Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Polaroid 250 - Jackie

As a quick follow-up to my last post of Jackie shot on expired Polaroid 664, here's an additional image of Jackie that I shot on the one frame of expired Polaroid ID UV film that was still loaded in my Polaroid 250. Enjoy. 

Expired Polaroid 664 - Jackie

Just a few weeks ago I had the opportunity to shoot with Jackie, a new model from the Pittsburgh area. Though she said she's only been at this for a few months, she's really quite comfortable in front of the camera already and very easy to work with. While she was in town I took the chance to shoot some of my final pack of expired Polaroid 664 that I had in the fridge. Enjoy.

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Emily

It's been nearly two months since I've had the chance to post to this blog. Things are pretty busy, I'm shooting a lot of film weekly for my year long roll-a-week project and I've all but neglected shooting instant film or posting to this site at all. That being said, when I do get the chance I try to continue to add some instant film into the mix of my work and do plan to post here more and more after the new  year when my year long project and other blog has come to a close. 

All that aside, here are a few images from my most recent shoot with the always talented Emily Wallace. I've worked with her a few times now and posted some other images of her on this blog earlier in year. These images were all taken with my Polaroid 250 and some expired Polaroid ID UV film. Enjoy.

Expired Polaroid Type 100 Chocolate - Jay Elle

Today's quick post is just a follow up to my previous post to share some of the remaining Polaroid Chocolate that I shot with Jay Elle this past weekend. For more info or to check out the first batch of photos that I posted - Click here.

Enjoy.

Expired Polaroid Type 100 Chocolate - Jay Elle

This past Saturday I woke up early and drove into a rainy downtown to shoot with this model, Jay Elle, who was making her way through the area during her current travels. It's a rarity, but every once in a while one of these full time traveling models makes there way through my area and I'm luck enough to be able  to work out a shoot with them.  

While I did end up shooting a bunch of digital and a roll of 35mm for my year of film, part of my arrangement with Jay Elle was that I would pull out some of my remaining Polaroid Chocolate stock that I've been hanging onto and that after I scanned them I would sign a couple for her to take with her. Since most of my Polaroids just make their way onto a shelf or into a box after I scan them I was more than happy to make that arrangement. 

These three photos are just a few highlights from the pack of film that I shot with a Polaroid 250. Over the next few days I may post a couple more that I've got as well. Stay tuned, and enjoy. 

Impossible Project PX680 Old Gen - Cleveland

A couple weeks ago I woke up early and wandered around downtown Cleveland for an hour or two before work. I was shooting a roll of Ilford HP5 Plus for my Roll-A-Week project but also was carrying around my SX70 Sonar which was loaded with the remains of a pack of Impossible Project's PX680 Old Gen film. I only ended up taking one instant photo while I was out, but I kind of like the way it turned out. 

It's very possible that I will be posting more instant film in the near future as I was just contacted this morning about testing a new product for a company out of Hong Kong. Very random, I know, but hopefully it works out and I have lots of new and exciting stuff to share in the upcoming weeks/months. Stay tuned for that, and, enjoy. 

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Alexandra

Just a quick post today to share this instant photo from my shoot this past weekend with a newer model in town named Leanne. This was from our first look of the day and I shot this image using my Polaroid 250 and some expired Polaroid ID UV film. If you like this image be sure to keep an eye on the Coalesce52 Blog in the upcoming couple of weeks for the roll of Ilford HP5 Plus that I shot as well. Enjoy. 

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Alexandra

Last night I had the chance to work with another local model, Alexandra, from the Docherty Agency. We shot in a few different downtown locations throughout the evening. I shot mostly digital and a roll of expired Kodak Gold, but, did end up taking this one instant photo along the way. Taken with my Polaroid 250 and some expired Polaroid ID UV film. Enjoy. 

Forgotten Impossible Project PX600 Color Protection - Paint

Impossible Project PX680 Color Protection in an SX70 Sonar

It's been a while, but I used to post my lost and forgotten photo's all the time. This particular image is one that's been sitting on my table at home since the beginning of the year. While shooting with an artist and illustrator for my Roll-A-Week project I snapped a couple quick instant photos as well. I distinctly remember not liking this image, that it was washed out and just overall bland. Now, probably some six months later, it's a pretty nice image. Some people might complain about the constantly changing effects and appearances that some of Impossible Projects films have, but, in cases like this you end up really appreciating it. The film wasn't bad, and neither was the photo, it just needed a little time...

Expired Polaroid Type 57 - Graflex Crown Graphic - Still Life

Slowly but surely I've been working my way through the 4x5 sheets of expired Polaroid Type 57 that I have. While I hate to see my stash of this scarce film slowly start to dwindle, I keep reminding myself that it's only going to degrade more and more the longer I hold onto it. If I truly want to shoot and enjoy this film, there's no better time than right now. 

Shot with a Graflex Crown Graphic these still life's were all taken at my parents house this past weekend. The place is full of things reminiscent to what you might find in my house... there's just more of it. It's pretty much made for shooting still life set-ups. Enjoy.

Expired Kodak Gold 200 - Kinetic Toy Camera - Landscapes

As some of you know, I've been working my way through a year long Roll-A-Week project. Essentially, I've been shooting a minimum of one roll of film per week, every week. Occasionally though, I will end up shooting more than one roll of film in a week, and, in those cases I don't always post all of my photos over on the blog dedicated to the Roll-A-Week project. 

Week 23 of 52 happened to be one of those weeks. Since I was shooting a roll of ORWO NP 20 that had been expired nearly 40 years at the time of exposure, I decided to shoot a back up roll of film to be sure I had at least something to show for the week should the ORWO not work out at all. Luckily, the ORWO did produce some images, which left me with these photos to share here on this blog. 

These photos were all taken on a roll of expired Kodak Gold 200 that I ran through a small plastic/toy camera called a Kinetic. Often rebranded as one of the more popularly known toy camera's stamped "Time" or "Sports Illustrated" the Kinetic is a full plastic body/plastic lens camera with an auto fixed focal 50mm  f/1.6. Essentially a toy point and shoot with three pre-set focal distances (the always useful person, group of persons, mountains) this little camera actually turned out some decent results.

 Ater scanning these images I wasn't overly enthused or concerned about going through them. Once I saw that my roll of ORWO NP 20 for the week had turned up some decent images I figured there wasn't really much use in going through this 12 exposure roll of cheap film that I had run through and even cheaper camera. Today though, when I decided that I may as well look and see what I ended up with, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the final images. 

This roll of film has actually been a good reminder to something I've always known but often forget... the cost of your camera, film, supplies, etc., only go so far. Beautiful images can be created by even the cheapest cameras. Like with any trade or hobby, better tools can help you do a better job but are not always necessary. A highly skilled photographer could essentially use a disposable camera and take better images than an amateur with their choice of the most expensive gear. I'm not saying I fall into either of those camps, but I do think it's nice reminder that sometimes you can achieve more with less. To put it simply, as a friend of mine always says, "Only a bad carpenter blames their tools." 

Expired Polaroid Softtone - Impossible Project PX680 Old Gen - Kids on Film

Just a few images of a few different nieces from this past week. Images one and two were taken with a Polaroid Spectra and some expired Polaroid Softtone. Image number three was taken with an SX70 sonar and some old gen Impossible Project PX680. Surprisingly good results from both films considering how far past their primes they are. Images like these are a good reminder of just how awesome and worthwhile instant film can be. Enjoy.

Polaroid Week 2013 - Expired Polaroid Softtone - Cassie

I feel like I haven't posted to this blog in ages. A lot of that has to do with the fact that I haven't been shooting quite as much instant film lately due to my year long Roll-A-Week project (which you can find here). However, this is Polaroid week and I felt it was necessary to make some kind of post this week while I still have the time. 

These images, all shot this past Saturday, are with local Cleveland model Cassie who's with Taxi Model Management. We shot a bunch of digital and some film throughout the day but I also brought along one of my last couple packs of expired Polaroid Softtone film to shoot with my Spectra. This film is most definitely past it's prime, but, as you can see I got some pretty good results from a couple of the photos that I took (the close ups working out much better than the wider shots.) 

Enjoy.  

 

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Sydney Perez

This weekend I had the chance to shoot with a fantastic team of people - model Sydney Perez of Taxi Model Management in Cleveland, make up artist Shayna Wilson, and hair stylist Ty Kendrick. The shoot went over great and we ended up with some awesome photos from the day.

While I shot mainly digital, I did shoot my roll of film for the week, and, struggled through some different instant films which for some reason were giving me grief all day. One of my last packs of Fuji 3000B45 failed when I pulled the first tab of the pack. I was able to get it working again, but only to have it fail on me again later in the afternoon. My Polaroid 250 with expired Polaroid ID UV film worked, but most of my shots were coming out pretty dark, overly red and unusable. At the end of the day though, I was able to salvage this one shot seen above. I guess it's hard to complain too much about the blown shots when this one turned out so well. Enjoy.

Fuji FP-3000B45 Negative & Positive - Graflex Crown Graphic 4x5 - Emily Wallace

This past weekend while shooting with Emily I attempted to take a couple of large format Polaroids using my Crown Graphic and some of the Fuji FP-3000B 45 I had loaded into my Polaroid back. Well... I pretty much failed on all accounts when it came to getting a decent exposure. I used up the remaining three sheets of film that were in the pack to no avail. 

There was one photo, though, that I didn't hate. It was overexposed for sure, but I think it was also the culprit of a pesky light leak from not securing my Polaroid back properly. Still, the photo was interesting and so I decided to scan it. Here's what it looked like:

Then, while it was scanning, I noticed that the paper negative (the GOOP) actually had more information in the blown out lower right hand side of the photo. There was a little more detail. Some dynamic range held on. Again, I thought this was interesting and figured maybe I could just scan the negative and invert it. I've done it before with good result, so I thought I'd give it a go. Here's what the negative looked like when I scanned it, flipped it and inverted it:

Well, the negative didn't really work out for me either. When I started to adjust the levels of the image it became apparent that while I had more information for my blown out areas, the details in the face were much better in the positive that I had already scanned. I continued to play around with both, but wasn't really happy with the results of either. 

And that's when I decided to experiment a little to see if there's anything I could do to save this image (don't judge me, this film and all other large format instant films are out of production - you do what you can). What I came up with is something of a pseudo HDR using the positive and negative together. A couple different layers of each, some different levels adjustment layers and some creative masking later I ended up with the image you see at the top of the page (or again below):

Is it everyone's cup of tea? I'd expect not. Is it perfect? I wouldn't want it to be. Either way, from nearly nothing I was able to salvage an image that is very close to a standard paper negative scan that's been inverted with a few tweaks to the levels and contrast. I thought it was interesting, and I like the feel of the final image.

Maybe this will be helpful to someone else as well. Enjoy, and feel free to leave your own thoughts on this process in the comments below.

Impossible Project PX600 BlackFrame PP - Ghostly Images with Emily Wallace

This past weekend I once again worked with the very talented Emily Wallace. You might recall from this post, that it was only a week ago that we worked together the first time. Since the weather was unseasonal and difficult that day (which I guess is actually pretty seasonally accurate for Cleveland any day) we decided to set up another shoot shortly after in order to head outside and shoot in a few different areas of downtown. Of course, while the weather wasn't quite as cold this time around, it was extremely windy and carried a forecast of possible thunderstorms at any and every moment. We lucked out though, and ended up shooting for a couple hour and getting some amazing photos.

While I shot mainly digital throughout this shoot, I did also end up shooting my weekly roll of film for the Coalesce52 project which will be posted down the road when I catch up with my developing and blog posts. This blog however, is where I tend to post most of my instant film work and that's what I have here today (obviously). These images were all shot using my SX70 Sonar and some of my last remaining stock of the Impossible Project's PX600 Blackframe Poor Pod film.  

This film has long been one of my favorite instant films from the Impossible Project despite of, and perhaps because of, it's obvious little defects. A quick browse through my archives will reveal a quite a few different photos that I've taken with this film and I'm sure that somewhere in there you will also find a lengthy explanation of what a Poor Pod is and my thoughts and reviews on this film. But, of course, in the highly likely scenario where you don't care about all that and you just like to see cool photos... well here are a few of my favorites from this film - Swings, Little World, St Theodosius, and '57 Chevy. Enjoy.

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Simple Fashion & Emily Wallace

This past Friday, going into the long holiday weekend, we were lucky enough to get out of work a little early, which, allowed for me to plan a quick afternoon/evening shoot. This particular shoot was with a wonderful model named Emily that I've not had the chance to work with before. Originally, we planned to shoot a couple of looks outdoors, but, Cleveland weather being Cleveland weather forced us to start in the studio where we took these images. Later in the day we did end up shooting some very quick sets outside (including a roll of Ektar 100) which you'll be able to see in the future over on the Coalesce52 blog. Until then though, I hope you enjoy these studio shots taken with a Polaroid 250 and some expired Polaroid ID UV film (perhaps some of the best images I've gotten from this film to date).

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Photo Walk Portraits

Monday evening after work I joined some folks over in Tremont to do a quick instant photo walk put together by Aperture Photography & Variety. The walk was a put together a little last minute, but, we were lucky enough to be joined by Washington Post and freelance wonder writer Melanie D.G. Kaplan. Melanie was in town working on a story about Ohio's one and only National Park and decided to also do a little story about our area's growth in what she referred to as "the slow photo movement" - a phrase I may just have to steal for my own future use. 

Aside from all that jazz, the walk was fun if not a little less than ideal in terms of weather (I'm now suffering the effects of a wicked cold that can only be the fault of this little walk). As for my photos, I decided to switch it up a little bit after having taken so many photos in the Tremont area over the years and instead focused on shooting some portraits with some of the other members of the photo walk. 

Each of these were taken with a Polaroid Land 250 using some of my expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet film. As you can see, four straight shots out of this pack of film gave me pretty close to four different results. I imagine the changing temperatures, the different lighting situations and the fact that I never time my developments of this film all contributed to that though. There is one more photo from this set of portraits (a shot I took of Melanie) but in a rare and uncharacteristic move I let her keep the photo before I had a chance to bring it in and scan it. If I'm lucky though... maybe I'll get to see that photo along side her article.