60s: I have a store

Chapter 209 Taking Photos

After eating, Zhou Yimin took out the photos he had taken and showed them to his grandparents.

Since getting in touch with his great aunt, Zhou Yimin took a group of photos with the camera that his great aunt sent back, but unfortunately his father was not there.

Among those photos, there were photos of Zhou Yimin with his grandparents, as well as individual photos of each of them, and even photos of Zhang Yan, Qianqian, Lai Fu, Lai Cai, Lai Fang and others.

The photos include their houses and the village scenery that my aunt was familiar with when she was a child.

Nearly twenty photos.

Zhou Yimin believed that his aunt would be happy to see familiar people and her familiar hometown.

After taking the photos, Zhou Yimin asked someone to have them developed.

In fact, developing photos is not difficult.

The process of developing photos is: developing - enlarging - fixing - imaging - cooling and drying.

The first two steps require the use of purchased special medicine powder to make special medicine liquid.

First, you need to take out the film in the darkroom. It is usually impossible to have a dedicated darkroom at home, so usually the windows are covered tightly with thick curtains, and only a small red light can be used in the darkroom.

Then, after enlarging the photo paper to the size you need, you can put it in the corresponding developer and fixer, wait until the image is stable, and then clip it on a rope to dry.

Although it looks easy, Zhou Yimin still leaves it to professionals.

In his previous life, Zhou Yimin was not very good at taking photos. Even the mobile phone cameras with built-in beauty filters did not take very good photos, let alone this kind of primitive camera.

Moreover, these photos are still in black and white when they are developed.

There are color photos nowadays, but they are relatively rare, and the cameras used for them are also very expensive.

"Well! Very good. When will you send it to your aunt?" asked the old man.

After looking at the photos, he was quite satisfied.

In this day and age, it’s fine as long as the picture is clear, but there is no such requirement as in later times to photoshop the legs to make them longer, etc. If the picture is not realistic, you may even be criticized for not knowing how to take pictures and the picture does not look like the person.

The old man wrote a letter and planned to give it to his eldest grandson and ask him to send it together.

"This one is well taken." Grandma was also looking at the photos.

She was holding a photo in her hand, which must be the one she was most satisfied with, and she was a little reluctant to give it away.

Zhou Yimin saw it.

He smiled and said, "Grandma, we have a camera and can take more photos anytime."

After this reminder, the old lady finally reacted and put down the photo in her hand.

Then, Zhou Yimin replied to his grandfather: "Tomorrow! I will send it directly when I return to the city tomorrow."

When the old man heard this, he immediately went back to his room, took out two pieces of paper filled with words, and handed them to Zhou Yimin: "Send it by the way!"

Zhou Yimin nodded. He had no interest in reading other people's letters. In fact, he could probably guess the contents without reading them.

"okay!"

There is still a lot of film, and my aunt has prepared enough.

Third Aunt was holding a family photo and was very happy.

You know, this is her first photo.

That's right! This is her first photo. Even when she got married, she didn't have a photo of herself. In rural areas, this is very common. Many people don't take photos when they get married. Some people may not believe it. Don't you have a marriage certificate when you get married? How can you not take photos?
What everyone doesn’t know is that the marriage certificate in this era is not a book, but something similar to a certificate.

When the country was first founded, marriage certificates in different places might be different and not unified.

Marriage certificates are similar in format and text, but the patterns and styles are diverse. One type is auspicious patterns that inherit traditional cultural colors, and the other type reflects the style of the new China, the new society and the new marriage law.

It was not until 1955 that the Ministry of the Interior formulated a unified marriage certificate style, stipulating the size, layout features, document format, and official seal content, but lace patterns could still be selected by oneself.

At this time, the marriage certificate will not have a photo, and the words on it may even be handwritten.

Very crude.

Therefore, many rural people may not have a photo of themselves even when they get married.

Nowadays, having a photo of yourself in the countryside is something to show off.

Third Aunt took it home and planned to have someone make a frame for it.

On the road, someone saw her walking without looking at the road, looking at something in her hand, and asked: "Huang Lan, what are you looking at? You are so engrossed."

Huang Lan waved the photo in her hand and said in a rather Versailles way, "It's nothing. It's a photo Yimin took of my family. Take a look. It's pretty good."

When the women heard this, they all swarmed over.

Photos are rare in Zhoujia Village, so they naturally want to see them. In their village, only a handful of people have taken photos.

Huang Lan's family is lucky. Not only do they eat well and dress well, but they can also get involved in photography and the like.

Of course, Zhoujiazhuang actually benefited from Zhou Yimin's help to enjoy their current good life. When other villages were starving, their village was able to eat its fill. Everyone knew the reason.

"It really is."

Everyone who has seen it showed envious expressions.

"It doesn't cost a lot to go to a photo studio to take pictures. Yimin said a few cents would be enough. You can go and take a couple of pictures!" Huang Lan said again.

The others fell silent.

A one-inch black-and-white photo costs only 1 or cents. Isn’t that expensive?

Taking photos is a high-cost activity.

These days, you can buy a bunch of radishes for 5 cents, and a pound of top-quality yellow croaker costs only 1 cents. Going to a photo studio to take a -inch black-and-white photo costs to cents, and a color photo costs several times more, and you can only get it after more than a month. After taking such a photo, you have to think about how you will live for a while.

In addition to the photographer's labor costs, there are also direct costs such as photo development and printing fees.

Photographers also need to spend time and energy to arrange the shooting scene and clothing and other details. As photography technology was not yet popular and cameras were not easy to obtain, it was rare to be able to take a family portrait.

Therefore, in the 60s, taking photos could be seen as a luxury consumption behavior.

Everyone in the village knew that Zhou Yimin had a camera. To be honest, there must be people who wanted Zhou Yimin to take a photo for them, but they were too embarrassed to ask.

Cameras at that time were very expensive, almost as expensive as bicycles.

The price of a Seagull camera reached 160 yuan, which was equivalent to the monthly salary of a level 13 cadre in the army at that time.

People who can afford a camera are those with a certain economic foundation, while for ordinary poor people, even taking a photo is a luxury, let alone buying a camera.

Not long after, they heard that Yimin was taking pictures for people in the village.

When the villagers got the news, they immediately ran towards Zhou Yimin's location, fearing that they would be too late and would not get a share.

(End of this chapter)