foto-mondo: polaroid spirit- self portrait

Friday, June 22, 2007

polaroid spirit- self portrait

i hit the local goodwill yesterday and found a broken polaroid SPIRIT camera... and since i'm into spirits, i bought it. the top part [flash mechanism] had been broken off, and there was a plastic band of wires sticking up, which used to connect to the flash. i opened it and noticed film inside; but it was so old that the battery in the film pack was kaput, therefore the camera wouldn't work. i figured, "what the hell?... it's only 3$; maybe i can make it work... or, if not, design some kind of pinhole camera out of it." i thought it might get some interesting fx w/o the flash attachment. besides, i don't like the modern Polaroids that automatically flash when you make a shot in low light... so:

i took it home and cut the 'sticking out' wire band part off with scissors. i dug around in the trash and found/got out an empty 600 film pack i'd used yesterday. i then took the film pack out of the camera, and in the closet, slowly/carefully, slid every 'film' out of the old pack...then slid them into the newer one, thinking the battery in the newer pack would be fresh and 'work' the camera... and i'd possibly get some shots out of the old film.

it worked! i pushed the button, the shutter clicked/whirred, and the film spat out. but the film was so old i got nothing but brown prints... [which will look good all lined up together, matted and framed].... but at least i knew the camera worked.

i put in a fresh pack of 600 color film and shot a frame of my bedside table, which was very 'low light'- 40 watt compact fluorescent bulb- but, it came out interesting... a bit blurry... and the colors were "off"... i put it in photoshop and grayscaled/equalized it, but found the original 'weird' color is nicer.

then i decided to try a self portrait using the same low lighting. i kneeled on the floor and pointed the camera at my face- click whir spit- and out came a shot which was almost too dark to see on the original color print- very dark. so, i scanned it @ 800 dpi - then grayscaled, equalized, contrasted it in PS and got what [i think] is a very cool shot. it reminds me old very old photos... which i like!

NOW i have 3 polaroid "600 film" cameras: impulse, sun, and spirit; and two OLD 210 'automatic' land cameras [which use peel apart film] - and 15 packs of b&w 664 to use w/the 210 for here and europe... so i am expecting some mysterious and exciting shots.

[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