Patti Smith - Land 250 Polaroid Photographs
"Sometimes, if I crave silence I turn to my Land 250. The experience of taking Polaroids connects me with the moment. They are souvenirs of a joyful solitude." Patti Smith — visionary poet punk singer songwriter activist artist — has created a rich multi-layered installation at Fondation Cartier in Paris that reflects 40 years of her more personal visual art-making and creative expression. Drawn from pieces created between 1967 and 2007, the exhibition includes sketches, collages, films, audio installations, cherished objects, handwritten and typed poetry, drafts of song lyrics, and — at the center of it all — a lot of black-and-white Polaroid photographs. By way of introduction to her visual art, and especially to her photography, Patti Smith writes: When I was eight my mother gave me Songs of Innocence by William Blake, a collection of his poems and drawings. In my early twenties I made large drawings entwined with language. — Jim Casper
People Are Awesome: This Guy Scuba Dived Into the Tsunami to Rescue His Wife...
No doubt many stories of heroism in the face of Japan's recent tsunami will emerge in the upcoming weeks—one is happening in the Fukushima Daiichi plant as I write this, in fact—but the latest is so beautiful and fantastical that it seems primed for a Hollywood movie. Meet Hideaki Akaiwa, 43. Startled at work by the now infamous earthquake and tsunami that shook and overtook Japan on March 11, Akaiwa rushed to high ground and immediately called his wife of two decades. When she didn't answer, Akaiwa ignored friends' pleas to wait for a military rescue, instead rummaging up some scuba gear and diving into the dark, cold, debris-filled tsunami. Hundreds of yards of swimming later, Akaiwa found his wife struggling against the 10-foot current that had overtaken the couple's Ishinomaki home. Once he'd gotten his wife to safety, Akaiwa suffered for four days with worry for his elderly mother. With his family accounted for, Akaiwa hasn't rested on his laurels.
PrintSnap Wants to Bring Back the Instant Picture Using Dirt Cheap Receipt Paper
Instant photos are fun and were at one time super popular, but they aren’t exactly cheap. Shooting with new Impossible Project film costs about $3 per shot these days. But what if you could shoot casual instant snapshots on a physical medium for less than a penny per shot? That’s the idea behind the PrintSnap. It’s an instant camera that captures photos on standard receipt paper. The project is the brainchild of Michael Ciuffo, a Seattle-based electrical engineer who graduated from MIT in 2011. For the past three months he has been working at building a new camera that can print fun shots onto thermal paper — the same kind used by receipt printers. In other words, for the price of one Impossible Project shot, you’ll be able to capture 1,000 photos using his camera. Of course, photo quality won’t be great, but the camera’s 640×384 resolution (in 3×1.75 inches) is “more than high enough to capture your precious memories on real, physical paper.” Printsnap [ch00ftech via Reddit]
Wet plate collodion with a Polaroid camera « Cameras, Film & Technique
Writer and photography / Jalo Porkkala Got an old Polaroid camera sitting around somewhere? Since the camera film making business is on decline (Polaroid is no more, Fuji film is still around) the camera needs to find other uses. For example; take the film holder and convert it to an excellent wet plate holder. Jalo Porkkala shows you how. Most collodion photographers are using dedicated wet plate cameras, because wet plates are not nice to put into any ordinary modern cameras. A Polaroid EE100 and a wet plate holder made of the pack film holder. There are, however, certain types of cameras that you can use as is, without any modifications. These cameras have automatic exposure, with an ‘Electric Eye’ light meter beside the lens, the shutter is powered by batteries. The neat thing is… if you are careful, the silver nitrate will not ruin your camera, as the metal/plastic plate holder will keep the drops inside. The holder. Load the holder. The electric eye. Wet plate made by Jalo Porkkala.
Polaroidconversions.com - Your One Stop Shop!
moominstuff: Polaroid Pack Film: Field Experience
I got the idea for this post from a friend on Facebook, Zebrio, who asked about how I handle my Polaroid prints while out in the field. I actually get this question pretty regularly, and I see it as a frequent forum question, as well. So I thought it might be interesting to some to share a couple of my tips for shooting and carrying/handling Polaroid prints in the field. Speaking of repetition and experience, there really is no substitution for just shooting a lot. Seems like it would take up more space than that. This is because closing and extending the bellows leads to light leaks. If you ever see anything that looks like this on your photos, you have leaks: Checking for leaks is as simple as going into a darkroom and shining a flashlight inside the camera. You need sticky, stretchy electrical tape. I've never had to replace tape once it is on. On the 180/190/195, they can become very brittle as well, and crack. So all you can really do is try and hope for the best.
Ruined Polaroids by William Miller
Ruined Polaroids by William Miller. As the title of this series says, these are some polaroid photographs which have been ruined, but I'm not sure about how they were impaired. They seem to be affected by some chemical reaction, as you can see in the following pictures they look very organic. "These are Polaroid pictures run through a partially broken SX-70 camera that I purchased from a yard sale. Information provided by _blank, thanks!
Photography Prison
