Living In My Fridge

Sometimes something strange shows up where you least expect it.

We don't get many visitors, and those who do stop by rarely have occasion to open the fridge. Lurking in there next to the chutney for some time has been two rolls of 36 exposure Fujicolor C200 film.

It's been there for so long that I no longer notice it, at least not consciously. It's as normal to me as everything else; milk and juice on the bottom shelf of the door, chutney, lemon juice, and Fujicolor C200 on the top shelf. Visitors tell me this is odd.

What they don't understand however is that film is alive. And like other things that are alive, such as you and I, it degrades over time. One way of ensuring film retains its particular qualities for as long as possible is to keep it nice and cold. Many professional photographers used to do this in special fridges, away from the cheese and beer, but where's the fun in that.

Fig 2. digital photo of the top shelf on the door of my fridge taken with a Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone

The rolls in our fridge will have to wait a little longer. Today I dug out my Rollei 35B, took the cover off my bicycle, and went for a ride.

The camera was already loaded, with 23 shots taken some time earlier. Of what and when I have no idea. If you can afford to then you can unload the film whenever you like and get it developed. For the rest of us we have to wait. And waiting means forgetting.

So today I took a few more shots and put the camera back in its bag. Tomorrow I'll head out again and finish the roll. Then I'll post it to the lab and in about a week's time I should find out what's on those other 23 shots.

I might even have finished my mango chutney by then.