Scanned from the original Kodachrome II (ISO 25) slide, Vancouver, British Columbia, October 1970. Shot with a Pentax Spotmatic and 50mm lens.

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Tags:   fence houses Kitsilano Kits 1970 street scene city urban vintage Kodachrome Vancouver BC British Columbia Canada

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When I first came to Vancouver in September 1970, I lived in this house for two months. A friend and I shared a room, $35/month (ie. $17.50 each). That was probably too much. Decrepit doesn't even begin to describe it. Among our fellow roomers were three junkies and a reformed speed freak - oh, excuse me, that is so politically incorrect; I meant to say victims of substance abuse. Also a teenaged kid who roomed on the top floor with his "friend", a wannabe drag queen; two destitute elderly women; and a hot shot young male landlord who actually had a nice suite (except for the chrome and glass furnishings) on the main floor. Here is the view from the backyard. These houses are long gone from the West End of Vancouver.

I shot this on Kodachrome II, which had an ISO rating of 25. I made no attempt to pull the magenta out of that sky, because this was Kodachrome's rendition of sky blue more often than not, and it makes me nostalgic for the old days of film. Scanned from the original Kodachrome II slide, October 1970.

Photographed in Vancouver, BC (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 1970 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

Tags:   old house brown wood backyard laundry clothesline urban city decrepit building West End Nelson Street Vancouver BC British Columbia Canada Kodachrome 1970

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It has been a while since I dipped into the really old files. This was Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1972. The original transparency, an Agfachrome, was fading badly when I scanned it a decade ago, so I probably rescued it just in time.

Agfachrome was strange stuff. ISO 50, heavy grain, and a very warm colour shift. Even worse, its dyes were unstable and prone to early fading. Eventually, only the magenta remained. Because it was impossible to restore the original colour, I converted the digital file to monochrome, then back to RGB, and added a sepia wash. I also put it through at least four Nik Effects filters to produce a somewhat antiquated look, reduce some of the grain, and create a slight glow. It isn't about retaining detail, it's about recreating the feel of the moment - and the time.

The time: I had kicked around eastern Canada for a couple of years after university, but not yet found a place that felt like home. I was 23 years old. Then Vancouver captured my heart. There was something about the mountains meeting the ocean... the winter rains never bothered me... Kitsilano, the neighbourhood seen in the foreground - really a collection of old wood houses, now all gone - was crawling with counterculture kids. The city itself wasn't too big or cold or alienating. The streets were friendly. Rents were reasonable ($50/month for a room). It would be a good place to live and come of age and figure out what I wanted to do in life.

I made this shot from an upper window in a house at 3rd Ave & Arbutus. Too bad I wasn't shooting Kodachrome that day, but then the image would still be pristine and I would not have created this slightly surreal take on the city. The camera was a Pentax Spotmatic, and I think I was using a 105mm lens.

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Tags:   Vancouver British Columbia BC Canada city urban mountains clouds rain buildings West End hi-rise glowing dark moody Kitsilano wood houses West Coast 45 years ago film scan Agfachrome ISO 50 grainy Nik Effects b&w black and white sepia altered surreal archival long gone color slide colour slide transparency scanned copyrighted 1972 James R. Page

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Compared to the Kodachromes, Agfachrome has not held up very well. Grainy, fading... this scan involved major restoration work to preserve the image. One of my earliest photos of Vancouver, BC, after relocating there in 1972. I made the shot from the third floor of an old wood house on the corner of Arbutus and West 3rd. Long gone, as are most of the houses in the foreground of this image.

Scanned from the original Agfachrome slide, December 1972.

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Tags:   city urban landscape cityscape houses hi-rise mountains clouds Kitsilano West End English Bay Stanley Park North Shore Mountains Vancouver BC British Columbia Canada Agfachrome 1972

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Another old shot. I remember the moment: I was walking somewhere in east Vancouver, new to the city, just poking around with my camera, when these two little guys shouted "Mister, mister! Take our picture!" So I did.

That's all I know about them. Two grubby little boys, their faces trusting, innocent, happy that a stranger would want to take their picture. Today, if they survived to adulthood, they will be in their early to mid-fifties. I wonder what kind of lives they've had.

Photographed in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) on Kodacolor film; scanned from the original negative. The camera was a Pentax Spotmatic and I was using a 105mm lens. I'm surprised at how well the colour has held up after all these years, considering the relative instability of colour neg materials. I made this scan more than ten years ago and finally got around to processing it last winter! Did some necessary re-saturating and colour correction in Photoshop, as well as dust removal - the big consumer photo labs of the era had virtually no quality control and were full of dust. The result is pretty accurate, I think. Fun to work with these retro images from time to time!

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Tags:   boys friends portrait two children youngsters smiles smiling happy innocent spontaneous on the street Vancouver British Columbia BC Canada Kodacolor film negative scan retro old 1972 copyrighted James R. Page

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