American taps small Sask. business to solve international photo mystery

An unknown photographer snapped this image of San Francisco in the 1960s, along with countless others that show a turbulent time of protest against war and racial injustice. An American man has been trying to uncover the identity of the photographer for more than four years. (Submitted by Speaklocal)Social SharingAmerican photographer Bill Delzell has spent more than four years consumed by a mystery. Now, he can feel himself inching toward a conclusion.

Sometime in the 1960s, an unknown man or woman wandered through San Francisco, capturing vivid moments of that turbulent decade. Muhammad Ali on stage burning a draft card. A young Carlos Santana bent over his guitar. Countless pictures of the counterculture moment, with flower-painted vans, and long-haired men and women frozen in time, holding signs for peace, love and freedom.

"When I saw the work, I only turned a few pages of these albums and I felt like I'd seen enough. I had this sort of powerful emotional feeling about it," said Delzell, who himself lives in San Francisco.

Muhammad Ali famously spoke out against the Vietnam War draft, with this particular speech captured on film by an unknown photographer. A Saskatchewan company is now helping in the search for the photographer's identity. (Submitted by Speaklocal)A collector first showed him the photos, with the explanation that they were discovered abandoned in a Bay Area storage locker in the 1980s.

"I just felt like, what a tragic loss, this notion that someone could have devoted that much time and then walked away. There had to be a story behind that."

Delzell has spent years trying to track down the identity of the photographer. How did this man or woman get so close to so many critical moments in San Francisco history, like Forrest Gump with a camera?

"We have since found footage from other news outlets that shows a mysterious figure wandering through the crowd. And we think that's our person," he said.

Something about the quality of the photos struck Bill Delzell powerfully. He wondered how a talented photographer could have gotten separated from so much of his or her work. (Submitted by Speaklocal)There's another tool in his sleuthing efforts. Delzell has purchased the collection, and has also acquired 75 rolls of unprocessed film that might give clues to the photographer's identity.

"As a photographer, I knew that film sort of expires over time," he said.

In his mind, the precious unprocessed film could have been exposed to hostile temperatures or light. It needed to be developed with care.

"So I knew I needed to find an expert."

A young Carlos Santana performs. (Submitted by Speaklocal)Sask. lab's expertise sought worldwideHe found his expert in Sask-based Film Rescue International. Rather than fly and risk exposing the film to X-rays, he drove 25 hours to its location in the town of Indian Head, Sask. 

Here at this old bank building, film archivist Gerald Freyer has gotten used to uncovering old family mysteries, cracking out old cameras and rolls of film, and revealing never-before seen parts of the past. People from all over the world seek out the company's expertise in developing old film.

"I need a bell for each amazing picture, and I should ring that bell nearly three, four times a day when I'm digitizing," Freyer said, shaking his head with wonder. "It's like watching The History Channel all day long, you know, because we have these amazing jobs."

American photographer Bill Delzell and film archivist Gerald Fryer, seen here outside of Indian Head-based Film Rescue International, are teaming up to process film to discover the identity of a mystery photographer. (Janani Whitfield/CBC)It will cost tens of thousands of dollars to do this work, but it's not the biggest job the lab has undertaken. It has also processed and digitized thousands of photos from the late American photographer Charles Daniels, showing rock stars like Rod Stewart and Mick Jagger in intimate moments, on planes and in hotel rooms.

Film Rescue International's work astounds Delzell.

"The devotion that it takes to do this kind of work — it's far beyond the imagination, really," he said.

Delzell has combed through internet tips and shared the work with friends and strangers alike, fundraising along the way to support the work.

In his quest to uncover the photographer's identity, Delzell sent five photographs out of thousands to a friend, who had an unbelievable reaction of seeing her younger self at five or six years old on a march. Fellow photographer Michael Zagaris can also be seen in a picture with Ali, who asked him for his draft card and then proceeded to burn it on stage, according to Delzell. 

"Some might call [these] coincidence, some might call it synchronicity," Delzell said. "I am not looking for an explanation. I'm just continuing the search."

The 1960s were a turbulent time with much cause for protest, recalls San Francisco-based photographer Bill Delzell. (Submitted by Speaklocal)Having lived through the 1960s himself, Delzell thinks that people have a tendency to overromanticize that era. He recalls the turbulence of the decade, including anger over the Vietnam War and racial injustice. He was only 10 when he attended his first anti-war protest with his father in 1967. 

"I distinctly remember him saying, 'I'm going to send you to Canada if you're ever drafted. And here we are!'" Delzell said, chuckling.

Now, he's pinning his hopes on this small Sask. company to help uncover the secret he's chased for four years. The staff's passion for film and photography, along with their expertise, makes the company one-of-a-kind when it comes to excavating history, he said.

Janani Whitfield is a community engagement producer who also edits feature storytelling and First Person columns for CBC Saskatchewan. Contact her at janani.whitfield@cbc.ca.