Scanning Old Negatives

Last Christmas. I was given a Kodak slide and negative scanner. We can see how the scanner works in the following image. The negative are inserted at the bottom, and the image is shown on the screen. 

Believe it or not, I hadn't used it until yesterday, almost a year later. Back then, after letting it sit for awhile, I eventually got it out of the box. I set it up, picked out some negatives to scan and found that I did not have a suitable memory card. Back in the box it went and sat for another while until I got around to purchasing a proper SD card. Then the card sat sealed in its package until yesterday.

In 1973-74, I had shot a few rolls of b&w film. Back then, I had access to the enlarger at the school where I taught. I also purchased my own equipment to develop my film and an enlarger to print photos. However, my place was not amenable to make a proper darkroom, so I did not continue with that part of my photography hobby. I think I would haven persisted had my conditions been different because it was a satisfying thing to see the photo emerge in the developing tray.

Although I didn't shoot b&w film for long, I did keep the negatives as well as I could for these 50+ years (which I show in the photo, below). Yesterday, I extracted them sleeve by sleeve and examined them through the scanner screen. 

Using the Kodak scanner was very easy and efficient. I could feed my negatives through the scanner and see them quite well on the little screen. If I wanted to digitize an image, all I had to do was press a button, and within seconds it would be saved to the memory card that I had inserted in the back of the machine.

The scanner does not have to be attached to the computer during the process. It is a standalone machine that can obtain its power vis a USB cable. All one needs is a USB plug in the wall to enable the scanner. I transferred the photos to the computer afterward.

It was a trip down memory lane as most of the photos were around Shauna's first birthday and Christmas, which occur only five days apart. Technically, it was her second Christmas as she came home on Christmas Day, 1972. I have slides from then, and some have already been digitized by my old flatbed scanner, but I will get back to scanning slides at a later date. My self-appointed task yesterday was just to digitize the b&w negatives.

Although I scanned and edited quite a few photos, I've picked out only four to share with you today. The first was on her birthday, December 20, 1973. There was a major snowstorm that day; disappointingly, the big party that Sue had planned did not happen, but the next door neighbour was able to come with her girl who was Shauna's age, give or take. We have a few photos including this one. I also have a photo of Sue with Shauna I will reveal farther below.

It was Christmas season, and I took a shot of Shauna looking out through the Christmas lights that were strung around the window. I liked the photo then for it speaks to me of the awe and magic of the season. I made a print at the time, but this is from the new scan.

For many years, we would pack up and drive the 200 miles to Toronto to celebrate Christmas with our families. I imagine that I took this photo on Christmas Eve 1973 at my parents' place. It may not be as poignant as the previous photo, but I also really like the tyke staring up at the stockings.

Here are Sue and Shauna posing by the stockings, on the same evening. I see, however, that one of the photos, I think the one above, is reversed left to right.

How great it was and is to look back and to be able to retrieve these photos. I hope the new digital versions stay around for as long as the negatives have.