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 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!
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!
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!
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 if 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…
[video]
Doctor Florian Kaps and Mijonju (by Mijonju)
Doctor Kaps started writing on the film:
UHH, old Polaroid film!
Please use the real stuff
-> Impossible!!
Yours, Doc
*uses the marker to darken
mijonju’s tooth.
LOL
(via tipusa)
Every new film has a learning curve, and I thought I’d met my match with PX680. But now and then a photo turns out exactly the way you want it to (or even better) and it somehow makes the huge stack of discarded exposures worth it.
May 7, 2011 - Polaroid SX-70 with Impossible PX680 beta film & ND pack filter
(Source: jesshibb)
