Since It's Still Summer Outside

Here are some recent scans from the beach.  Seemed summer started late and still lingers on, so likewise, I'm not letting go yet.

Recent Works in Sepia

 From my Stepchildren Series

 From a new series, The Royals (WIP)

Recent Polaroid scan from this past summer.

Re-covery

I have three Polaroid SX-70 cameras, the original, the Alpha, and Model 2.  All are in varying states of distress, but the Alpha, which was the first one I owned, had a leatherette covering which was so dried and crumbly that it caused anything it came into contact with to be stained with a rusty brown filthy dust.  I had to carry it in a plastic bag, and as I often go withs several cameras on my shoots, not being able to just sling the long strap over my shoulder was a pain.  So this summer I said no more.   I took a heavy rasp and sandpaper, and tried to remove as much of the cover as possible, and then commenced with a variety of duct and electrical tapes.  The whole thing is eyeballed, and not perfect, but it's so great to be able to pick it up without getting dirty hands.  :))

First Pinhole Polaroid of the Season

10 second exposure on a lovely summer day by the Hudson River in a little park between Soho and Tribeca in NYC.

Taken with this camera: The Arunas Cigar Box Pinhole with Polaroid back....

I Made the Huffington Post!

In all the excitement, I forgot to mention here that I was featured there on March 10.  The only reason I even found out about it is because the gallery where I'm currently showing this piece sent me the link.  Pretty cool.  Here's a screenshot:

The article starts out... "Technology can only get you so far.  No matter how many clear-as-day DSLR shots you take, no matter how many Valencia filters you lovingly apply to your iPhone photo of brunch, you can't fake pure photographic genius."

Then, there's my cigar box pinhole shot on old Polaroid film of sand paths taken at dusk in the summertime.  I'm so honored!

Patti Smith's Polaroid Exhibit

The Robert Miller Gallery at 524 W. 26th Street in Chelsea is having a show of Patti Smith's Polaroids.  Some I liked very much.  There were a lot of beds.  And table and chair shots.  She also does this thing where she writes on the photo and/or the mats they are in, and it's quite beautiful - her handwriting is art; the shapes and patterns it forms.  Like an accessory.  I didn't have a camera with me that day, so borrowed an iPhone to snap these.

Krappy Kamera 2016

So I'm in this year's Krappy Kamera show at the Soho Photo Gallery in Tribeca.  Though it's not my first time to be selected,  it's always an honor to take part.  The show opened yesterday, with the reception happening two nights ago.  When I arrived, I was one of three asked to make a speech about my camera and my photography - nerve-wracking, to say the least.  My photo, taken with my Cigar Box Pinhole camera with a Polaroid back, titled "Summer Dusk", took the People's Choice Award!

Afterwards, I went with friends to a nearby local bar/bistro which has been in business since the 1800's.  It's one of those warmly lit places with dark wood interior, and tin walls and ceilings.  They set out crayons on the butcher paper covered tables, and of course, I had to draw my 'Devil Boy' character.  By the end of the night, our table top was covered in art.

Next, we walked home to Soho, (it's right next to Tribeca) and stopped after dining hours at a favorite place of mine.  It wasn't until the next morning that I opened my People's Choice Award.   I still can't believe it, and was thrilled to find a lovely red and white Lomography "Meg" camera with ring flash, a little hardback book about Diana cameras (and Diana clones), as well as three rolls of film.  It will be fun to see what I do with this one.  

Three in a Row

I currently have some photos in a small group show at Lightbox Gallery, which is located in Astoria, Oregon.  I've never exhibited on the west coast, so it makes me happy.  Check them out if you are in the area.

Uncovering The Magic

In a recent post, I spoke about scanning the 'duds' - those photos which came out either way too overexposed or underexposed.  I showed examples of an underexposed Polaroid, and my scanning methods used to uncover the magic hidden within.   Today I'll share one which was overexposed, a Type 600 version of Impossible Project's color film (a 'skins' version with animal print frames).  My cameras are sx-70's, so this film will result in an overexposed image.

The original

The original cropped, after adjusting data in the individual color channels.

Two Cameras, One Scene

On the left, my Holga with Polaroid back and homemade filter.  Held together with a bunch of rubber bands and electrical tape.  On the right, my Arunas cam: a cigar box pinhole with Polaroid back.  Both sitting on a seawall, ocean in the background, my mini-recorder weighing down an unpeeled Polaroid in the foreground.  Taken with an sx-70 camera 2 months ago.

Taken with the camera on the right.

Taken with the camera on the left.

Yeller

From acid, to butter, to mild vanilla....

Tourists checking out fake goods on Canal Street, NYC

Weeds growing out of a sidewalk against a cement building.

Apparently a crash test dummy has made off with the cab.

A member of my toy collection.  Hitting the sauce again.

Art gallery on the Lower East side of Manhattan.

Beach Pavillion on the New England coast.

Paste up on the old Tennessee Mountain restaurant in Soho.  

It's sadly since become a Crocs store.  :(

Foggy dirt road captured on Redscale film.

Why Scanning Film Is An Endless Task

There's a reason my film scanning is a never-ending process. First, I am always taking pictures, so the rolls of film and stacks of polaroids continue to grow. Second, since the majority of my cameras are low end and quirky, they can cause double exposures, uneven spacing between frames, and, due to unsophisticated or absent focus/aperture controls, too dark/light and/or blurred images. All these lend to far more time necessary in the scanner with each of these types of images as I attempt to find and make a picture.

Generally, if I take a photo with a sophisticated camera (ahem, I have only one, the Pentax 67) then scanning is a breeze. I can do an entire roll of film in a couple of hours; one evening. With the lo-fi cameras, I spend more time first making a 'reality' scan of the image "as is", and then doing multiple variations of the same image through adjustments to each of the color channels in attempts to 'find' a better photo, more detail, or more character and soul. I may also increase or decrease the saturation, or convert it to black and white, and save all these versions for later comparison.

Pictured above is one of my recent scans. It was an image taken last month in a plastic camera with an attached polaroid back. The film was a black and white Polaroid type which expired 9 years ago, and while I should have shot this as a long exposure, because it was very early morning, very cloudy, and I had a dark filter over the lens, I forgot. All this resulted in an underexposed photo with barely any image, as you can see.

It doesn't end there, however.  All's not lost.  There's nothing to lose in trying to pull something out of these types of images when scanning. Sometimes I find my best images this way. Lightening it, manipulating the color channels (I always scan as 24bit color, even if it's black and white) and other adjustments will cause distortions, and exaggeration of the film emulsion's aberrations, and the dust particles, but all that adds to the character.  The following are three of the 5 or so variations I made of the above photo: