A Fort Langley photographer鈥檚 visit to an antique store resulted in a familial discovery for a woman in another province, reuniting her with her ancestors鈥� White Rock photographs.
An old roll and passion driving him forward
Jim Sollows, a retired healthcare worker and hobby-photographer visited an antique shop in Vancouver, where he was given an old roll of undeveloped film by the shop鈥檚 owner.
Due to the age and size of the film roll 鈥� it was too large to fit in the developing tank鈥� Sollows had to unroll it to reveal the negatives in complete darkness.
Sollows may love a challenge, especially ones that involve ancient film, but this one was a hurdle he had to convince himself to get over.
鈥淚 was actually thinking to myself as I鈥檓 doing this, 鈥業 might as well turn the lights on and throw it in the garbage because there鈥檚 no way this is going to work.鈥欌��
De-spiraling the reel was time-consuming, as the film kept jumping out of the chemical bath and 鈥渢rying to coil up around my arm like an anaconda,鈥� Sollows said with a laugh.
Finally, the film co-operated long enough to visit the water bath. With the film no longer completely light-sensitive, Sollows was able to view the film for the first time under the red safe light.
鈥淚 held up the negative to the safe light and I saw these pictures there and I audibly gasped and thought, 鈥業 can鈥檛 believe it.鈥欌��
What he was looking at were three of six surviving photos of what appeared to be a family. The first three photos could not be salvaged, lost to UV light that was able to leak in over the years, but photos four to six were more protected and thus able to be recovered.
When it comes to 鈥渙rphan film,鈥� as Sollows has coined it, it is nearly impossible to find the owners. Given that the film was over 90 years old and given to him by a non-owner, he had little hope that the family could be found.
There were no identifiable pieces in the photos either, making the task of solving the mystery even more difficult.
Regardless, Sollows enlisted the help of his friend Steve Bueckert and the two decided to give it a shot, reaching out to social-media users in the process.
Recognition found in next-door province
By coincidence, at the same time the mystery photos went online, Pamela Bonar in Edmonton, Alta. was digging into her family tree.
Bonar鈥檚 search led her to B.C. 鈥� her family having ties to White Rock and Vancouver 鈥� when she discovered the photos Sollows had developed.
鈥淚 was really connecting with the eyes of the toddler and I kept going back to the photos and going, 鈥榃hy do I recognize that face? That face looks familiar to me.鈥欌��
The toddler in the photos was indeed familiar. She was Lorraine Provan Bonar, Pamela Bonar鈥檚 paternal grandmother. Excited, she contacted Sollows via Facebook and continued to dig into her family history to pinpoint every person in the three photographs.
An extremely rare photo was also recovered by Sollows.
Johnny Selmar Carlsen, Lorraine鈥檚 uncle who was photographed holding her (first photo), died at about 18 years old from diabetes, and until now, nobody in the Bonar family had ever seen a photograph of him.
Carlsen鈥檚 image provided another emotional moment for Bonar. She shared that Lorraine鈥檚 uncle bore a great resemblance to Bonar鈥檚 own father who the family lost not long ago to the same disease.
鈥淚t鈥檚 another connection to the family history鈥� it鈥檚 like a mirror,鈥� Bonar said.
Seeing these decades-old photographs in person changed everything for Bonar, once she received the physical photos from Owen Law who printed and hand-delivered them to Bonar.
鈥淚t was like seeing my father holding my grandmother and since they had been estranged, it was, it really was emotional,鈥� she said.
鈥淭his made me feel like everything鈥檚 OK, that there鈥檚 some peace now, everybody鈥檚 resting in peace now and there鈥檚 that closure there for me.鈥�
Bonar and her family lived in White Rock for decades, her family even had a farm in the city and every photograph recovered by Sollows and Bueckert was taken around 1926.
The Final Piece
Even after receiving the message from Bonar, Sollows and Bueckert鈥檚 minds were still stuck on the photograph of Lorraine鈥檚 mother Pauline Hjerdis Carlsen Provan wearing a sweater bearing an image they presumed to be Flash Gordon. Because the 1936 science fiction hero did not debut until a decade after the photos were presumably captured, this one picture still puzzled the duo.
It was not until he received information from a sports reporter based in the U.S. they learned the figure on the sweater was actually an Olympic figure-skater from 1924.
鈥淭hat was the last piece of the puzzle, it all fit.鈥�
Sollows teaches film photography and accepts donations of cameras to restore and provide to students. To learn more, visit his website at sollows.ca.
READ MORE: Search is on for individuals pictured in unclaimed White Rock photos
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