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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPhotographer Finds 120-Year-Old Cat Photos After Developing Film Found in a Time Capsule
The intriguing lore of secret time capsules inspired French photographer, filmmaker, and YouTuber Mathieu Stern to discover a time capsule, hidden in the basement of his old family home. The intricately designed antique box, which dated back to the year 1900, contained some particularly charming itemsincluding a paper doll, coins, a compass, a sea shell, and a letterthat were all precious remnants belonging to a young girl of the 1900s. The box also included something particularly fascinating and mesmerizing to Stern: two glass plate negatives. Hot on the trail of unlocking this mystery, Stern decided to develop them utilizing an old photographic printing method known as cyanotype.
Full story:
https://mymodernmet.com/cyanotype-time-capsule-cat-photos/
Blue Owl
(50,347 posts)gristy
(10,667 posts)Here's the youtube vid of him colorizing the first photo.
MustLoveBeagles
(11,587 posts)Thank you for sharing
Fla Dem
(23,637 posts)Dem2theMax
(9,650 posts)we are looking at the pictures of a cat that some little girl absolutely adored. I do genealogy research. And I have found lots of photos of ancestors. I don't remember ever seeing one of a pet. This was absolutely precious to me.
Raine
(30,540 posts)just really touched me.
ChazII
(6,204 posts)am a dog person.
StClone
(11,683 posts)Appear to be a black long-haired Dachshund? So fond of that breed it made me well up too. The connection with life of distant past, so animated in the image, was evocative of all the life I have found in my Max, Janz, Dutch and Derby.
lastlib
(23,204 posts)niyad
(113,235 posts)MustLoveBeagles
(11,587 posts)Thank you for sharing. Is that a dog in the second photo by the kitten?
tblue37
(65,290 posts)Tess49
(1,579 posts)AllaN01Bear
(18,119 posts)ohm myyy.
samplegirl
(11,474 posts)Cats rule!
Karadeniz
(22,492 posts)tiredtoo
(2,949 posts)So happy to see this. Thinking of a little girl in 1900 putting this in a time capsule is heart warming. Thank you for sharing.
malaise
(268,890 posts)Thank you
tblue37
(65,290 posts)dexdah
(45 posts)Someone loved her special cat. Thank you for posting!
eppur_se_muova
(36,257 posts)Obviously very dear to someone's heart, to go to such lengths.
byronius
(7,392 posts)CloudWatcher
(1,846 posts)He didn't develop "film" ... the glass plates were already developed. He knew immediately what the images were by looking at the negative images on the plates. You can even get a positive image reflection off of negatives if you hold them just right (at an angle). So it's not like he found 120 year old undeveloped plates whose content was a mystery
Yeah I know, picky picky. But I've spent way too much time huddled over foul smelling chemicals in darkrooms to let it pass without comment!
But still, very cool. Loved the video and thanks for posting!
4dog
(503 posts)Using the cyanotype method, which is appropriate to the age of the negatives.
reACTIONary
(5,770 posts).... exposed, undeveloped glass plates would survive 120 years.
crickets
(25,960 posts)It was fascinating to see the pictures come to life. I'm so glad to have watched the video before seeing the pictures - that was so neat! It was touching to see a couple of moments in time from a child who lived over 100 years ago and loved her cat so much. Wonderful! Thanks so much for sharing that, packman.
burrowowl
(17,637 posts)soldierant
(6,846 posts)From the Ancient Egyptian Society "Cats in Ancient Egypt"
Wednesdays
(17,339 posts)soldierant
(6,846 posts)You wouldn't expect a smart cat to be a Republican, would you?
Historic NY
(37,449 posts)normally I can run then on my scanner using the appropriate negative holder. They are too large for my scanner. A lot of them were never printed when I went through archives. I am trying to come up with process. Some interesting staged shots/ animals and people.
A local print shop says their digital scanner can handle them.
Montelimar
(83 posts)those fetch the highest prices in the old photograph/postcard collecting world.
I_UndergroundPanther
(12,463 posts)Cat live forever and ever and not be forgotten.
May they be together forever and ever. Bonded by love.
I went to a school on it's opening year,the William S James school.
We had an assignment,to put something in the time capsule of the school.
I put a picture of my cat Rikki Rikki Tavi in it,a pic my mom took of me holding him on a summer day in my backyard.
And wrote about him it was a short story.
I put it inside a tourqoise envelope that I drew cats all over and put that into a ziplock bag. It went into the time capsule. I hope Rikki is never forgotten too.
This is why it made me cry,to have so much love for a cat you want him to be remembered..forever.
Raine
(30,540 posts)the love ❤ that was given to them is preserved for us see and know all about ... THANKS so much for posting this!
Response to packman (Original post)
Post removed
reACTIONary
(5,770 posts)... contrarian.
kcr
(15,315 posts)It was interesting to watch how he developed the plates, too.
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)I know how much she loved them... I wonder why they were not developed.
hunter
(38,309 posts)She was a wild thing in the 'twenties just as I was a wild thing in the 'seventies.
Privileged to know many wonderful animals.
aidbo
(2,328 posts)bucolic_frolic
(43,123 posts)with strong features - large, firm and pointed ears, a whisker array that would be any cat's envy, sleek physique, and large, bulbous, well-proportioned toes.
Makes me think - many generations of cats since these photos were taken, this haut couture feline must be just a bit different genetically than most modern tabbies.
kimmylavin
(2,284 posts)All the care and love, from the negatives carefully wrapped over a hundred years ago, to the gentle treatment by the modern photographer.
And the sweet little kitty who was obviously adored.
Thank you for sharing that!
cwydro
(51,308 posts)Thanks for posting.
denbot
(9,899 posts)I don't know quite why, but I all but misted up thinking about a little girl and the cat she loved so much she wished it her best shot at it's and it's kitten's immortality.
The artist is offering prints and regardless of his motivations, I think this world is slightly a more tolerable place thinking a long ago little girl got her wish, likely in orders of magnitude greater than what even a child's imagination might reach for, and in a manner inconceivable to her or any of her contemporaries.
R.I.P. to a little girl, and her kitty.