Wednesday 29 December 2010

Polaroid Comeback?

Hello! hope you had a lovely Christmas and what not! The picture above was released earlier this moth from Polaroid as a teaser to next weeks CES show. The Tag line says "Grey Revealed" and rumours are flying around that this is some kind of next generation instant camera, the big questions being if it is an instant camera what kind of film will it use? 

Polaroid stopped making their instant film some time ago and all though The impossible project has been a success and the most popular films are once again on the market I personally cant see the two coming together on a product this soon. So I'm thinking the film will involve the Zink technology used in Pogo printers maybe it will even have the 600 type film border? another likely idea is that the camera could use a re-brand of Fuji instant films like the Instax wide (Polaroid has already done this with its Polaroid 300 camera) But then again for all we know at the moment this could be a projector. 

Guess we will just have to wait and see.


Tuesday 16 November 2010

that you Jethro?

Today was incredibly foggy, went to test out a new pin hole camera and took my land 320 with me



That duck on the right makes this picture, taken on my Polaroid Land 320 using FP-100B

Monday 15 November 2010

Toy Camera UK

So my problem with getting the standard jobs young folk often do is essentially I'm useless at them and as soon as you work in a place like that you start to hate the public, I blame social unrest amongst young people in England on the depressing places they are made to work. So I have started this instead


Click the picture above to go to the shop, granted its pretty rubbish at the mo, hopefully get some cool stuff in pretty soon. got to start somewhere!



Wednesday 10 November 2010

here's some more, why not

Did two more single sheet manipulations today of Rankin's picture of the queen and that smart looking chap is me.

(see post below if you don't know what I'm on about)




these two are transfers after soaking for about half an hour, I can't seem to get the blue layer off the paper as its just far to fragile if anyone has any luck with that or knows a technique please share!




Monday 8 November 2010

Polaroid POGO Manipulations

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Polaroid manufacture a range of printers and paper that require no ink, the paper responds to heat a bit like how a receipt printer works in a shop but in colour, the most common printer the POGO prints credit card size pictures and has started a bit of a manipulation revolution. I love how people see the Polaroid logo and feel the need to be creative and experiment and that is exactly what these two decided to do.


Photo Manipulation: Zink-PoGo from Frenky on Vimeo.


I had to give it a go after watching that and these are my attempts at manipulating the paper using lemon juice, nail varnish remover, a lighter, sand paper, bleach, water and a hot piece of wire. please click on the images to enlarge them.




















This is picture of me spread over four pieces of "zink" paper the hot wire gave the red lines and a lighter gave the blue border by scratching away at the top it goes yellow to purple to blue as you go through the colour layers.


















This is one sheet, they are only small so you have to get right up close to look at all the detail which I love, by rubbing a lemon over the paper it warms up the image and seems to give it a little bit more contrast.


























For this one I started with Blue nude by Matisse spread over 11 pieces of Zink paper the pink colour is from the nail varnish remover.
























This is the famous scene from American beauty by using a skewer heated in a Bunsen/lighter flame you can start to draw lines and outline features.




















this is of course Van Gogh on one piece of paper using pretty much all the techniques from above.

so yeah if you have the little printer which only costs 20 pounds and the paper which is just over a tenner for 100 sheets then give it a go!

Friday 5 November 2010

PUSH!... what?

The impossible project this week announced the public release of a new colour chemistry set up, in the form of their PX 70 Colour Shade PUSH! film and d'ya know what, it looks good! "PUSH!" is a reference to the fact you have to massively over expose this film to get the best out of it TIP suggests "bathing your subject in light and setting the dial to lightest". from the test shots this is a massive improvement on the original colour shade film that was to be honest a bit poor!






































Top - new Px colour shade
Bottom - old Px colour shade


The new film seems to be developed from the new chemistry they used on some special edition 20X24 integral film which was revealed earlier this year (the film uses two 8X10 pods)

Tuesday 2 November 2010

Jamie Livingstone, a life in polaroids

Jamie Livingstone from as far as I have read was a photographer, film maker and circus performer who on the last day of march 1979 decided to document the comings and goings of his life with a Polaroid a day. Armed with an SX-70, Jamie takes pictures of himself, friends, strangers and all kinds of scenes that build up a picture of his life.



















as you scroll through the nearly 7000 pictures you learn the characters and places in the story and quickly become engrossed as if you are watching a film.



















you follow Jamie a lot of the time as if you are looking through his eyes



















in 1997 it becomes clear that Jamie has cancer



















On the 5th of October 1997 Jamie proposes to his wife signified by a picture of a ring in its box and very soon after they are wed.



















18 days later and 19 years after they picture started the come to and end the last picture taken of Jamie laying in his hospital bed.

This is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen on then internet and is well worth taking some time to scroll through the entire collection and enjoy the story.

 you can find it here
http://photooftheday.hughcrawford.com/

Monday 1 November 2010

This looks flipping quality












The sprocket rocket is the latest camera from Lomography, It does what seems to be the big thing lately in the ever evolving world of toy cameras. The camera exposes the entire height of the 35mm film sprockets n'all (hence the name) it also features a backwards winder which is a very nice touch making panoramic multiple exposures possible


















other cameras that you can use to get this effect are the

black bird fly from SuperHEADZ

This is a beautiful camera that can take normal square and sprocket pictures all on 35mm it is also a TLR which is nice



















Any HOLGA 120 with a 35mm back will also expose the sprockets.

obviously you don't order prints from any of the film you expose the sprockets on but rather have to scan your negatives onto the computer if you just have a normal scanner lomo sell an over priced holder that will allow you to scan them onto your computer which seems to work nicely

Friday 29 October 2010

And another one...























- see previous posts

Wednesday 27 October 2010

One I forgot



















 - see previous post

More FP-100 Negative Stuff

I have taken to using the method on New55projects Blog as a way to be artistically creative, having just started my foundation course and been give my first project of  "Traces and manipulation" I have been having a lot of fun with adapting this method through mainly trial and error. But despite some epic failures here is what I have come up with so far.




























The techniques I favoured were
- leaving in bleach over night which appears to start to break down the negative itself
- lightly sanding
- soaking back in lemon juice for half an hour (gave the purple effect) and eroded away the emulsion
- finding discarded tatty negatives hiding behind wardrobes etc.

will be defiantly doing more of this, third from the top I think is the best click it to see it larger

Thursday 14 October 2010

Friday 10 September 2010

Fuji FP-100C Negative Reclamation VS A negative found under my bed

Essentially this post is just to say about the cracking Fuji FP-100C Negative Reclamation process detailed on New55Project's Blog which I have been meaning to try for ages but don't have a scanner capable of scanning negatives so I knocked up this little contraption.
























Yes it is a box with some spotlights and a bit of plastic over the top... but it did work!
I mounted my D60 on the tripod and took a picture of the negative from some Fuji Fp 100c reclaimed using the guide above, I tested the method on a quite old negative that I found under my bed coated in dust and a bit scratched up.






After cropping, inverting and colour balance on Photoshop this is what I was left with and do you know what I couldn't be happier I actually love this picture! it reminds me of some of the SX-70 modifications people used to do.


of course there are much easier ways of scanning all kinds of negatives onto your computer and there is a great guide on everything you need to know and how much its going to tear a hole in your pocket here 

Sunday 5 September 2010

Oh and it has been quite some time hasn't it, but I am back if anyone missed me...

over this summer I have been here there and everywhere and this blog sadly fell to the side in my list of priority's but now as its getting a bit chilly again and people start to fall back onto the interweb I have come back to it with all kinds of bollocks to rant on about.

This week I have mostly been cross processing Agfa CT Precisa 100 which comes out with some quality colours, if not a little blue but I think that is just due to underexposing and leaving the film in a hot tent in Spain for a week.
























As a technique cross processing does give you some lovely images but is incredibly unreliable as you are messing with slide film which is sensitive enough to star off with, got some cheap expired boots slide film which I believe is the Fuji emulsion so will xpro some of that and see if the results are very different from the Agfa.

Wednesday 9 June 2010

Sad Times

Currently off the Blog so I can stress about exams, but during my procrastination I have found some brill stuff that I will share when I finish on the 29th! a'thankyou.

Monday 31 May 2010

"Polaroid", Who Are You Kidding?

The once great Polaroid has surprisingly gone and sold out again, if you go onto their website you will be greeted with a much more "hip" welcome page featuring shots from there various commercial out of production instant films and in the middle an announcement of the release of the new Polaroid 300, doesn't really take an idiot to realize that its just a re-brand of the Fuji mini 7s and the film is just a re-brand of the Fuji Instax mini film. Yet they have nearly doubled the price of the film and the price of the camera, so you have to wonder what they are trying to achieve here? as the new owners of Polaroid have received very little respect from instant film lovers. Why would we pay more to see the brand on a Fuji camera? 




It is however some what satisfying if not frustrating to see Polaroid getting back in to the instant market, with stories flying about of Polaroid making a new camera for The Impossible Projects films I'm excited to see what might be coming soon! hopefully not another Fuji clone. 

Tuesday 25 May 2010

Happy Towel Day!

Today is towel day in celebration of the life and works of Douglas Adams, author of The Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy series (the trilogy of five) these have got to be my favorite books of all time. This blog is actually named after one of the stories in the book which to this day is still the funniest thing I have ever read

"Tell me the story," said Fenchurch firmly. "You arrived at the station."
"I was about twenty minutes early. I'd got the time of the train wrong. I suppose it is equally possible," he added after a moment's reflection, "that British Rail had got the time of the train wrong. Hadn't occurred to me before."
"Get on with it." Fenchurch laughed.
"So I bought a newspaper, to do the crossword, and went to the buffet to get a cup of coffee."
"You do the crossword?"
"Yes."
"Which one?"
"The Guardian usually."
"I think it tries to be too cute. I prefer The Times. Did you solve it?"
"What?"
"The crossword in the Guardian."
"I haven't had a chance to look at it yet," said Arthur, "I'm still trying to buy the coffee."
"All right then. Buy the coffee."
"I'm buying it. I am also," said Arthur, "buying some biscuits."
"What sort?"
"Rich Tea."
"Good Choice."
"I like them. Laden with all these new possessions, I go and sit at a table. And don't ask me what the table was like because this was some time ago and I can't remember. It was probably round."
"All right."
"So let me give you the layout. Me sitting at the table. On my left, the newspaper. On my right, the cup of coffee. In the middle of the table, the packet of biscuits."
"I see it perfectly."
"What you don't see," said Arthur, "because I haven't mentioned him yet, is the guy sitting at the table already. He is sitting there opposite me."
"What's he look like?"
"Perfectly ordinary. Briefcase. Business suit. He didn't look," said Arthur, "as if he was about to do anything weird."
"Ah. I know the type. What did he do?"
"He did this. He leaned across the table, picked up the packet of biscuits, tore it open, took one out, and..."
"What?"
"Ate it."
"What?"
"He ate it."
Fenchurch looked at him in astonishment. "What on earth did you do?"
"Well, in the circumstances I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do. I was compelled," said Arthur, "to ignore it."
"What? Why?"
"Well, it's not the sort of thing you're trained for is it? I searched my soul, and discovered that there was nothing anywhere in my upbringing, experience or even primal instincts to tell me how to react to someone who has quite simply, calmly, sitting right there in front of me, stolen one of my biscuits."
"Well, you could..." Fenchurch thought about it. "I must say I'm not sure what I would have done either. So what happened?"
"I stared furiously at the crossword," said Arthur. "Couldn't do a single clue, took a sip of coffee, it was too hot to drink, so there was nothing for it. I braced myself. I took a biscuit, trying very hard not to notice," he added, "that the packet was already mysteriously open..."
"But you're fighting back, taking a tough line."
"After my fashion, yes. I ate a biscuit. I ate it very deliberately and visibly, so that he would have no doubt as to what it was I was doing. When I eat a biscuit," Arthur said, "it stays eaten."
"So what did he do?"
"Took another one. Honestly," insisted Arthur, "this is exactly what happened. He took another biscuit, he ate it. Clear as daylight. Certain as we are sitting on the ground."
Fenchurch stirred uncomfortably.
"And the problem was," said Arthur, "that having not said anything the first time, it was somehow even more difficult to broach the subject a second time around. What do you say? "Excuse me...I couldn't help noticing, er..." Doesn't work. No, I ignored it with, if anything, even more vigor than previously."
"My man..."
"Stared at the crossword, again, still couldn't budge a bit of it, so showing some of the spirit that Henry V did on St. Crispin's Day..."
"What?"
"I went into the breach again. I took," said Arthur, "another biscuit. And for an instant our eyes met."
"Like this?"
"Yes, well, no, not quite like that. But they met. Just for an instant. And we both looked away. But I am here to tell you," said Arthur, "that there was a little electricity in the air. There was a little tension building up over the table. At about this time."
"I can imagine."
"We went through the whole packet like this. Him, me, him, me..."
"The whole packet?"
"Well it was only eight biscuits but it seemed like a lifetime of biscuits we were getting through at this point. Gladiators could hardly have had a tougher time."
"Gladiators," said Fenchurch, "would have had to do it in the sun. More physically gruelling."
"There is that. So. When the empty packet was lying between us the man at last got up, having done his worst, and left. I heaved a sigh of relief, of course. As it happened, my train was announced a moment or two later, so I finished my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper..."
"Yes?"
"Were my biscuits."
"What?" said Fenchurch. "What?"
"True."
"No!" She gasped and tossed herself back on the grass laughing.
She sat up again.
"You complete nitwit," she hooted, "you almost completely and utterly foolish person."



So if you are a fan carry a towel if not, read the book.

Monday 24 May 2010

Its a Holga Summer


I've had a Holga 135BC for ages now but bought it in the winter and its just not a winter camera, but now in true English style its gone from being 8 degrees to 28 in the space of a day and bring on our 5 days of summer!
















This is my Holga its the one that uses 35mm and has a special mask between the film and plastic lens to vignette the corners and give a lovely tunnelling effect thats what the BC stands for, Black corners. I love mine as its red and white and really stands out, I quite often get asked if it actually takes pictures. The camera itself is reasonably robust and is all plastic, with a 47mm lens at about f8 or f11 and I think the shutter is somewhere around 1/100

















































shot these on the nicest day we've had this year using some expired cheapo film, will be running a lot more rolls through my Holga this summer and I think with the shots I have seen so far it well and truly has earned its title of the "Poor mans L-CA" at only 25 pounds.

Monday 10 May 2010

My new bald patch
















I gave the technique of using burning wire wool and a slow shutter speed featured in the post below another try this evening and just thought I would add a quick update saying don't get too cocky if you try this like I did in the picture above! maybe practise a bit with swinging it around not lit. I managed to hit myself in the back of the head with a burning clump of steel and this is what happened, the worse thing isn't the stinging but the smell of burnt hair. saying all this though I do still love this technique and will be giving it many more attempts to capture something truly amazing. But maybe wearing a hat.

Sunday 9 May 2010

Wire Wool Fun

Ok so I did successfully scare the shit out of myself whilst trying this and I think I burnt some of my fringe off as well, but I'm not bothered the potential for some absolutely amazing photography with this is massive. The technique for this is simple enough you get some wire wool contained inside a chicken wire cage on the end of a damp piece of string and light the wire wool, you then franticly swing it around with your camera pointing at you on a slow shutter speed.


















Both of these images were taken at night using my Nikon D60 at night with a 30 second shutter speed at f11. If you give this a go do take care as you will be amazed at how many sparks come flying off the wire wool! (I used a clump about the size of a tennis ball)

I found this on Flickr and quite a few people have done it before me, but haven't seen anything truly amazing, nor a brilliantly creative use of this so hopefully I will think of something good in the next week, any suggestions though please comment!