I have been wanting to write about a story like this forever! Remember the post I did a few weeks ago on the Photo Palace bus, featuring the traveling school bus turned darkroom? Well it’s owner, Anton Orlov, has something else for us film lovers. Recently he bought an old camera, a 1901 Bellini Jumelle camera, for $100. Inside he found something amazing, eight developed photos from World War 1 while he was cleaning the camera. The negatives and glass plates sat in the camera for around 100 years before Orlov’s discovery!
The photos show men in uniform located in war-torn France. Some of the photos even show the men holding a bomb.
© Anton Orlov
© Anton Orlov
© Anton Orlov
Now, I know Anton through a Facebook group that I take part in discussion wise about old, classic film cameras. That’s how I originally found out about his traveling darkroom bus. To see someone who has such a passion for film photography find something so valuable to history by way of old camera is truly a dream story for so many people who share the same passion. So far, this story has made it around the US and to Russia and has been written in English, French, Russian and Spanish! That’s so great to see because to so many people, “film is dead”. Well, if it were not for people who have kept it alive, these negatives would have sat in this dusty little camera forever. It’s really great to see this story make its rounds around the globe, hopefully inspiring people to put a little more value into their film cameras.
So what kind of camera kept these little gems safe all those years? A 1901 Bellini Jumelle camera. It looks like this:
Photo courtesy of NBC San Diego. Orlov paid $100 for the antique.
As told to NBC San Diego in an article written here, Anton Orlov says:
“Other than fire, very few things can destroy it,” he explained. “A hundred years from now, that SD [digital camera] card is going to be pretty useless.”
One big win for film photography everywhere! What would you do with a find like this? Would you keep it, sell it or give it to a museum?
Visual Individual 
What an awesome find. As the for the camera….I’d give it to you….and you would love me forever…..
Yes I would! I always, always check for old film inside a camera before doing anything with it. Always hopeful, but have yet to find anything.
Amazing find! To think a part of history lay in an old camera for that long boggles my mind. Makes me want to search for old cameras and see what may be inside them! Thank you for another great article!
You’re welcome! I know, it’s so neat. I hope I find something awesome one day.
wow, just amazing, the wonderful finds just waiting to be discovered 🙂 another valid point for keeping film in existence 😀
Yes indeed!
I actually read this article several weeks ago and posted to you that you should read it. You probably missed my post. But I, like your mother, would give it to you. If I come across any camera/photo treasures in my travels you would be my first thought. I love this article.
Oh where did you post it? There weren’t any articles on this specific person several weeks ago because he just found the images only about two weeks ago and has recently been interviewed this past week about it. Maybe it was a different person? I have read a lot of stories about people finding photos in old cameras, it’s so cool. And thank you! I hope you do find something awesome 🙂
no no it was this very article and it was on Yahoo that i read it. I’ll find the post. yeah double post because i entered my name wrong. ugh.
Hmm ok! Post here if you want that way others can also read it 🙂
I actually read this article several weeks ago and posted to you that you should read it. You probably missed my post. But I, like your mother, would give it to you. If I come across any camera/photo treasures in my travels you would be my first thought. I love this article.
check your inbox for January 10th: Google antique store camera yields big surprise. I think you’ll like this story
🙂
Double comments 😉 ^
Great work! That is the type of info that are meant to be shared around the web.
Disgrace on the seek engines for not positioning this publish upper!
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