"To see these photos again, eighteen years later, without knowing that we had lost them, it does something," says Fabrice Marcel. Thanks to a curious coincidence, this resident of Argelès-Gazost (Hautes-Pyrénées) repossessed a film dating from 2005 and including 24 photos of the first Christmas with his son.
It was discovered on May 1 in a former disused factory specializing in the automobile in Séméac, near Tarbes, by Théophile Baye, a photographer practicing urbex, the urban exploration of abandoned places.
"It's crazy that it has survived the test of time"
In the rubble, he stumbles upon two disposable cameras and three films, one of which appears to be in good condition. After much hesitation, he took this film and had it developed. "I then discovered the Christmas of a family, with the father, the mother and the grandparents, with clothes from the years 1990-2000, says Théophile Baye. It's crazy that it has survived the test of time, it intrigues me, so I decide to publish, on May 18, four photos on a Facebook group in the Hautes-Pyrénées telling the whole story. »
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Three hours later, three people recognized the father and gave the Urbex enthusiast a surname, that of their boss. The next day the employees informed Fabrice Marcel of the existence of these photos, who then contacted Théophile Baye. The pictures were sent to him digitally.
"There was a Kodak centre there, maybe we forgot about that film," he explains. It was moving to see these pictures of my son, who, the day after their return, was going to celebrate his 18th birthday. So I offered him the photos. When he goes to Argelès-Gazost, Théophile Baye promised Fabrice Marcel to visit him to give him the negatives.
