foto-mondo: polaroid mania

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

polaroid mania

okay... i've lost my mind. i got out my old polaroid 210 land camera [actually it was my parents from the 60s or so] and decided to use it after seeing some of my old shots i'd done [back in the day] scanned and printed. i ordered B&W 664 polaroid film from nyc- and was elated when it arrived. i tore open the film pack and loaded the camera. BUT i shot several snaps that came out pitch black, [though one was rather interesting but not what i had been pointing at!!!!] panic. i fiddled around, found the old manual, and discovered the camera uses a battery!...duh! they are not readily available. so, i went online and ordered the battery... and decided to noit mess with the camera again until they [i got 2] came. they came today... and the fun began.... sort of...

for one thing, the camera has 2 settings.... 3000 or 75. i didn't know which to use. [i'd forgotten all this since the 70s!] i went online but nobody/nothing specified. also...i had no real info on how long to let the prints 'develop' before you pull them apart. so. after getting some very weird, screwed up [but arty] shots like these 2 below :

i went back online and searched. i never found out anything about the setting except that 3000 was for flash [and i was shooting outside in broad daylight] ... so tried 3000 and got a black square; the polaroid site said wait 30 seconds before peeling the film apart... so, i set the camera on 75 and shot a pic of the tv... i waited 30 seconds and peeled the film apart... et voila.... une miracle! my first clear [sort of] shot... with the Land 210 in 30 years!

so, 2 boxes of film gone... all trials... and errors.... but "by jove i think i've got it!" i hear that fuji b&w pack film is superior to polaroid [who is phasing film out, left and right]-so my next order will be probably be Fuji ...
i have 4 packs of 664 left and just ordered 10 more for my European trip [before i heard about the fuji] so... this should be a fun & interesting "instant" summer...

p.s. i've been scanning the originals at 800dpi- and have even been scanning the backings which make for some "abstract art" when diddled with in photoshop. the possibilities are endless...

[c]2007 doug duffey

about this blog

i began making photos in my teens. i wasn't really making much more than snapshots [except for a few psychedelic polaroids in the late 60s] until the 90s, when i bought a used Canon AE1 camera from a guy on Bourbon Street [probably 'hot']. that's when i began getting serious about photography. i taught myself everything by doing: how to use the camera; how to develop film; how to make the prints [b&w only]. when i bought 2nd hand darkroom equipment and began printing, it really became a passion.

i collect and use cameras: everything from crap 50-cent fixed focus plastic 35mm ones i find at junk stores to good quality Leica, Rollei, Bronica, Yashica, Nikon-i particularly like old manual cameras that don't use batteries etc. [Voigtlander, Zeiss, etc] i've been collecting rangefinders like crazy-it's gotten ridiculous: i have more cameras than i can use... but keep collecting. i sometimes turn broken cameras into pinhole film cameras.

i really like the effects i get with the crap plastic cameras [i like the element of surprise] using 'color process' b&w film- i usually load several w/different ASA film and take them when i go shooting. they're light, easy to carry, never need batteries, and i don't have to worry about lighting, or f/stops etc. i've also bought a lot of medium format plastic cameras as well [diana, agfa isola, etc] and old 127 ,120, & 620 film-cameras [both good quality and bad] - the fixed focus plastic lens make for dream-like, soft focus shots. i love old photographs and these were the type cameras that made the majority of those!

i've been trying to scan/archive most of my negatives/fotos for years now- but considering i have been making fotos from my teen years until now that is a major on-going work. i have about 4 external hard drives w/ thousands of fotos on them... and thousands of 'actual' physical negatives... and fotos- things i've shot all over the world; however, my favorite subject matter remains the beautiful but tragically disappearing old south, which i hope to capture as much of as possible.

i almost never have prints made. i usually print photographs myself, when i am going to do a series and or a show. i also develop all true b&w film/negatives myself, after having some negatives ruined by so-called professionals, who either used old chemicals or didn't time things right. as said, i collect old cameras and have many different film formats; many of the negatives would have to be sent off; so, doing it myself is faster and much cheaper. i'm not really into digital, because i like film... and i like working in the darkroom. digital cameras take the photos when THEY decide to; a manual camera makes the foto when YOU press the button. i've also seen digital fotos just 'disappear'- due to computer crashes- or media cards- so i prefer film. i have my grandmother's and mother's negatives from waaaaaaaaaaaaay back... which i can still print from... who knows that whatever digital medium we're using these days will even be functional in 5 years? give me film any time!

for a long time i have been using Ilford xp-2 - and Kodak BW400 [both are color processed b&w you can have processed anywhere] and scan the negatives into my computer. but , now to make things even easier, i just have whoever develops the negatives scan them to cd. of course i only print b&w- so for true B&W i print myself. if i photoshop anything it has to be a digital print; especially anything in color.

i've had exhibits in louisiana and europe, but due to the fact that music is my top priority business, i haven't been doing any printing lately. i just keep shooting more and more film and keep acquiring more and more negatives, polaroids, and cds of the work... [and collecting more cameras] at least i can post some of the digitized shots/scans here!

check out the IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT to save and continue Polaroid film