People and Polaroids

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Instant Photography is all about people. The experience of sharing the print (as a tangible object) so soon after the image was taken adds a unique flavour to a photographic interaction, and this was quite evident of a photo shoot I had last evening with my good friend Jo-Anne.  We shoot a lot of Polaroids, and she enjoyed being able to see them, and I believe she was energized in her posing by seeing how well her poses and looks worked. This image is another negative scan (where the negative peel-away portion of the print is saved, allowed to dry then scanned, and inverted back into a positive). I love the grain and the vintage look I get from these negative scans, and Jo-Anne’s look suited the technique perfectly.

Jo-Anne

Hanging On

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The payphone is an example of a technology that is becoming less and less relevant, as personal cell phones become ubiquitous, and so I believe a picture of a dilapidated payphone was a perfect subject for the camera used to take the picture. I shot this with a Yashica 44LM 127 format twin lens reflex camera. 127 format film (with negatives typically 4 cm x 4 cm) is effectively obsolete and thus rather uncommon these days, and quite expensive, so what I do is roll it from a 100 foot roll of 46mm wide film I bought on eBay.  I am still working on scanning; getting this film to lie flat is a real trick. Nevertheless, it is a fun little camera, and I plan to shoot it as long as I can!

127 Colour

Kensington Market, Toronto

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Kensington Market in Toronto is one of my favourite places in Toronto: colourful, eclectic, but a bit gritty and rough around the edges. It is certainly not a pretentious or snooty part of town! This past Saturday I went down with three cameras, including a Nikon SLR with a 17mm super wide-angle lens, loaded with slide film (Fuji Velvia 100). The slide film was cross processed (developed as a color negative), resulting in interesting colour shifts and high contrast. I was quite happy with how the set turned out.

Kensington Market, Toronto

Artificial Hipster

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I took this picture of a fellow film enthusiast named Joe at the recent Analog’s Pulse event in Cleveland. When I saw this ridiculous ad I knew I had to comment somehow.

Cleveland - Analog Pulse

Film shooters are often derided as self-important hipsters, more concerned with projecting an image, rather than creating images, and ads like this just add to the misconception. For me, film shooters are more like the guy in front of the ad, who quietly does what he loves.

The ad is artificial. The shooter is real!

More Reflections

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I believe I’ve mentioned before that I love reflection shots (mirrors, glass walls on buildings etc.) I saw this mirror ball in Cleveland a couple of weeks ago and couldn’t resist. If you look closely you’ll see me in the reflection, so it does qualify as a self-portrait 🙂

Cleveland Cross-Processed Photo Walk

(Shot on Fuji slide film, cross-processed as a C-41 colour negative)

The Familiar

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My day job is located in North Etobicoke in Toronto, and frankly it is not the most picturesque part of town. However, in the morning light there are things of interest I pass by every day, as I walk from the bus station to the office.

Rexdale Transmission Lines

Hacking the Process

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Today’s image is a scan of the negative from one of the Polaroids I took at my “Old Friends” shoot this past Sunday. Originally meant to just be thrown away, if these negatives are carefully allowed to dry, they can be scanned and inverted (negative -> positive). The results have a character all their own!

I like processes and materials that can be extended and altered in ways the original manufacturer never dreamed of, and film photography is perfect for this, in  a way that digital never could be.

Ken

Times Two

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Models Emily DeCoteau and Jennifer Bettencourt have both graced my blog multiple times, so it was only fitting that a shoot involving two models would feature them. The idea was a faerie theme, shot in Guild Park, the perfect location. Shooting two models instead of one takes twice the energy, and increases the variables involved, but happily this shoot went very well. Emily and Jennifer worked together very well, and both displayed great characters, with interesting contrasts. I am quite happy with the results.

Emily and Jennifer film

(Nikon FE, 105/2.5 Nikkor lens, 35mm Kodak Portra Colour negative film, developed in home C-41 kit)