Miles Myerscough-Harris had a simple task: recreate AIK Soccer Club's 100-year-old team photo. His primary equipment, his 1897 No. 4 cartridge Kodak camera, further complicated the mission.
A few days before AIK's friendly against Karlberg on February 18, the club unveiled a special kit to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of AIK's club Allsvenskan. The players wore uniforms prepared by coach Myerscough-Harris before the match against Karlberg. To take pictures.
With the starting eleven in place, it was time for him to seize the moment. But there was a problem. He politely asked the photographers ahead of him, “Can you all please stand back?”
Myerscough-Harris had to stand 40 feet away from the players to keep everyone in line. When the photographers grabbed their digital cameras and Myerscough-Harris brought them in, they were surprised to see a large, bulky camera that had to be removed from its leather case.
“They saw it and were like, 'Oh my god, what are we doing with this? That was really funny,'” Myerscough-Harris told ESPN. “But actually, everyone was so supportive. It was really cool. All the other photographers were just standing there thinking this was really cool.”
Myerscough-Harris had enough time to take just one photo and hoped it would be the right shot when the expired 35mm film was developed.
Fortunately, that was the case. As of March 12th, his posts shared on Instagram, TikTok, and X have received more than 10 million views.
He shared a story about the camera on social media in August 2023, and it caught the attention of someone from the online store Pro:Direct Soccer, who contacted him to use the camera to shoot a special kit of AIK. I pitched the idea.
“Then we also got in touch with the club and Nike Sweden, who were somewhat involved in the launch and obviously in the design of the kit and things like that,” Myerscough-Harris said. “And it all came together, it was incredible.”
Myerscuff Harris' wife found this 127-year-old camera in an antiques shop in Farnham, England.
The antique store tried to contact the retailer where it was purchased, but couldn't get much information about where the camera came from. But Myerscough-Harris said it was being used as a prop in a theatrical production.
With extra time on his hands during the 2021 coronavirus lockdown, he started buying “old, weird, and wonderful film cameras” paired with expired film to experiment with. He then posted the photo on his social media account @ExpiredFilm, aptly named.
Picking up the camera was easy. Photographing his sports events with old cameras and film is nothing new to him, but he had never done it with a device this old. He also brought a new camera to the game.
Shooting a soccer match with 35mm film ⚽️🎞️ #expiredfilmclub pic.twitter.com/Y286a9AjoT
— Miles | Expired Film Club (@expiredfilmclub) March 3, 2024
When his wife put down the camera, it immediately caught Myerscuff-Harris' attention. Older cameras are usually in poor condition or may not work completely, he said.
“This one, [I] When I took it off the shelf, I found it in beautiful condition and everything working perfectly. So I was like, I mean, I need to figure that out,” Myerscough-Harris said.
The distance of 40 feet from the team was a small guess. The camera has a small viewfinder, which is a mirror that shows you what you're aiming at. Myerscough-Harris explained that when you adjust the lens, there is a small metal arrow that indicates the distance it is in focus.
Myerscough-Harris, along with his brother and Nike Swede, put them in the position the team expected them to be. The viewfinder showed the team had to stand 40 feet away to capture the 11 people in the photo.
Myerscough-Harris said the process of traveling with a camera wasn't too bad. He carried the leather case that came with the camera and walked through the airport, “carrying it through security like a baby.”
Myerscough-Harris ended up taking a total of five photos from the game, including two action shots. He used his typical expired 35mm film.
The expired film that Myerscough-Harris often uses gives the results a different feel. Colors may be distorted and the photo may appear very grainy.
”[It’s] “It's like applying a random filter to a film photo because you can take back shots taken on expired film,” he said. . ”
Several substitutes from @AIKfotboll Kit launch 100 years ago 📸 All shot on 35mm film #expiredfilmclub pic.twitter.com/lvR7K8lsPT
— Miles | Expired Film Club (@expiredfilmclub) February 26, 2024
Myerscough-Harris owns 15 to 20 different cameras, but only uses four or five on a regular basis. The 1897 camera is his oldest.
He also owns a 1920s Box Brownie camera, a 1940s folding camera, and recently purchased a camera used for aerial surveillance in World War II.
The reaction to his photo during the game surprised Myerscough-Harris.
“I think the fact that we recreated the original team photo with a 100-year-old camera made it even more interesting,” Myerscough-Harris said. “But it's really gratifying to see the response. I mean, it's great to see how far it's spread.”