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.