Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Polaroid 250 - Suzy 2

So, three days ago when I said check  back tomorrow for more images with Suzy... what I really meant was check back in three days. It's better to round out your Friday with some polaroids anyways. Here's two more shots on expired Polaroid ID UV film. Taken with the Polaroid 250. Enjoy.

Impossible Gen 2.0 Color 600 Film Test Batch - SX70 Sonar - Polaroid Week 3

Rounding out Polaroid Week, here are three quick snaps from last night. Impossible's Gen 2.0 Color 600 test film, shot in and SX70 Sonar with an ND pack filter. Unshielded out of camera and left upright to watch them develop. The photo at top was taken with the Mint for SX70 Macro Lens. Enjoy.

Impossible Gen 2.0 Color 600 Film Test Batch - SX70 Sonar - Polaroid Week 2

Two more images to share for Polaroid Week. These are, again, Impossible's Gen 2.0 Color 600 test film, shot in and SX70 Sonar with an ND pack filter. Unshielded out of camera and left to develop upside down. Enjoy.

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Polaroid 250 - Marblehead Lighthouse

On Monday, my wife and I headed out of town and up to Marblehead (just outside of Sandusky) to avoid the insanity of Cleveland St. Paddy's day and to celebrate my birthday on the down low. Here's one of the only instant photos that I took that day - the Marblehead lighthouse on expired Polaroid ID UV film with a Polaroid 250. Enjoy. 

Impossible Color Film For SX70 - Still Life

A couple weeks back, I shared a photo that I shot with a model using Impossible's new Color Film for SX70 (seen here) - And today, I thought I'd share some still life set ups from the remainder of that pack of film that I took this weekend. With these photos, I really wanted to see what kind of color I could eek out of this newest formula since I haven't shot with it much. I was really pleased with some of the results that I got. 

I should also point out that all of these images were shot using the new Mint Lens Set for SX70 - a neat little attachment that allows you to use different lenses/filters on your SX70. The full set consists of the lens holder, the Full-Frame Fisheye lens, Yellow Filter K2, Blue Filter 80B, a Neutral Density filter and the Close-Up Lens. While I haven't played with all of the different filters yet, I am very much enjoying the Close-up Lens (which is what I used on all three of these images). It's really opened up a new world of possibilities by allowing me to fill the frame in situations that I never would have been able to before (unless of course I purchased the old, harder to find, more expensive SX70 accessory kit and close up lens attachment). Over my next few packs of film, I hope to get the chance to work with a few of the other filters as well and post a little more about the Mint Lens Set and some of the things that I like and don't like about it. Stay tuned. 

Impossible Color Film For SX70 - Hillary

For the first time in a long while, I finally got to shoot some film from Impossible. Now that my year long, roll a week project has come to a close, I've been hoping to get back to shooting a little more instant film. This past weekend, during a shoot with Hillary, I pulled out a new pack of Impossible's Color Film for SX-70. This is definitely my first time shooting with the newest formula, and while I didn't get an over abundance of color from the film, I did get very nice exposures. It's nice that this film has come such a long way and I no longer have to worry about shielding images out of camera, keeping them within a very small temperature rage, etc.

The final image of this set, at the bottom of the page, was also shot with the Mint Lens Set (found here)  - using the close up attachment. Mint was kind enough to send me a sample set months ago, and amidst my other project I never really got the chance to test it much. I look forward to working with these lenses more soon, and possibly providing some small review about them. For now, enjoy. 

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. 

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 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." 

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 - Country Winery

Today, I have a real quick post for you to share an image that I took along the road on my way home from Toronto this past weekend. While still on the other side of the border, I hopped off the highway for a bit to see the country side and drive along the Niagara wine trail. This photo is from one of the more interesting wineries that I drove past and seemed like the perfect place to stop to snap a few pictures. I shot this with a Polaroid 250 and some expired Polaroid ID UV film. 

Happy Friday and enjoy your weekends.

Kodak Ektar 100 - Canon FTb - A Little On Process

This past week I shot a roll of Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film using my Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2 lens for my year long Roll-A-Week project - Coalesce52. After getting the film developed I started to go through the slow process of scanning and organizing my negatives and was reminded of a video that I had watched a few months back over on FStoppers. Photographer Scott Kelby, during the Google + conference in San Fransico, spoke to a live audience about how to work your scene to find the best composition. He even went as far as to take you through his RAW images to show you his own personal process and how even a professional photographer can shoot many images before arriving at the final image. It's an interesting video and if you have time to watch it I definitely think it's worth checking out (I personally love listening to photographers of all genres and backgrounds as I think you can learn something from everyone).



Of course, this concept of high volume shooting to perfect your composition is much easier when you are shooting digital. Now a days, you can essentially take an infinite number of shots (that's only a little exaggerated) and have the ability to immediately see on the back of your camera what your results are. So, what if you're not shooting digital? Well, I was surprised to find that I actually do this a bit when I'm shooting film - more with 35mm, less with medium format, and, almost not at all with large format and instant films (unless the shot is very important to me for one reason or another... then I might give the subject two exposures). 

With that in mind, here's a look at my miniaturized process for two of the setups that I shot with this roll of film. My first final image is one that I featured over on the Coalesce52 blog and you can also see that image at top. Here, seen below, are the three images that I took right before I ended up with this shot (click for full view):

You'll notice, not a lot of change. These images, though, are very different in my opinion. My position moved, my distance from the subject changed and my rotation relative to the subject changed. Now, keep in mind that I wasn't thinking of the aforementioned video or process when I was shooting these images. I was simply going about my standard shoot process knowing that I wanted to get the best shot possible and that I only wanted to shoot 4-5 images on this setup. Had I stopped after the first exposure, I would have ended up with a decent image, but just three images later (I feel) I ended up with a much stronger composition.

Below you can see another example of my process, this time a bit more dramatic, as I worked my way through another setup. The first two images were pretty awful:

And I kind of felt that after I made these exposures, so, I rotated my position a bit to end up with my next two exposures - which were better, but not quite there yet.

And that's when my composition completely changed - I rotated even more to square myself to the subject, I raised the perspective and switched to a vertical orientation. Of course, as with most things, it's all a matter of opinion which of your images you like best, but I believe that my final image (below) is a much cleaner, stronger composition than the above four images that led me to it.

Now, I do undertand that what Scott Kelby is discussing and what I am showing here are essentially two different things. Shooting film though, is a very different thing than shooting digital. One of the key differences with my process (besides the limited number of exposures I'm shooting per subject) is that I can't see my images after shooting them to check for exposure and composition. I can't compare one image to the next. And that, is where pre-visualiztion and expected outcome becomes so important. 

Knowing that I was shooting a 36-exposure roll of film I was comfortable leading myself through this process of experimentation and making extra exposures throughout the course of this shoot. Of course, I didn't know that I was doing it and didn't realize it until I saw my negatives lined up - okay shot, adjust, okay shot, adjust, okay shot, adjust... Good image. Then, when I started to think about it, I realized that I actually go through a similar process when I'm shooting medium format, large format and instant film with one key difference - I don't actually fire the shutter. I set up my image and view it through the camera, I move and do it again, and again, and then back, and again... but eventually I end up with the final Image I'm looking for.

I'm not saying that my process is the correct one, but Scott's video and my most recent negatives made me consider my process and how it changes with the format I'm shooting. Personally, I think that's all that improving your process takes sometimes... something that catches your attention and makes you examine the way you go about things. I might not change significantly moving forward, but, with my next roll of film I will pre-visualize and think a second longer before I fire the shutter each time. That's what I love about shooting film though... it makes me stop, it makes me think and it helps me improve my approach to nearly everything, not just photography.

If you stuck with me this far, thank you, and if you'd like to see more from this roll of film please visit my Week 5 post on the Coalese52 blog. If you have any thoughts on process or want to share your own I'm alway happy to get a few comments.

Enjoy. 

Expired Kodak Gold 800 - Canon Canonet QL17 - Cancun Mexico

When I was packing for Cancun I had a difficult time narrowing down what cameras I would take with me. My SX-70 Sonar was a no brainer as I pretty much use it exclusively for my Impossible Project films. I wanted to take a medium format camera to shoot some 120 slide film, and, decided pretty quickly on my Mamiya 645 as I've been shooting it more often lately. When it came time to pick a 35 mm camera thought I was a bit stumped on whether to take my usual kit - a Canon FTb with a 55mm f/1.2 - or something much smaller, lighter and much less valuable - the Canon Canonet QL17 Rangefinder that I've never even run a roll of film through.

In the end I decided to go with the Canon rangefinder for it's portability, and, in all honesty because if something tragic happened to it I wouldn't be heart broken over it (which would not be the case when it comes to the Canon FTb kit). Upon getting my film back from the lab this week and taking a couple days to scan it all I was really surprised with the quality of the images that I got and pretty happy with the decision I ended up making. I'd even go so far as to say after shooting with this camera (which has a great feel in your hands) and seeing these photos that this camera moves up my list as one of my favorite cameras to shoot with.

As I mentioned, the Canon Canonet is a 35mm rangefinder that is relatively inexpensive (unless you can find the more rare solid black model) and easy to use. There is, of course, a full auto mode on this camera that essentially turns the camera into a type of shutter priority mode that only allows the shutter to fire when the exposure falls safely in the camera's range of f/1.7 to f/16. The only issue with this automatic setting is finding the proper battery to get your light meter to work. Originally this camera used an old mercury battery (1.3v) which you can no longer buy. There are, however, plenty of resources out there for replacement batteries for this type of camera. The one I ended up with was the PX625A - a slightly higher 1.5v Alkaline battery. While I couldn't tell you exactly how far off the light meter is from using a higher rated battery, I'd guess to most it's negligible. 

 

As far as today's photos... they were actually all taken on a roll of expired Kodak Gold 800. This was, by far, the cheapest film that I had with me on this trip and, surprisingly, ended up producing some of my favorite photos. There's a fair amount of grain in some of these darker photos, but, I think this film actually rendered out some beautiful, soft colors that are sometimes reminiscent of a painting. 

This would also probably be a good time to give a little plug to the lab who developed all of my film from this trip - Old School Photo Lab in Dover NH. I went with Old School for a couple of reasons - they are friends and a great asset to the film community, and, I had some slide film in the batch that I wanted processed from a reputable source. Needless to say, Old School did a great job with this film and have with any film I've ever sent their way. If you are not familiar - I highly recommend them for all of your film processing needs.

I think that about wraps up everything I wanted to say in today's (lengthy) post. As always... I hope you found some of this information helpful, educational or even slightly entertaining. If not, then I hope you at least looked through these photos and found one or two that you like as much as I do. There will be more photos coming soon and if you've read this far... thanks, and I hope you've enjoyed. 

Expired Polaroid ID Ultraviolet Film - Polaroid Land 250 - Van Roy Coffee

As I've mentioned once or twice before I have an affinity for old signage. This particular sign, found heading into downtown Cleveland on Detroit Ave., is one that I've wanted to shoot for a while and never got around to. So, this past weekend while finishing up a roll of film I snapped this shot with my Polaroid 250 using the expired Polaroid ID-UV film that I already had loaded in it. This is still my first pack of this film (thought I now have quite a bit) and I was really surprised this time out how much color I was able to get from it. My first attempt (seen here) were really monotone and led me to believe that this film would probably be consistent with my results of using expired Polaroid 108.

As an aside, I just received 4 rolls of film back from the lab this week. All of the photos are from my trip to Cancun, so, you'll likely start to see some of my favorites over the next couple days to weeks. It's probably also a good time to note that I have started a year long film project, shooting 1 roll a week, with Scott Meivogel from Aperture and should soon be able to start sharing those photos as well as some details of the project. You can likely look forward to a new joint blog associated with the project and eventually a show to display some of the best work coming out of the project. I'll provide more details on that project in the upcoming weeks, but, I will say that at times I expect to be stretched thin trying to come up with interesting people, places and things to take photos of... So, if you have ideas, access to great places, people, or things, please don't hesitate to get a hold of me.

Impossible Project PX680 Color Protection - Cancun Mexico, Airport

This is the plane we took back from Mexico. That's all, not much else to say about it. Impossible Project's PX 680 Color Protection film with ND pack filter. Shot with lighten/darken about a 1/4 turn to dark. Unshielded out of camera and developed in available light.

Impossible Project PX680 Color Protection - Cancun Mexico, Some Randoms

Of the Impossible Project film that I shot while in Mexico I still have a few random, uncategorized shots that I wanted to share. So, I figured I would just lump these couple together and give them their own post. These were all taken with an SX70 Sonar and Impossible Project's PX 680 Color Protection film. Lighten/Darken was set about 1/4 towards dark, film was unshielded out of camera and left to develop in indirect lighting conditions.

The photo at top is a little boy named Oliver that we kept running into in the resort. Almost always playing with a ball he was difficult to catch on film. As you can see, he's a little blurry from a longer shutter speed and the fact that he is indeed off chasing another ball. The other two photos (middle and bottom) are just a few more skyline/water shots that I took somewhere along the way. The middle photo was taken from the balcony of our room around sunset, and, though I wanted a brighter exposure the setting sun knocked everything down to more of a silhouette. The bottom photo, also taken from our balcony, was shot earlier in the day. Though it's slightly washed out in contrast it does capture the blues rather nicely - a color that I've often had difficulty capturing with Impossible's instant films.

That's about all for today, but, I do have a few Instax photos to post in the near future, and, after the holidays, I'm sure that I'll be getting back some of the 35mm and medium format film that I shot as well. As soon as I do, I'll be sure to share. Enjoy.

Impossible Project PX680 Test Film V4C - Cancun Mexico

I just got back from a seven day trip to Cancun Mexico. I'm not going to bore you with details of my vacation, but, I will say that if you've never been down that way or been to an all inclusive resort, both should be on your bucket list. 

Surprisingly, I only took three cameras with me on this trip - my SX70 Sonar, my Canon Canonet GIII, and, my Mamiya 645. The majority of the film that I shot throughout was 35mm with my Canon (mostly due to how compact and portable it is) but I did get in a roll of slide film with the Mamiya and some instant photos with the Impossible Project's film and the SX70 as well. 

Today I am posting a few of the instant photos that I took with my SX70 Sonar and Impossible Project's PX680 Color Protection film. All of these shots were taken unshielded and left to develop in the shade, a pocket, or some other location with indirect sunlight. As a whole, I'd say this film really held up pretty well in the sunny conditions as well as the heat. With temps around the 80's most days this film did have a tendency to start quickly shifting to warmer tones, but, overall the colors remained pretty true throughout. I made it a point to move the photos back into an air conditioned room as soon as possible after shooting though, so I can't really say how warm these colors would have shifted over a longer period of time.

I'm sure I'll be sharing more instant photos from this trip soon, and, once I get the remainder my film developed I'll start posting a few of those as well. Stay tuned and enjoy.