Impossible Project PX70 PUSH - Emulsion Lifts

These images, which you may have seen in an early post here, are emulsion lifts from Impossible's PX70 PUSH film. (click through for larger image)


For anyone who doesn't know, emulsion lifts have been done for years, but were originally only able to be done with peel apart films. Now, all of Impossible's new films are able to be lifted. Emulsion lifts are basically the process of separating the layers of the film and transferring the top emulsion layer to a new surface. You can see a video of the basic process here. One of the major benefits of lifting the Impossible film is that it stops all chemical reaction, just like peeling the film would, which means that your image will no longer fade or have a color shifts over time.


These images were my first attempt at doing an emulsion lift. It is a bit tedious, but I think the results are interesting. For these images, I didn't have brushes to work with, so I used cotton swabs. Besides the fact that they fall apart after some use in water, they worked out pretty well. For the transfer surface I picked up a couple different types of heavy stock watercolor paper knowing that it would hold up well and not have as much bend when it dried. This of course, is one of the darker papers that I bought which I used with these images because I wanted an older/antique look to the final images.


All in all, I was happy with the results, and as you can see from left to right I started to get the hang of it with repetition. I won't be doing this with all of my Impossible images, but it's a good tool to have when you want a different look or just want to preserve a photo.

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH - Bowling Alley

Last weekend I was out with some friends. Since I knew we were going bowling in a pretty old school alley (Mahall's 20 Lanes) I took my SX-70 with me. I only got to take two shots, but I kind of dig them.

Photograph Info:

Location: Mahall's 20 Lanes

Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar

Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Impossible Project PX70 PUSH & Impossible Project PX600 Silver Shade - Libraries

After the trip to the Cleveland Botanical Gardens this past weekend, I headed over to the Kelvin Smith Library to take a couple more photos. The Kelvin Smith Library, part of Case Western, is really quite interesting inside, and somewhat modern in terms of Libraries. I had visited there before to do some filming for a TV Spot, and it quickly came to mind again when I was looking for some good indoor locations to shoot.

The main picture in this post, taken with an SX70 on PX70 PUSH, is definitely one of my favorite shots of the entire weekend. This old book was sitting on a shelf just like this...wrapped nicely in a ribbon, gold leaf edges, and a great worn leather cover. It was titled 50 Years of Make Believe. The photos below are from the same area of the library. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of rows just like this, and each is on a motorized track so that you can select which isle you'd like to walk down. These were taken with a Polaroid One Step on PX600.

From there, I ended up quickly browsing through another library down town, the Cleveland Public Library. In stark contrast to the first, this is a gorgeous old building... beautiful architecture, marble and stone, just an entirely different feel and look. These images, again, are with an SX70 on PX70 PUSH.

Next up, I hope to scan and share some emulsion lifts that I did with the images from the Cleveland Botanical Gardens...

Photograph Info:

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

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH! Impossible Project PX600 Silver Shade

Impossible Project PX70 Push - Warm is good. Warmer is better.

This past Saturday was a day full of polaroid fun. I stopped over at Aperture and picked up a pack of PX70 Push, PX600 and a Fuji 100c. Enough to keep my busy for a few hours at least.


First stop of the day was the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. I knew that I could stay inside, out of the rain, it would be relatively warm, and there would be plenty of color.

It's no surprise to anyone shooting the Impossible film at this point that heat directly effects the development process of the photos. I used this to my advantage quite a bit during the 100 Impossible Portraits, and did so again with these photos.


What I have started to notice, is that the heat brings out the contrast and color saturation of the photos, which many people already know. What many people might not know, is how much heat, how long to heat, and how long heat can actually effect the development process. We already know that the chemistry of these images continues to change for hours, even days, after the image is captured. I have found that while heat has the most impact immediately after the image is shot, it appears to continue to effect the photo for at least 10-12 minutes after the development process has started.

For these images, I was already in a warm green house environment, but I knew from previous shots that more heat is better. I immediately placed these images under my armpit, the warmest place possible at the time. I also made sure that after a few minutes that I rotated the images so that one side didn't receive more heat and develop in a different way. I did this for at least 10-12 minutes per image, until each had reached full color and contrast.


Unlike the PX600, which is also effected by heat, I have noticed that the PUSH seems to react differently to heat. PX600 is effected quickly, and only the first few minutes seem to have a direct influence. Placing a PX600 image directly under your armpit will actually cause a very uneven development because of how much faster heat effects it. The PUSH, on the other hand, seems to react over a much longer period of time and likes a steady stream of heat. It's actually hard to cause the photo to develop unevenly, unless an extremely warm/concentrated source is applied directly to just one area of the photo.


The only down side to these particular images, is the fact that you are not allowed to have a tripod in the botanical gardens, which caused longer exposures to be a bit difficult. As you can see though, warm is good, but warmer better.

Photograph Info:

Location: Cleveland Botanical Gardens
Camera: Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
Lens: Fixed

Film: Impossible Project PX70 PUSH!

Punk Fashion (and some other things)

Today, I have some more images from my shoot with Ashley. A little bit of punk fashion, featuring a one-of-a-kind handmade vest Ashley brought with her.


For the analog lovers, I've already posted a few polaroids of this shoot here, but as a consolation, I'll throw in a few more that go along with the Lazy Sunday post from early last month. Of course, these were shot on Impossible's PX600.

As for updates on other things...


It's been a little while since I've posted anything new here, mostly because I have been so busy keeping up with other things. As many of you already know, the 100Impossible website is now up, and has been getting quite a bit of traffic. People are enjoying sharing the photos, the video, and a few people have even bought a copy of the book. I've even been contacted by someone interested in purchasing a large 5'x7' print that features all 100 photos.


If you remember I mentioned before that I was going to have a follow up post on process and my thoughts on actually shooting the event. However, I recently found out that I will be having an 8-10 page spread in Films and Grains, so I've decided that I will keep much of that information for the article. If you want to know more, I guess you'll just have to pick up a copy of the magazine.


That's pretty much the news for now. I will say that I'm looking forward to things calming down a bit, and the opportunity to get out and shoot some more personal work in the near future. I'm already starting to consider what my next big project might be...