Thursday, January 5, 2012

Super 8 Snowstorm



In the summer of 1969, my parents bought a Hanimex Super 8 camera to record the first year of my sister's life. It was, or at least it seemed to us, the very latest in modern technology - even though you couldn't record any sound. You bought the film at the camera store -- you remember those -- and we dropped the film off at Star Market in East Providence to get it developed. The film came in three minute rolls, encased in a small black cassette. It took a few days and then you went back to the supermarket to pick it up. We had a Bell & Howell projector, and we'd set it up and watch the movies that we shot.

We got a little better at it, and I don't remember our parents ever telling us not to shoot this, or don't do that -- in terms of wasting film - so we pretty much shot whatever we wanted.

I'm guessing this film is from 1972 or 1973. There is a shot with my sister in it -- she's wearing the red and white coat -- and she doesn't look more than 2 or 3 years old so the year seems about right.

It seems very quaint and cosy to me. The look of the cars. The umbrella the woman is carrying as she walks down the street. The ancient snow plows. It has gone from being a contemporary glimpse into the world to a snapshot of a time that seems long ago now.

The background music is courtesy of Mr. Dean Martin.

-- Lars Trodson