Just a note to say that I’ve started a page for the project on Facebook, I’d be delighted if you would become a ‘fan’:

The Forgotten Negatives Project on Facebook

This is another film provided by the kindness of internet strangers! If you would like to contribute film to the project, please email me at forgottennegatives@gmail.com


This whole film looks like it was shot in and around one household. It is also interesting to note that this is the first film I have posted here that wasn’t from a disposable camera. Which is also unusual in the fact that these images look very much like they’re from a disposable camera, with the strange colour effects and light leaks many of the photos have. This is yet another classic example of the snapshot aesthetic: candid photos, strange angles and compositions and fairly random subject matter, but including (presumably) family and friends. These are my picks from this film:

This is probably my favourite photograph on the film, as it would be for anyone who loves snapshot-style photography. All of the elements are there, it’s candid, the colours are strange and there are light leaks all over it. Also, the subject has been caught apparently mid-sentence and she has her eyes half closed against the flash so she is frozen in a really strange facial expression that amuses me no end. It makes me wonder what the purpose was in taking this photograph? The photographer has clearly not given the subject any time to compose herself or pose for the photo, so he/she was clearly trying to catch her unaware, possibly playing on the fact that people will often protest having their photo taken, leaving the person wielding the camera with no choice but to snap them when they’re least expecting it.

Another great candid photograph. Most of the film is comprised of this type of photo. I get a really mischievous vibe from this film, the photographer clearly had a habit of snapping people unaware, which is reflected in the disapproving look the woman on the telephone is giving. These two people appear regularly across the film so I feel comfortable assuming that they live in the house with the photographer, probably as family (although that may be an assumption too far, it’s just the impression I get from the film on the whole)

Similarly to the photographs above, this photograph is candid and the subject looks entirely unready to have their photo taken, in the traditional sense. This person appears only once in the film, so it may be that they are a guest at the house. In which case, the person who took these photos’ mischievous streak extends to taking impromptu photographs of their guests.

This photograph is one of a series of images on the film of empty rooms. Many are taken from strange angles and focusing on details like fireplaces, sinks, windows and other household fittings. The rooms are very bare and show no signs of being inhabited so they suggest to me that they are ‘before’ pictures taken when you’ve just moved in somewhere. Aside from the content, a lot of these photographs have these strange purple glowing areas which are aesthetically quite interesting and make what would otherwise be fairly mundane subject matter more engaging.

You can view the entire set from this film on Flickr. Please feel free to discuss my choices or any others from the set in the comments!

One of my favourite things about having access to a university library is the wide array of specialised journals that are available to me. In these posts I’ll be summarising and discussing an article I find particularly relevant or enlightening in regards to this project.




In this article by Ken Miller in the BJP, he discusses how the professional photographer has used the snapshot aesthetic and how it affects the boundaries between the amateur and professional photographer. Initially he attempts to define what differentiates a pro from an amateur and he draws the conclusion that the difference lies in the intentions. This is definitely a point I would agree with, especially in the case of art photography where, to me, the content is by far the most important aspect of a piece of work, rather than the aesthetic qualities. Personally I would rather see a photograph with poor technical quality but with depth and meaning, than an aesthetically pleasing image that has no meaning beyond the surface. A photograph that inspires you to talk about it, rather than just look at it.

Miller goes on to assert, however, that the implication of being a professional photographer is that you strive to take aesthetically pleasing photographs. I can see that in some cases that is inevitably true (in commercial photography for instance) but for many photographers, particularly those who would consider themselves to be artists, the aesthetic quality comes second to the content of an image. On the other hand, a professional photographer would probably have more technical training and knowledge than an amateur and thus their images would be of a higher technical quality than those of an amateur photographer. Then there is the question of how we decide what is and isn’t aesthetically pleasing when it’s so obviously subjective.

Later in the article, the writer suggests that the snapshot aesthetic brings the photographer and the audience closer together. The general subjects of snapshot photography are very personal and intimate so it’s obvious that they will reveal more of the photographer than other types of photography. Miller refers to this as “enforced intimacy” and in relation to this project I have often felt, whilst looking through someone else’s personal photographs, like an intruder. This intimacy with someone you don’t have a personal connection to can feel quite uncomfortable and awkward. Although it seems to be getting easier as the project progresses, I still feel some apprehension when I look at a film for the first time. The other side of that is the excitement of voyeurism, which is a subject I will come back to in another post.

Miller suggests that the line between amateur and professional has been blurred when the professional uses the snapshot style in their work. I would tend to disagree. The amateur produces images with a snapshot quality as a matter of course. The professional photographer has made a deliberate choice in employing these tactics. The fact that it is referred to as an ‘aesthetic’ implies that it is a conscious decision to produce images that have this appearance. He makes a very good point, however, when talking about the influence the internet has had on the boundaries between pro and amateur:

“The intention behind a photograph posted on the internet can be unclear – is the person behind the camera an amateur or a professional and is that self-distinction relevant to our appreciation of the image?”

Do we need to know whether the person that produced the image is a professional, or if it was the first time they had picked up a camera? To my mind, it comes back to the question of intentions. If we are examining a photograph purely on visual qualities, it doesn’t matter how or why it was produced. If we want to read deeper, the intention of the photographer becomes pertinent information. That isn’t to say that an amateur can’t produce a photograph with depth beyond it’s surface qualities, just that it is relevant to our reading of the photograph.

It is pointed out that to construct a snapshot style photograph actually takes a certain amount of skill on the part of the photographer. Snapshots have a quality of being ‘happy accidents’ and it can be difficult to fake that quality without the resulting image looking false or staged. It requires the photographer to have an eye for the split-second moments that make for great snapshots (similar in many ways to the concept of the decisive moment ).

In this project I have received so much great snapshot photography, with the qualities that professional photographers are so frequently trying to emulate. I’m building a fantastic resource and archive of these types of images that we can study and examine to try to seek out what it is about this kind of photography that makes it so appealing.

The article is available to read on the BJP website and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

I apologise for the scarcity of posts recently, but I thought I would give a sneak peek at what you can expect soon:

  > A new category of post where I review a journal article that is relevant to this project. At least two posts of this kind.

  > A new film!

  > A ‘State of Affairs’ style post where I reflect on the progress of the project so far and begin to answer some of the questions I set myself at the beginning.

  > A post examining the comparisons to the film ‘Amelie’ I have received recently.




Hold tight, there is a ton of content incoming!!

This is the second film from the girl that sent me the previous one. This film is similar in content to the previous one: photographs of friends out having a good time. It also seems to be split between at least two different events. One of which seems to be some kind of party in the woods, with a makeshift DJ booth set up with tarpaulins and people dancing amongst the trees, such as in this photograph:

This is a great image, the frozen people dancing and the fact that it’s clearly still daytime makes it appear quite surreal and bizarre. It’s also clearly a candid shot, as are most of the photographs on this film.

To me, this is the most aesthetically pleasing photograph from this film. The upwards shot through the trees with the sunlight shining through the leaves has a very whimsical quality.




As the film progresses, it appears to me that the photographer is possibly getting more inebriated in one way or another, the composition gets a little erratic and there are a few photographs taken very close to people’s face with flash, resulting in this effect:

This film was taken from a disposable camera and it think it really captures the essence of what those cameras are all about: candid, heavy on the flash and most importantly, capturing the passing moments in times of celebration and festivity.


All of the photographs from this film can be found on Flickr.


Please feel free to discuss these photographs, or any others from the film in the comments!

The Mass Observation Project was an organisation founded in Britain in the 1930s. It’s aim was to record the everyday lives of the British people. This information was gathered by British citizens who would report on not only their own day-to-day lives, but those of their neighbours and others in their community. Particular attention was paid to public events such as sports matches where people were gathered together and behaviour could be observed en masse, but also trivial detail such as the price of fish and chips and the which end of a cigarette people tapped before they lit it. The three men who started the project were Charles Madge, a poet and journalist, Humphrey Jennings, an artist and filmmaker; and Tom Harrisson, an anthropologist. Their differing interests meant the project never had a clear objective since it was pulled in three different directions by those who founded it and they were constantly in disagreement about what the aims of the project were.








Obviously the project was met with criticism from those who felt that it was invasive to have people reporting on their neighbours, and obviously during WWII anybody who was thought to be spying on other people would have been treated with great suspicion and hostility. But the project never had any intention to victimise or single out anybody. In fact, with the huge volume of information they were receiving from their hundreds of volunteers, it would have been almost impossible to distinguish one person from the next, it was virtually anonymous.

The reason that I have decided to write about the Mass Observation Project here is that it occurred to me fairly early on that the photographs I was receiving were more-or-less an unbiased collection of materials relating to everyday life. These films obviously weren’t shot with this project in mind and thus they are an unprejudiced snapshot of aspects of the subjects’ lives. You could draw parallels easily with the types of images produced by the Mass Observation Project and the ones I have discovered through this project.








Obviously the differences between the two projects lie in their intentions. I have never approached this project from an anthropological point of view, neither am I attempting to produce an archive of the everyday. Not only is that not my interest, but the Mass Observation Project did (and still does) this to such a great extent that any effort I made would pale in comparison. My interest lies in the types of images that people ‘forgot’ about, that were never developed.

The Mass Observation Project was revived in 1981 and has carried on ever since, it’s current online home is at the Sussex University, details of it can be found here

There is also a very detailed in interesting article about the history of the project and it’s founders at the The New Yorker

Discussion is welcome in the comments!

To start with, apologies for the lack of posts this week, between injuries, uni and work this week has really gotten away from me. The good news is that I have another three films to share with you over the next few days! I also have a bit of a backlog of film to get processed so there’s no shortage of photographs to come!! People have been really generous with their film but I’m still always welcoming more! Email me at forgottennegatives@gmail.com if you have any film you’d like to donate to the project.

Anyway, as indicated by the title of the post I have another film to share with you. This is one of a couple of films received from the same person. You can view the entire set on Flickr but these are my picks from this film:

This is far and away my favourite shot on this film. The photographer has captured a brilliant moment, absolutely candid reactions to something seemingly very unpleasant.

I enjoy this shot for the fact that it doesn’t really fit with the rest of the film. It’s part of a series of six images at the start of the film of fairly random objects: a lava lamp, synthetic dreads, a wall hanging, whereas the rest of the film is of people enjoying a night out, although it looks like it could be a couple of different nights out.

From the look of it, this photograph was taken by one of the group holding it above their heads. Unwittingly they have produced a photograph that not only has an interesting composition, but the flash has lit the subjects perfectly, whilst keeping the surroundings dark. I find this photograph very satisfying visually.

When I was reviewing this film it made me smile several times, the people in it look to be having so much fun and it’s infectious to the viewer. An interesting thing to note is that these don’t look like they’re all from the same night out. Which would indicate that the owner of the camera has carried it around for some time which, to my mind, would make these photographs more precious. I almost felt guilty for being the first person to see these, rather than the original owner of the film.

Any thoughts on these photographs, or any others? Let me know in the comments!

I fell over on my driveway last night and I’ve mostly spent this morning limping about and whining. Which means that I won’t be making a post this morning like I said I would. Hopefully this evening after work.

But if I can leave you with one message: ALWAYS tie up your shoelaces properly people!!

So last week I left you with a teaser and as promised I have retrieved the scans and uploaded them to Flickr

The entire set can be viewed here but I have chosen my favourites from the film.

This is one of my favourite films so far. To be given a film containing photographs of Christmas-time is amazing for me because I’m such a Christmas fanatic! When I first saw these photographs I thought they were from the early-mid 1990s, but I’ve attempted to date them using the Liverpool football shirt the little boy is wearing and I think they were shot around 2003 (please correct me if you know otherwise). Still, that’s about 7 years. I’m still surprised at how many people have photographs of important family events (such as Christmas) sitting undeveloped in drawers and cupboards. I think perhaps the rise of digital photography has made film seem a slow and unwieldy medium on which to capture these moments. Which I think is a shame overall but it’s great for a project like this one. I think I’ll have to discuss further the decline in popularity of film and what it means for this project in another post. Anyway, here are my picks from the film:



For me, this photograph embodies childhood memories of Christmas: mountains of presents, huge gifts dwarfing the little boy who is the centre of attention without really knowing it. It really evokes the excitement of Christmas for a child.



There are several photographs like this one, capturing an intimate moment between what I’m going to assume is a father and his excitable son. As a series they give the impression of being candid moments, as if they aren’t aware of the camera at all.



This picture seems to have been taken from the child’s point of view, unlike the others in the series. Although he’s smiling, the adult looms over the child and seems almost sinister, albeit unintentionally.


Discussion and feedback on these images or any others is welcome in the comments!

I’ll be posting another artist inspiration post tomorrow morning so keep an eye out for that!