Monthly Archives: July 2013

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{‘Roid Week 2013} Diana-Diana

(click the photo to view it at a larger size – it’s better BIGGER!)

The night before I sold my Diana F+, I told my niece that I needed her for a photo and had her come outside. She quite cheerfully obliged, and I handed her the Diana. I’d already set my Polaroid Spectra 1200si up on a tripod with my Minolta Instant Pro’s close-up lens attached. I asked my niece to put the Diana camera up to her eye then had her stand to the side and photographed her casually holding the camera- my little model performed perfectly! I just thought the Diana was too cool looking to not utilize as a prop in a photo. And I have to say that between how well I like the resulting photos and my sentimental attachment to the model in the photos, these two are among my most favorite Impossible Project photos I’ve ever taken.

♥♥♥

Polaroid Spectra 1200si  • Impossible Project PZ680 Color Protection
Minolta Instant Pro close-up attachment used on the left photo  

{‘Roid Week 2013} Banana-Banana

(click the photo to view it at a larger size – it’s better BIGGER!)

I’d really been cross at myself for not putting more film through my Polaroid Spectra/Minolta Instant Pro cameras after procuring them last Christmas. So much film photography to do, so little time!  I decided to stop being cross at myself  by ordering a few packs of Impossible Project PZ 680 Color Protection film last month. I couldn’t decide which camera to use the PZ 680 film in, so I did both! I’ve become a bit of an expert at transferring Impossible Project film into different cameras 🙂 So I first loaded this film pack into the Minolta. Then put it in the Polaroid. And I finished it off in the Minolta.

The above photos were the first two I took when I loaded the film into the Minolta. I wasn’t happy with the exposure on the first photo, so I immediately took another. The exposure wasn’t any better on the second try! However, since the reason I was photographing this banana was because I thought its curvature was unlike that of any other banana I’d ever seen, I rather like the abstract nature that the underexposure of these photos creates.

Minolta Instant Pro w/Close-up lens attached • Impossible Project PZ 680 Color Protection

{‘Roid Week 2013} The Last of the Polaroids

The time has come, once again, for ‘Roid Week – wherein members of the online photo community share their instant photos with each other and the world. I think, ideally, one would take new photos each day of ‘Roid Week and post them daily. I happen to have a stash of instant photos taken over the past several months which I never scanned or posted online, so I’m going to “premier” those as my contribution to ‘Roid Week.
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In January, my friend Daniel sent me a Polaroid 600 camera which had a film cartridge in it. That cartridge had several sheets of film still in it, but the battery in the pack was dead. So I swapped the remaining film into a fresher, Impossible Project film cartridge in order to use the film. The expired film produced a warm, almost monochrome color cast.  I took a few photos in my kitchen, and I thought the result was a lovely way to use what will likely be the last genuine Polaroid film I’ll ever have the opportunity to use.

Polaroid SLR 680 • Expired Polaroid 600 film

Giving Lomo a Go {Part One}

I mentioned in a recent blog that I had never used Lomography film up to this point in my photographic journey, and I listed a couple of reasons why that is the case. I mean, it’s nothing personal, Lomography. Your films are just usually cost-prohibitive for me!  But I have always liked the idea that retailers who stock  Lomography film (such as Urban Outfitters) are stocking film types that you wouldn’t normally be able to find outside of a proper photo shop or that you’d have to order online.  So, say I was in Memphis and decided I wanted to shoot some medium format film in my Holga. I couldn’t just walk into Walgreens and get that. And sometimes photo stores aren’t open at night or on the weekend. I could waltz into Urban Outfitters and pick up a pack of medium format film, even if I had to pay a premium price for it  and even if it’s not really “pro grade.” Lucky for me though, our local Urban Outfitters recently put a whole slew of Lomography film on clearance. I was able to grab a few packs of their 35mm Color Negative 100 film super cheap!

I have been missing a non-professional grade color 100 ASA film, since that film speed is one that has almost gone the way of the buffalo because  film companies are cutting back on the types of film they still produce. For those of you who might not be familiar with film speeds/ISO/ASA: The lower the number, the more light needed to get a properly-exposed photo. And vice versa. Higher film speed, less light needed. Say you are shooting in bright daylight: it is generally to your advantage to use a lower film speed. Shooting in dimmer light? Higher film speed (this also holds true for film “sensitivities” on digital cameras.) There are other issues involved with the ISO rating of film you use, such as film grain and color saturation.  You tend to get brighter colors and finer film grain with the lower film speeds. The higher the film speed, the larger the grain.

The colors you get with 100 ASA film are a big reason that I miss having a lot of choices in that particular film speed. I used to enjoy Fuji’s Super HQ 100 film or Kroger 100 (rebranded Italian film) in my toy cameras. I miss those films! That’s why I had high hopes for the Lomography CN 100 I’d gotten from Urban. Did it live up to those hopes? Let’s take a look!

One of the custom motorcycles on display at an auto auction where my family caters meals

Fallen petals

The day Mallory came to visit me down in the great state of Mississippi 

Adventures in Como, MS with Mallory and some horses. There may or may not have been
a minor electrocution – don’t worry though. It WASN’T one of the horses…

Wildflowers and weeds while we were sitting under a tree in front of the horse pasture

Showing Como’s Main Street to Mallory – she thinks it’s the closest
thing to  Mayberry that she’s ever seen. That means she loved it.

Ricoh FF-1 • Lomography Color Negative 100

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Conclusion?

Based on this roll, the jury’s still out as to whether or not I’ll come to love Lomography CN 100. Most of it was shot on a very bright afternoon in Como, Mississippi. I (and most photographers) tend to avoid shooting outdoors in the brightest mid-afternoon light. So these photos may not really represent how I’d normally work with a film like this. Since I have eight rolls of Lomography CN 100 left,  I’ll have lots of opportunity to put it through its paces! And, I’ll keep you posted about my findings!