I recently thought I might give film another try, so I busted out the old camera. After messing around with it for a few minutes, I realized that there was a partially used roll of film in the camera. I had to find out what was on it, so I finished it up and shot another one with some leftover film that was hanging out in the camera bag.

I brought my film to Monadnock Imaging to be developed and printed, fully expecting nothing to come out. The camera is as old as I am and the film is from around the year 2000, so definitely expired. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked up my prints, and I have to give all the credit to the magicians at Monadnock Imaging for being so good at what they do. My prints are like a time capsule (hence the title of this post) full of pictures of a very little Lillia! She looks to be about three years old in the photos so I must have used the camera more recently than I thought, but it was still a looooong time ago. There were also some good ones of Zane and Damian from the present day.

The aesthetic of the 21st century leans toward a sort of unearthly perfection, aided in part by the popularity of digital photography and Photoshop. I really like all the grain and imperfections from the expired film. You can replicate that look to some degree by tweaking digital photos in post-production, but it’s just not the same. I may have a new obsession. Here are my favorites from the two rolls:

Canon AE-1 Program 35mm camera // Kodak Professional CN400BW film //
Processed & scanned by Monadnock Imaging, Keene, NH