Impossible Project PX70 PUSH Part VI

Today... analog on analog.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH Part V

Shot from the balcony of the West Side Market, and probably one of my favorite recent shots with this film. It's not overly bright in colors, but for one of the first shots outside of the studio I was happy with the results.


I like the haze and blur that ended up happening around the bottom of the photo with the bright lights and people moving about. This ended up being about a 4 second exposure and leaves me interested in seeing how a long exposure at night might turn out on this film.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, West Side Market
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH Part IV

Shot quite a few Polaroids this past week/weekend. This is one of the first ones I shot, concentrating on colors and compositional lines.


Shot in studio with two 650w fresnel key lights and a 250w softbox for fill. Key lights gelled for daylight, fill left tungsten balanced. Not really the colors I expected to get, but I like it none the less.


I've got many more photos to come, and I hope to be posting daily over the next few days. Stay tuned for more, including the first out-of-studio shots with the SX-70.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH Part III

Some recent shots with the Impossible PX70 PUSH!

While shooting a set of fashion images with a new model, Ashley, I took the time to take a couple Polaroids. These are the first shots I've taken with my SX-70 Sonar of  a person. Not a ton of color in these, but overall I was pretty happy with the results.

Expect more Polaroids with models in the near future.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH Part II

I still had three exposures left with my first pack of Impossible's PUSH... it took two to get this shot to look the way I pictured it.


Since I have been getting some interest recently as to what my setups are like, or at least my lighting, for this film I'll give a little more detail. My first attempt used a tungsten 650w fresnel from below shooting straight up into the umbrella, and there were a couple ceiling mounted cyc lights on, 500w apiece. I didn't like how muddy and noisy the background came out for that first image, and I hadn't cranked my lighten/darken slider over to its lightest position for that photo either. 


The second shot, this one seen above, was basically the same set up, but I added two 1k open face fixtures pointed directly at the wall from parasol left and right. (the parasol itself, not an umbrella, is magical and floats on its own) 


I also noticed with this photo that shooting straight tungsten and not gelling lights to daylight has given me a lot more orange/warmth to the final image... I don't necessarily dislike it, but I feel the gelled light was more color correct. It will be interesting to compare final colors once the blue fade occurs that is known to happen with this film over time... ultimately this image might settle right into the sweet spot by being over warm to begin with.


Overall, loving this film and shooting polaroid. More to come, and I should be shooting some of this film with a model during the upcoming weekend. I'm excited to see what I can get with a person as the subject.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH

Today I shot a few more Polaroids in the studio. Unlike the last set, this is a new batch of film, the Impossible PX70 PUSH!, which is the newest color formula from the Impossible project.

As you can tell, there is a whole lot more color in this film than the last round. I specifically chose a subject that had more color in it as well, to see how bright I could get the colors. Going from some research I did on Impossible's website, I knew that using a lot of light, specifically artificial light,  would also help the colors really come out. So far, I'm really impressed with this film, although it's stability over time is yet to be seen.

I'm thinking of submitting an image soon to the Impossible Project's website to see if I can't get chosen to be one of their official testers of new film products. They will only be selecting ten, but I think it's worth a submission either way.

More from this film coming soon.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

A Portrait

I have been shooting some Kodachrome film for an upcoming photography contest, as at the end of the year, there will be no where left to develop it. These images are some digital test shots I took of one of my setups. Of course, I had a little fun with these images in the retouch, which I won't be able to do with the slides I get back, but if nothing else I am pretty happy with how these images turned out.


By the way the subject for these portraits is Richard Pergler, a gentleman who works here at my office and was kind enough to sit in for a few photos.

Photograph Info:
Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Impossible Project PX70 First Flush

This was the first test of the polaroid camera I recently bought, and some film that I have never tried before. Like a real man would, I shot some flowers... (click the images for a larger view)


The camera is a Polaroid SX70 Sonar, and the film is from the Impossible Project (www.the-impossible-project.com). The Impossible Project is the only company that is still making film for old Polaroid cameras, and it's still in its early stages. This pack was Impossible's PX70 Color Shade First Flush (yes, that's color right there).


It's been quite interesting to experiment with, as the film is a bit finicky still and quite sensitive to light and temperature. I should be shooting more with this camera very soon, but I am looking into picking up the new PX70 PUSH! which appears to provide more vibrant colors, and perhaps some Silver Shade, which is their black and white film.


And of course, a local plug, the film is from my friends over at Aperture in Tremont (www.aperturetremont.com)


One more Image for the road.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 Color Shade

Finding Zen

A series of photos that I have been meaning to shoot for a while now. Quite a while.

My sister asked that I shoot something for her new house. Nothing specific, only that it fit the zen quality of the room that it would be in, preferably black and white or sepia toned, and that it be a triptych to hang.

I've had ideas in my head for quite a while about what I wanted to shoot, but haven't had the time or motivation to actually take the photos. I finally got to the photos today and found that in creating some zen photos I found a bit of zen myself.

It's funny... I think sometimes you have to take certain photos at the right time to get what you want, and sometimes that moment finds you so that the photos do as much for you as you do for the photos. I'm crazy, right? 

Oh. Click through for full view, they look better and show more of what detail there really is. I think in 20x20 prints, these will be pretty nice.

Photograph Info:
Location: Cleveland Ohio, Studio
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Polaroid

Been playing with some polaroid lately, took a few photos this past weekend. This is from a Polaroid Land Model 350, which shoots on 100 pack film.


The film, of course, is from Aperture in Tremont (www.aperturetremont.com)

Photograph Info:
Location: Cleveland Ohio
Camera: Polaroid Land 350

Ashley

Studio work with Ashley.

Photograph Info:
Location: Cleveland Ohio
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Virginia

We just got back earlier this week from our trip to Virginia. We headed down for the Easter holiday to visit Sarah's home town and spend the holiday with her family and friends. All in all, it was pretty successful... we drove 1,400 miles in six days, visited a ton of different places and got to hit quite a few antique malls and shops along the road.

This is the first real view of the mountains we had when we got to Virginia (a panoramic stitch of 8 photos)... at least the first real view we had that wasn't from inside the car. After our planned detour off the highway through West Virginia (a photo of that to come later), we arrived in Callaway Va., part of the scenic (read: middle of no where) Franklin County. This is just down the road from where we stayed the first two nights of our trip. Not a bad place to get away from it all... and not a bad place to catch a sunset the first night of your vacation either.

Photograph Info:
Location: Franklin Co, Virginia
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Dominga

This weekend I once again had the pleasure of shooting with Lucy Dominga, a model from the Columbus area. This is a concept that I've had in mind for a while, and have been searching for a collar to pull it off... a little more difficult than I imagined. Luckily, Sarah found this fantastic collar at a little boutique in Lakewood and let me shoot with it. Lucy is a great model, and pulled this off like very few could. I'm really happy with how this and the rest of the photos from the day turned out.

A special thank to Sarah, for the collar and for doing the fabulous make up work, and to Herb Ascherman for the use of his studio space over on the east side of Cleveland.

Photograph Info:
Location: Cleveland Ohio
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Another view

Another photo of Cleveland from last weekend when the weather was warm (which is not so now).

This was Sunday night, when I took a long walk across the Lorain bridge to fine a good view of the city at night. The photo is okay, but definitely not up to print quality when viewed full size. I think the bridge itself has enough vibration to ruin any good long exposure. So, when the weather warms up again, I'll be making a few more attempts at shooting Cleveland's skyline at night from different locations.

Also, I'll be driving to Virginia in a couple days, so there should be plenty of photos to post in the near future...

Photograph Info:
Location: Cleveland Ohio, Lorain Bridge
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Yashica

One of my newer old cameras, and one that I actually still shoot with. This is a Yashica D TLR (Twin Lens Reflex). It's a medium format film camera (120 film) with a waist level view finder. I picked this up in an antique mall somewhere in NY on my way to the Finger lakes region because I wanted to start shooting more medium format film after being rather pleased with the results of a simple little plastic medium format camera, the Holga. Unfortunately, I still haven't developed anything from this camera, it's a little difficult to find a good lab in the Cleveland area, but hopefully soon I'll have something from this camera to share.

I shot this, well... because I was bored. This is in my hallway shot with a long lens and (very weak) natural light.

Photograph Info:
Location: Apartment
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 100-400 mm

Friday was one of the nicer days that we've had leading up to spring, so when I got off work Sarah and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. Grabbed a cup of coffee from Loop, then just headed around with the camera to take a few shots here and there. This is a two shot panoramic of the city from University street right near West 11th.

Photograph Info:
Location: Tremont
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Wine Country

A photo from last falls trip to the NY Fingerlakes area.

Photograph Info:
Location: NY Fingerlakes
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm

Baseline

Once in a while, I get to do something completely different for work. Last night was one of those occasions.

The ad agency recently worked with KeyBank and the Cavs to organize 'Cavs's Snuggie Night,' at the Q. During the first quarter, the entire sold out arena wore limited edition Cav's Snuggies, and ultimately ended up setting the Guinness World Record for most people wearing fleece blankets.

After months of preperation, last night was the pay off, and being part of the studio I got to go along and film the event in order to get footage out to local and national TV outlets, as well as capture footage for a documentary that details the entire process of the promotion. All in all, a very successful event.

Of course, being that we were given media passes to capture as much as possible, I also took the time to get some photos throughout the second half of the game from a vantage point that I'll likely never get to see again, the baseline.

Rinaldo's

Sometime this past summer we drove throughout western Pennsylvania to film a commercial for First National Bank. Looking to shoot scenes that had a natural small town feel, we ended up filming some footage at Rinaldo's Barber Shop in the little downtown area of State College. The place had a great Americana feel to it, with everything in the seven chair shop being original to the day it opened back in 1925. Here's just a few of the photos I had the chance to take during filming.

Water Portrait

As usual, I'll start this post with the phrase, "I haven't updated this in a really long time..."

It's true, I just noticed that it was December the last time I posted a photo, which is probably the longest I've gone without posting anything new since starting this blog. Everything has been so busy this winter. I have shot a number of times with different models, but just haven't seemed to have time to put up the photos. Since then, I've also had my work put up for the first time in a small coffee and music shop here in Tremont called Loop. It's nothing much, but it's a start to getting work displayed, and it's actually already brought in some attention and requests from the people who have picked up my business cards.

For this post, I've chose a photo that I just did about two weeks ago. Sarah was scheduled to shoot with a photographer from LA who as in town, but like it often goes with photographers/models/stylists etc, the plans didn't shake out. Being that we had nothing else planned for the day I decided to do a little impromptu shoot here in my apartment with her. I've wanted to do something with water and the old claw foot tub that I have, so that's what we did. There is a nice mixture of natural light and a large soft box from above, and then it's cross processed to subdue the colors a little bit to fit the style. I'm pretty happy with it considering there was almost no planning behind it and the fact that I've never really shot anything quite like it. I think she likes it too... and two weeks later, I think almost all of the water is out of her ears now as well.

Photograph Info:
Location: Apartment
Camera: Canon 5DMII
Lens: 24-70 mm
PostProcess: Portrait Retouch