abstracts SX-70

ohne titel 2

ohne titel 1

shot with sx-70, then equalized and gray-scaled in photoshop

[c]2008 doug duffey

swiss billboard collage

i love making photos of places where people have put up posters, signs, fliers etc. and others have ripped them down to put theirs up. eventually they end up looking like collages. i shoot these whenever i see them, and have done that all over Europe since about 1991. i scanned these negatives at 2400 DPI- so they can be blown up. i could crop them more, but rather like the torn tape on the outside edges. these were shot in switzerland.

[c]2008 doug duffey

scanning negatives

in trying to go through papers, box them up, move them, etc. and make order in the room, i pulled out a plastic container filled with negatives i had planned to scan years ago! inside were pages of negatives from Russia, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Germany... things I'd never printed, had printed, or scanned. there were a lot of great surprises- like finding my misplaced Russian negatives- but it will take forever to go through them ALL; it's taken me 2 days and nights just to scan the ones from Russia.

i still have binders full of negatives from Egypt, Italy, France, England, USA and Canada- not to mention all the slides i've also made. if i didn't have other stuff to contend with, i could happily sit and scan these for the rest of the year!

[c]2008 doug duffey

blurs from the past- russia early 90s

i love blurs, double exposures and light leaks! discovered these while scanning my russian negatives.
me at the piano in the u.s. ambassador's residence- moscow 1991 or 1992- think misty wilmore shot this using my canon ae-1

a shot by me of "misty wilmore" in traditional russian head dress- moscow

man walking with child & umbrella- zagorsk, russia- 1991 or 1992

[c]2008 doug duffey

SELF PORTRAITS

i shot this by a lamp, using a Polaroid Spirit w/600 film- then gray-scaled and equalized it in Photoshop. it looks like old german expressionism.

this was a SX-70 mistake. i was shooting the muffin tins in a brown paper bag, last night w/the sx-70. because there was no light in the bag the shutter froze- so i pulled it out and pointed it at myself- which caused this weird double exposure. looks very Dada- like a gas mask or something!
[c]2008 doug duffey

POLAROID SX-70 - 8.18.08

in a DADA-ist mood, i shot some ordinary kitchen items with the SX70 today

grater

muffin tins

sifter

i also did some experiments with light:

cardboard inside a cardboard box

the inside of a brown paper bag

[c]2008 doug duffey

BERLIN -POSTERS

various posters-on poles or walls- i shot in Berlin in the 90s

[c]2008 doug duffey

bern blau

2 shots from Switzerland- 2007- the top is in Bern; the lower is in my room in the old hotel post [before they renovated/ruined it this past year] zermatt

[c]2008 doug duffey

bridge-new orleans- 2008

shot w/a 'toy' 35mm plastic camera and b&w [color process] film

[c]2008 doug duffey

TV shot with sx-70

i was shooting a black and white movie off TV- but because the lens stayed open so long [due to adjusting to light]- the image moved and this was the result.
[c]2008 doug duffey

compact fluorescent bulbs and the sx-70

i have figured out that all my sx-70 self portraits come out with a yellow tint because i only have compact fluorescent bulbs in the house!

if all the world's a stage, i want better lighting.

[c]2008 doug duffey

shop windows w/ sx-70

shop windows- west monroe- shot at dusk today using Polaroid 600 film in a Polaroid sx-70- no filter- enhanced w/Photoshop. i'm amazed these came out at all. the actual prints are very light; but, when i hit 'equalize' the colors popped out. Photoshop covers a multitude of sins.

i'm not usually into loud colors- but i do like reflections and blurs and such, which these have.
[c]2008 doug duffey

sx70 screw up

the 600 film stuck in the sx-70! i pulled it out and waited... and voila.
[c]2008 doug duffey

christ is our way to heaven

st. john DEVINE church- monroe, louisiana- shot in march 2008-
[c]2008 doug duffey

found photos

[c]2008 doug duffey

yvonand, switzerland

a Polaroid i ran across yesterday- when sorting through old Polaroids- it's originally in color but i gray scaled it. it was shot in Yvonand, Switzerland in 1993
[c]2008 doug duffey

SX-70 SELF PORTRAIT

the 600 film pack quit working in the 1-Step, so i took it out and put it in the SX-70 and shot this 'test' shot. i didn't think the photo would come out at all, so decided to manipulate it. i saw a hairbrush close by, so took it and began beating the photo w/it as it developed; the bristles caused all the blue squiggly varicose veins looking lines; the darker patch across my mouth was where the film had stuck in the 1-Step. i scanned it in photoshop and did some work... i like this...

[c]2008 doug duffey

sx-70 1st shots

ok, like an idiot i bid on won an sx70 on ebay for about 20$+ shipping. compared to all other polaroids i have to say they are beautiful and beautifully made cameras- but again-
[c]2008 doug duffey

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

polaroid one step & close up- more about

i took the film out of the "One-Step" when it started screwing up and put it in the "One Step Closeup"- it spat out all the remaining film out- plain white on all shots- i grabbed them and mashed them up- then scanned them and got things like the above- which i photo-shopped; reminds me of 1960s light shows!--- i might also take a few snaps them mash them as the picture 'comes up' to see what happens. this was kind of cool- a happy accident.

thinking something was wrong with even that camera i stuck in a new pack of film- went outside and tried a self portrait- [i blurred it some in photoshop]- and it worked fine. i guess it wanted it's own pack of film! thank s to a friend i have hundreds!

AND ONE MORE THING: i went back to the link i posted earlier and read more: and realized that the Polaroid sx-70 [discontinued] film was obviously 4x slower than todays 600- that's why all the outdoor shots i did today came out white! SO i tried some shots in the house [night] and they worked! they have a yellow tint- but that's rather ok. now to find/make a little filter for the camera lens-so i can shoot outside!

i dont know why i f++k with this as i have about 10+ various polaroid cameras- my OCD has kicked in again...
[c]2008 doug duffey