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The 2011 Show!

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:46:00 -0800

It's review of the year time...

The year started with an unexpected gift: a Rolleiflex! My dear departed friend Matt's mother decided to clear out some of her old film cameras, and wondered if I wanted it, along with an old Polaroid Super Shooter. I did. I love it.

Also, early in the year I got to be one of the beta testers for The Impossible Project's new PX680 colour film. Very exciting indeed!

I went to France three times this year, spring, summer and autumn.

I took a pleasing photo of my father:

He took a pleasing photo of me:

In August, one of my Polaroids inspired Quilt of the Month at The Purl Bee website!

After six and a half years of commuting from Cambridge, I moved to London!

Loved the limited edition Black Frame "Poor Pod" film from The Impossible Project (see above and below)

Also loved the new PX100 film - these were taken with test packs:

And to round off the year, The Impossible Project Blog allowed me to talk about myself...

So Happy New Year, and I hope 2012 is a good one for everybody!

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Long ago and far away...

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 05:37:09 -0700

My dad found this a few months ago while sorting through his photos.

I'm guessing it's around 1974 as I look about 3.

Also, chickens!

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‘Roid Week 2011

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:39:00 -0700

And so another ‘Roid Week comes and goes. As always, it’s an inspiration, with so many fantastic pictures posted. Clearly instant film is dead: the group has 1378 members and 3891 pictures were posted! It would be interesting to know what proportion is Impossible, what expired Polaroid.

Anyway, here are my shots, in order, with minimal commentary. Click the pictures for the original Flickr page.

Monday:

Two Chocolate film shots in my Super Shooter. The hatch for pulling the film out is a bit tight, so sometimes odd things happen...

Tuesday:

I have to have corners. Even if they’re round.

Wednesday:

Poor Pod City of London.

Thursday:

Some spring shots with a badly deployed pack of Impossible Project PX680 (photographer’s error).

Friday:

Red things near work.

What fun! So many thanks to the originators of ‘Roid Week, gardengal and * cate * for making it happen. See you in 2012!

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The Last 600

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 05:55:00 -0700

I came quite late to the game with Polaroid, taking my first shot (as an adult) in spring 2009. I bought one pack of ATZ to see if my dad's old SX-70 still worked. It did. I was hooked.

Back home I did my research, got a neutral density filter for the lens and searched out some 600 film. Boots The Chemists in Cambridge had stock and I was on my way. I went back a month later and bought the last packs of Polaroid in the shop.

I loved 600 very much - very easy to use, good clear colours. Along with the 779 promotions Pola Premium then Impossible Project ran, I shot a ton. Many of my favourite pictures are on it. After trying a couple of packs of Time Zero, I yearned for the magic of that film (I mostly found 600 to be slightly more prosaic than the dreams TZ produced, but none the worse for that). It served me well in the forest, on the city corners, in Paris and in Provençe.

Until eventually I was down to one single pack.

At the end of April I finally took the plunge and put that last pack of Polaroid 600 film in my SLR680. It's possible that I may shoot another pack if one turns up, but I'm not so keen on how the 600 ages: where Time Zero gets crazy flames and colour-shifts, 600 just seems to lose contrast and turn yellow. Not my favourite.

The last 600 produced expired in the autumn of 2009, and this pack was one of the Giambarba edition bought from Impossible Project last year. Those Impossible guys have been excellent at sourcing the last stocks of films (especially the 600 and its twin, 779, as well as the Edge Cut packs), but all stock is gone, never to be replaced.

This last pack had taken on a totemic value, sitting in my fridge, proclaiming "I am the LAST", waiting for the perfect opportunity to be used. And I worried about the right occasion to use it, fearing that I would waste it on poor subjects in poor weather.

But that pressure has been relieved by The Impossible Project's PX680 film - there is now and going to be full colour film food for our cameras again! That pack of 600 lost it's fearsome aura, and demanded to just be used and celebrated. I'm mostly very happy with what came out:

1. Lion and Dragon

2. Long Roof

3. Green Man

4. Cross Keys

5. Corner

6. Hotel Russell

7. Abbey Ruins

8. Road sign

9. Doctor Land

10. Forest

So farewell then, 600. You've been an excellent companion, and thank you for the journey. And if any of you have film left, shoot it! The pictures come out much better if you use the film...

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The Voice of Edwin Land

Sun, 15 May 2011 04:24:09 -0700

I've just finished reading Land's Polaroid by Peter C. Wensberg (you can find it on amazon very cheap), a fascinating history of the company from its foundations in the 30's with polarising screens, through the huge contributions to the war effort, the post-war invention of instant photography, up to the early 80's when Edwin Land retired. Wensberg ran the marketing at Polaroid from the 60's until he left in 1982.

Youtube is full of the adverts he spearheaded, and he describes in detail the shooting of the original Swinger campaign, and the fear that nobody would look at the camera because Ali McGraw was so stunning in a bikini. (Also note the groovy song - sung by Barry Manilow!)

You get a good idea of the intensity of Edwin Land's presence through tales and photos, but inevitably missing is what he sounded like. Youtube doesn't seem to have much on offer, but I did find this clip from an episode of the British TV science programme Horizon from 1986. I'm pretty sure I watched it when it was on.

At last here's the voice of Land, in his mid 70's.

He is the serious scientist, not one to favour being in front of the camera. I want to see more of this programme! I know that the subtractive light system featured in the ill-fated Polavision movie camera, but I would love to know more from the scientist Land about his work.

And I love how even in the mid 80's science on television was allowed to be about the science: slow, deliberate, serious. No need for flashy camera moves and CGI. I think there's room for both, but definitely want to see more like this.

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champalicious: adventures in elsewhere

Wed, 11 May 2011 11:03:00 -0700

Do please check out Champalicious, the new website by Heather Champ. In it she wants to “celebrate the work of others”. As the former Director of Community at Flickr and a co-founder of JPG Magazine, she has a very good pedigree for sharing people’s work. And she’s a rather fine photographer herself, in love with the analogue and the digital. And she’s Canadian, which current political strife aside, seems to have produced a disproportionate number of splendid people.

She currently has a series called One Two Three where she asks photographers to pick one camera, two pictures and three words. And she was kind enough to ask me to join in! Here’s my contribution.

Bookmark the site, add it to your RSS feeds, as she has an eye for alluring and interesting things.

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PX680 is here for all!!

Thu, 05 May 2011 10:26:00 -0700

(Deer Crossing)

The day has come! The Impossible Project is now selling the fabulous, exciting and new PX680 First Flush in its store.

Having now torn though a few packs of PX680 (including the ones in this post, taken in early April in the South of France), I feel I can deliver an opinion: it's the Holy Grail. Ever since Impossible was established to reengineer from scratch the miracle of photography which is integral film, there has been the hope and wish for a new Time Zero replacement. I think this is it.

(Glass)

The colours leap out at you in sunlight, there are more subtleties with interior shots. The reds and blues are vivid, the details are sharp. Shield it for great contrast, allow it to flash for some magic with light.

(Knight)

This is the real deal, folks! I showed my dad (who's original SX-70 I still use) a shot of my niece taken with the first beta batch. "Yes! They did it!" was his response. Yes, they did.

And from today it’s available to everybody. And two days before Edwin Land’s 102nd birthday.

(Beaumes de Venise vines)

(Shelves)

(Sauf Riverains)

(Pens)

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Like Father, Like Son

Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:03:00 -0700

My father and I are very serious men. Many a solemn hour is spent discussing important things. Frivolity is frowned upon. In fact most things are frowned upon. Except frowning.

Or not.

I bought my dad a Polaroid EE100 as a Christmas present and when I was out in France in early April he was trying it out, taking a couple of portraits of me to get the feel of it. I don't often take portraits, but I was in the mood, so I got my 600SE with Chocolate film. Camera as prop, father deploying stern, serious expression. Exposure measure with the fab Pocket Light Meter iPhone app.

Click.

Pull out the film, wait, start peeling. Oh right, as I often do, I forgot to take out the dark slide. I need something which pops up in the viewfinder with the word "idiot" if I press the button with the slide in. Swearing and laughing ensued.

Try again, and success.

Next day we went for a matching shot, father at the camera. Me in stylish attire.

Click.

Dark slide in.

Sigh. Laugh.

Try again.

Click.

Lens cap on.

Third time lucky. Successful serious face despite the terrible giggles.

I'm very keen on this pair of pictures. I've kept the one of him, he the one of me. Perhaps I should do more portraits.

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Kodak Brownie Flash 20

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 04:40:00 -0700

Yesterday I found this very cool camera in a charity shop, and wanted to share the manual. It dates from around 1950, and the camera looks good on my shelf. I may even try adapting a roll of 120 to fit the 620 spool inside.

Kodak_Flash_20.pdf Download this file

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The Possible Project

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 05:57:00 -0700

Adventures in the new instant films, and a look at the future!

On March 22 2010, in the Impossible Project space in New York, Florian Kaps unveiled the first products of the factory in Enschede: PX100 Silver Shade First Flush, a sepia-tinged monochrome instant film. It was characterised by a soft, often golden quality. It was very sensitive to light when ejected, as well as sensitive to temperature. But handled correctly, and the results are great.

Next came the faster PX600 Silver Shade. Also monochrome, but this time with more contrast. As the year progressed they improved the formula. I love this film.

Then came the colour films. The PX70 Color Shade First Flush was soft, blue tinted. In the autumn came the PX70 PUSH! film. This one tended towards pink tones. Handled well, colours come through.

So far the colour films have seemed artistic, potentially a bit 'niche' for a wider audience. The Holy Grail is a film which is not too scared of light when ejected, not too worried by temperature. And a fuller range of colour. Ideally something like the nostalgic beauty of the original SX70 films.

Ladies and gentlemen...

PX680.

In the autumn of last year I entered a picture to an Impossible Project competition with the hope of being a beta tester for new film. I got through, and the film arrived in February. This first batch had an issue with white speckles (this is an issue with the first batch), but not with the colour. It's gorgeous. The blues! The reds! A fuller report on my experiences with this to follow...

And this is just the first test film. The second batch is better still. It's going to be a great year.

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Rebecca Feiner - Memory

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 22:33:38 -0800

My friend Rebecca Feiner has a solo show at an amazing John Soane church in Bethnal Green in London running at the moment, with the last day on Thursday 3rd of March: http://www.firstthursdays.co.uk/content.php?page_id=3128

It's a moody installation of video, sound, projections, and is very evocative. Up the stairs, visitors are invited to write a memory on a luggage label and attach it to the bannister. Downstairs is her intimate velvet-lined wardrobe cinema; upstairs in the belfry a case filled with jars of hair. There's an owl... The final night will have poetry, music and bell-ringing! Do go if you're able.

Last Friday I documented it for her, and hopefully captured some of the mood in these pictures.

And check out her website: http://www.feinerart.freeola.com/

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Save celluloid, for art's sake | Art and design | The Guardian

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:58:00 -0800

On Tuesday last week, the staff at Soho Film Laboratory were told by their new owners, Deluxe, that they were stopping the printing of 16mm film, effective immediately. Len Thornton, who looks after 16mm, was told he could take no new orders. That was it: medium eviction without notice. This news will devastate my working life and that of many others, and means that I will have to take the production of my work for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall commission out of Britain.

Soho Film Lab was the last professional lab to be printing 16mm in the UK. In recent years, as 16mm has grown as a medium for artists, the lab has been inundated with work, both from this country and abroad. Contrary to what people imagine, it is a growing and captive market, albeit a small one, with a new generation of younger artists turning to analogue technologies to make and show their work: Thornton says he handles work from more than 170 artists. Then there's the effect that this will have on the BFI and their conservation of the many thousands of reels of Movietone news footage, television, documentaries, features and much else.

These last few days have been like having my bag stolen and remembering, bit by bit, what I had inside it. My relationship with the lab is an intimate one; they watch over my work, and are, in a sense, its protectors. I have made more than 40 films, and each one has several internegatives (a copy of the original negative). In the vaults of Soho Film Lab are racks packed high with cans containing my life's work to date, including the negatives of films I never made. I order countless prints each year, as projecting my films on loop systems in museums and galleries inevitably means that they become scratched and exhausted. Thornton and his colleagues know the titles of all these films, and when I make a new film, I turn up at the lab and grade every colour in every scene. Film is chemistry: chemistry that has produced the miracle of the moving image. Decades of knowledge, skill and experience have gone into my saying, "I think that shot is too green, but the next one is too pink."

Deluxe (who responded that they have "nothing to say at this time") are, admittedly, ending only one tiny part of an ongoing process: they will not stop processing 16mm negative, and will continue to process and print 35mm. It is not as though they are giving up the chemicals and going dry. But they are stopping 16mm print because the cinema industry does not need it any more, and it is they who run the labs and are dictating that movies go digital and celluloid be phased out. Printing 16mm is an irritant to them, as it is time away from printing feature films, and features are the industry and all that matters. Pitched against this, art is voiceless and insignificant. My films are depictions of their subject and therefore closer to painting than they are to narrative cinema. I shoot on negative that is then taken to the lab, in much the same way you used to drop your photos off to be developed. The 16mm print I get back is called the rush print. The negative stays in the lab. Working alone on a cutting table over many weeks, I cut my film out of the rush print. Using tape, I stick the shots together, working as both artist and artisan. It is the heart of my process, and the way I form the film is intrinsically bound up with these solitary hours of watching, spooling and splicing.

When I have finished, I take my reel of taped film, now called my cutting copy, to a negative cutter, who cuts the original negative and delivers it to the lab, which then prints it as a film. My relationship to film begins at that moment of shooting, and ends in the moment of projection. Along the way, there are several stages of magical transformation that imbue the work with varying layers of intensity. This is why the film image is different from the digital image: it is not only emulsion versus pixels, or light versus electronics but something deeper – something to do with poetry.

Many of us are exhausted from grieving over the dismantling of analogue technologies. Digital is not better than analogue, but different. What we are asking for is co-existence: that analogue film might be allowed to remain an option for those who want it, and for the ascendency of one not to have to mean the extinguishing of the other.

The real crux of the difference is that artists exhibit, and so care about the final presentation and presence of the artwork in the space. Other professions have their work mediated into different formats: TV, magazines, billboards, books. It remains only in galleries and museums that the physical encounter is so critical, which is why artists, in the widest sense, are the most distressed by the obsolescence of analogue mediums. But it is also in these spaces that a younger generation born in the digital age are taking up analogue mediums in enormous numbers. At the recent Berlin art fair, 16mm film projections outnumbered digital projections by two to one.

The decision to end 16mm print at Soho Film Lab, newly named Deluxe Soho, seems to be worldwide policy (they have already ended 16mm printing in their labs in New York and Toronto), so it is unlikely we will be able to reverse the decision locally. I spent my weekend writing to Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, who are both understood to care about celluloid film, even 16mm. I am also trying to make contact through the Guggenheim with the US owner of Deluxe, Ron Perelman, who, as a patron of the arts, might not have understood the devastating impact this presumably financially negligible decision might have on a growing group of contemporary artists, the galleries and museums that show them and the national collections that own their work.

In the end, the decision is more cultural than fiscal, and needs to be taken away from the cinema industry. What we need in the UK is a specialist laboratory for conservation-quality 16mm and 35mm prints, possibly affiliated to the BFI. This needs to happen quickly, before the equipment, technology and experience is irreparably dismantled, and Deluxe must help with this. In the meantime, I will look to the last remaining labs in Europe to print my 16mm films.

via guardian.co.uk

Worth reading - why analogue matters in art, and why it’s important to keep the skills in film...

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A nephew and two nieces

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 04:02:00 -0800

I spent Sunday with my sister and three of her children (the other is away at university). We had a fun time in the gardens of Cotehele in Cornwall, then went and had a big cream tea at Hotel Endsleigh in Devon. Of course I had some Polaroid cameras with me, and in my SLR680 I had some Impossible Project PX 600 UV+...

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More Ga Ga

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:24:26 -0800

A year ago I had a little rant about the modern company Polaroid, their disrespect for their history, their disrespect for those making new film, and their appointment of Lady Ga Ga as a creative director.

Well, at CES in Las Vegas this year, Polaroid and Ga Ga announced the first results of their collaboration: the Grey Label range of products. There's the GL10, a digital printer (an updated version of the Pogo); the GL30, an "Instant Digital Camera" (much like the Pogo Instant Digital Camera), and something truly new: the GL20 Camera Glasses:

• Merges Fashion With Photography: Never before has the world seen fashion, photography and technology come together in one, singular product.
• Tells Your Story to the World: Users can instantly capture or upload photos with the built-in camera and then display the images on the glasses' LCD screens for others to see.
• Expresses True Artistry and Originality: Only Lady Gaga could create a hybrid that's part fashion statement, part revolutionary technology and part tool for self-expression.

I think I need a pair of those.

Apart from the printer, these products "will be available later this year, at a price to be announced."

Paul Giambarba, the design genius behind the branding of the classic Polaroid company has a thing or two to say about the way the company announced these devices over at his blog. (By the way, he has a book out about his work at Polaroid - you should buy it!)

Mike Zawadzki has a thing or two to say about the products themselves over at Unique Photo.

I think they cover most of my misgivings about the endeavour. But what I also feel strongly is that the spirit of the original Polaroid company under Edwin Land was that of powerful innovation - everything was striving forward to create something new. I've linked to this document by one of the SX-70 engineers before, but it deserves repeat viewing: Polaroid was a company driven by vision and a visionary man; his teams were inspired to go further than had been gone before because he instilled the belief that such innovation was possible.

Here's an interview with Francis Ford Coppola, and here's the money quote:

"If you don’t take a risk then how are you going to make something really beautiful, that hasn’t been seen before?"

Apart from the glasses, Polaroid seem to be playing it pretty safe with updated products. The fact that they recently brought out a "new" instant film camera in the shape of a re-badged Fuji Instax, shows what level of innovation and risk they are invested in. Meanwhile, The Impossible Project are creating new instant film from nothing for the niche market of instant photographers who care about working with something unique, not just re-warmed. And are proving successful. There's risk and innovation for you.

SX-70 film pack (designed by Paul Giambarba) taken on Impossible Project PX70 film.

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Stairs to the gym...

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 07:36:50 -0800

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Winner!

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:20:09 -0700

Congratulations to Azuree for winning the PX70 giveaway! I enjoyed it hugely, loved reading the comments. I wish I could send film to everybody who responded...

I plan to do another giveaway soon...

Thanks to all who entered!

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PX70 Color Shade Impressions - and Giveaway!

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:41:10 -0700

In July The Impossible Project launched their first colour film: PX70 Color Shade First Flush. I bought six packs, and have been happily shooting away with it.

Like the First Flush edition of the PX100 monochrome material, it's very subtle and delicate. The tones (as I've used it) have tended towards the blues and greens, but with some reds coming through. When the shots first develop, they often appear to be a bit washed out, but with time (a day or so) the contrast improves and the colours grow. It still needs shading from the light when ejecting (although a quick flash of light on ejection can seem to fight the blues... but also fights the exposure)

Here are some of the pictures I've taken with this first step into Impossible colour (all link through to the Flickr page) :

These first steps are fascinating - it's like being at the beginning of the invention of a photographic process, because that's exactly what it is. The original chemicals Polaroid used were often custom made, needed years to mature, and some were later banned for toxicity. When instant film production was wound up, the last of the chemicals went too, so the potion-makers at Impossible Project had to start again from scratch. Bearing in mind the astonishing complexity of Edwin Land's original operation (this document by one of the original engineers on the SX70 gives an idea as to how dedicated the organisation was to getting things perfect, and also what enormous resources they had at hand to custom-build what they needed), it is astonishing that such a small group has succeeded well. My admiration for their achievements know no bounds: clearly Florian Kaps and Andre Bosman inspire innovation in the same way as Doctor Land.

And they keep on striving forwards.

In Photokina in Cologne this September, The Impossible Project showed off the next generation of PX70 chemistry using the wonderful, huge, 20x24 Polaroid camera. More contrast, more colour. Exciting!

But also exciting (for me, definitely!) is the image at the top of this post: I submitted it to the Best Shot competition run by The Impossible Project, and it was chosen as one of the 20 winners! What makes this exciting is that the 20 winners become official test users of the new film. I can't wait for it to arrive.

Giveaway!

As I'm lucky enough to be getting new test film, I want to share one of my last packs of First Flush, just in time for the autumn Polaroid Week in November! Just put in the comments what you'd like to shoot with the pack, and I'll announce a random winner after the weekend. I'll throw in an Impossible Project sticker too...

Enjoy!

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Beautiful Light

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:57:37 -0700

I was in the forest yesterday with the sun being magic. Not enough film, but my Hipstamatic app came in handy.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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Unruhe - in which the author nerds out over Polaroid and The X Files.

Sat, 09 Oct 2010 18:12:50 -0700

The X Files, Season 4, Episode 4. The one with the spirit pictures. And Polaroids! Or are they? Allow me to bore you with observational nerdery... A young girl goes into a pharmacy to get a passport photo taken. She has forgotten her cash, so runs out to the car to get it. She gets abducted. After waiting a while, the pharmacist peels apart the instant passport picture he'd taken, to see a distorted, screaming image of the very same girl, seemingly surrounded by demons or ghosts. Eeek! So let me get my nerd on: The pharmacist and his passport camera:

It looks like a Polaroid MiniPortrait 203 camera to me. Except it's, um, called an ETAP. You often see this sort of thing on TV, where they will cover up a prominent branding: how frequently do you see a metallic laptop with a blank circular sticker where there would perhaps be a glowing apple? But The X Files go a stage further, because the plot revolves around scary spirit pictures imprinted on the film, without the need of a camera. So what film does an ETAP camera use? In one shot we see him peeling it apart, and it looks like Polaroid 100 type, but it seems the ETAP has its own range of film:

Firstly: Gillian Anderson. *happy sigh* Secondly, the prop-makers went to a great deal of bother with this! Love the faux Polaroid 'squares' logo. I'm wondering if Polaroid expressly didn't want their brand being shown, or whether the producers felt it would be distracting. Perhaps licensing or payment issues. Either way, I want one of these boxes. Because I'm a nerd. But the steamy instant action doesn't stop there.

At the victim's house, Mulder notices some 600 shots on the fridge, and goes looking for the camera.

He covers the lens and fires off a couple of shots, to see if the scary images are there:

I like how these are clearly real Polaroids, and they're really developing, not faked up. TV and film drama always likes to make things more exciting: digital cameras making the motor-dirve sound of film cameras; computers that beep and click at every occasion. But here they've clearly got a spirit photographer to imprint on the unexposed negative inside the Polaroid camera. No trickery. Kudos. Which makes it a slight shame that the passport camera makes the sound of the motor in an SX70 type camera when fired. Sigh. I guess "click" isn't interesting enough. Also fun is the part where Mulder gets the computer boffin to unscramble that distorted image. It's like a 20th Century CSI. With indexed colour graphics and dithering. So there you have it: the X Files was cool, and I'm a massive, obsessed nerd. No new revelations there. p.s. Special thanks to Carol for the heads up!

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September

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:51:17 -0700

Soooo... I pretty much failed at The August Break. It wasn't that I failed to take pictures, it was just that I didn't do them thinking "August Break". So it just kind of drifted away. People who did see August Break through, I salute you! I particularly loved Jess Hibbard's notebook and Mark Von Minden's notated Polaroids.

Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took during August...

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