foto-mondo: Polaroid 600 film

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

one step- sx-70... TRICKS!

i discovered a few new tricks to do with these cameras- as the 600 film is so fast in these cameras. one- i shot the television [was watching b&w movies]- which made for nice but strange images. then i scanned/darkened the Polaroids in photoshop:

i shot some stuff in the house- in low light- and it came out- but not totally clear- BUT 600 film in the 1-step and Sx-might make for very interesting night low-light shots. but daytime... forget it... everything comes out white- BUT there are solutions for daytime: filters!

i went online to ebay and found they have 'filters' for Polaroid 1-step and Sx-70 "so you can use 600 film"; but, they were expensive. one was just some grey-ish mylar like plastic sheet which you place over the film pack before inserting it- the other were nice glass filters, specially made in japan. but again... both were over 24$, which seems dumb for a 1$ thrift store camera!- AND if a friend hadn't given me an abundance of 600 film, i wouldn't be doing all this trial and error BS! but sometimes from trial and error you accidentally get art!

BUT i found -on a roll of B&W film i'd just developed- one or two frames that hadn't come out. they were kind of grey; and so... i cut out and stuck a little round bit of a frame/film over the lens-then went outside and shot something... and it worked! not great, not perfect, but better that the total white i'd gotten before. so my theory is- any kind of grey film/plastic material would probably work. maybe a piece of some kind of light grey plastic cut and tapes over the lens?

below: shot with the piece of film over the lens in daylight--- it would otherwise have been totally white!

below: shot without the film over- this was a very dark tree lined lane- shot at almost dusk!

so... the other option is to only shoot w/these cameras [1-Step/SX-70] at night when using 600 film- maybe in a bar or cafe, or at nighttime in city light, etc. that could make for some interesting stuff- blurs and weird tones. that might be my next shoot. will post if i get something good.

[c]2008 doug duffey

Monday, June 30, 2008

polaroid one-step - 600 film- fix

okay- as said in an earlier post-the Polaroid One Step quit working 1/2 way through a fresh pack of 600 film- which i'd forced in! when it wouldn't work, i took the film out... but couldn't get it back in.
today i went to the Polaroid website and read that you can shave off the little nibs on the back of Polaroid 600 film and it will fit! i shaved the nibs off w/a steak knife- but even so, the fotos are now coming out too light... it could be the camera... what do i expect for 1$?
if you have SX70s and other cameras there is info at the link below. http://www.polaroid.com/sx70/en/index.html
[c]2008 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

foto-mondo

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

abstracts SX-70

Friday, August 08, 2008

sx70 screw up

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

one step- sx-70... TRICKS!

Monday, June 30, 2008

polaroid one-step - 600 film- fix