That one time a stranger saved my roll of Tri-X at a bus stop

I was in downtown Portland last fall, fumbling to rewind a roll of film that jammed in my Pentax K1000. A guy in his 60s walked over and asked if I needed help, then showed me how to use a dark bag to salvage the film. He said he had been shooting since the 1970s and recognized the panic on my face. We talked for 20 minutes about development mistakes he made back in college. I still think about how kind it was for a stranger to stop and offer real advice. Has anyone else had a random person help them out of a jam like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

drew_grant527d agoTop Commenter

Read something recently about how older film photographers consider it their duty to pass down knowledge, basically a whole culture of helping out noobs in dire situations. It's cool to see that tradition is still alive, like that guy just saw you struggling and knew exactly what to do. Pretty rad that he took the time to share some of his own college screwups too, makes the whole thing feel more human.

zara_perez628d ago

Man, that brings back memories... I've totally been there with a jammed roll and no clue what to do. A dark bag is a lifesaver in those moments, I always keep one in my camera bag now after a similar close call at a park. It's funny how the folks who've been shooting for decades are usually the first to jump in and help out.