New discoveries are made everyday. In late 2014 at an auction in Ohio, photographer Levi Bettweiser, the man behind the Rescued Film Project, stumbled upon a rare collection of 31 undeveloped film rolls.
Seeing that the rolls have been damaged by rust and water, he wasn’t really sure what to expect.
Bettweiser goes through the time-consuming task of developing and processing each one of the undeveloped film rolls.
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
Almost half of the rolls had handwritten notes on the side of the canisters/boxes. There were various location names (i.e. LaHavre Harbor, Boston Harbor, Lucky Strike Beach) most probably where the photos were shot.
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
“I get the most nervous while developing the very first batch because that will be an indicator of the types of images I’m going to get in the rest of the batch”, says Bettweiser.
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
“There is a large possibility that I might not recover a single image from any of these rolls of film.”
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
There is much to learn about these film rolls, but the person who took the photos remains to be unknown. What’s clear is that he was a WWII soldier who shot 31 rolls of film to document the experiences he had during his service.
Truth is, we may never know him, but I’m pretty sure all of us would agree that what he left behind is a treasure of memories from a time long gone. And we are grateful for The Rescued Film Project for sharing the photographs to the rest of us.
Time to check out the photos!
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
The Rescued Film Project │ via BoredPanda
Watch the short film about The Rescued Film Project. It’s totally worth your time.
Credit: The Rescued Film Project