665 Film and the Polaroid 195 Land Camera

This last weekend Sydney and I took a photo road trip through the San Joaquin valley along highway 99 to Fresno. We selected Fresno for our destination partially because I have a second cousin I had not seen for sometime who lives in Sanger, a suburb of Fresno. There are a lot of very cool things to photograph in that part of California, and I could well spend a lifetime making photographs of all the agriculture related stuff in the San Joaquin Valley. This was also an alternative photography excursion in that I mostly shot with my Holga, Diana, and my Polaroid 195 Land Camera. I love my Polaroid Land Camera. The results are inexact, so I never know what I am going to get from it. The focus is off and the lens is not very sharp, but sometimes, by chance, I get some really cool stuff. These jpegs are scans from both 665's positives and negatives. After the exposure I peel off the positive and coated it with a nasty goop that prevents the image from fading. Then I throw both the positive and negative on my dashboard and move on the next shot. When the day is done, back at the hotel I soak the negatives in a solution of Sodium Sulfite that fixes the negative and removes the excess developer goo. Then after washing the negs for about 10 minutes I soak them in a solution of distilled water and photo flo. Years ago I photographed a series of Century Plants with this very process. Since it's not a perfect process, sometimes hit or miss, often with scratches on the film I never know if I'll have a workable negative until I have made a contact sheet of the negatives. However, that's part of the art-- the randomness of it: often it fails, but sometimes the results can be magical.

Sadly only the 10 packages I purchased on e-bay 4 years ago only 4 remain in my frig, and I'm not certain these are any good. On the trip to Fresno, only half of images I made with the land camera worked. On the others the developer had dried, and the film was useless.

I write this post to lament once again on the disappearance of film products. I understand that there is not a big enough market to sustain these products and they are going going gone along with the horse and buggy. And there is digital technology abound to simulate alternate methods, yet there was something very special about waiting a minute after exposing the film, pulling the strip of 665 film through the camera's rollers, waiting 60 seconds for the sheet to be developed, then finally striping the positive from the negative to see the results. It was like the old days when as a kid I felt a similar excitement opening a box of Cracker Jacks to see what prize was to found buried in the sticky sweet popcorn--back in the day when the prizes were cool and so were polaroid cameras.

A Foggy Morning

Every once in a while we get a really foggy morning in Southern California. There is nothing like black and white and mist. If you don't believe me ask Michael Kenna, who has made quite a nice living making photographs in dew. Although, because of the saturated moisture in the air, everything is messy and moist including the gear, it's quite peaceful photographing in fog. And, the fog hides a lot of unwanted background stuff, or at least it softens it. It's been an abnormal dry and warm winter in Southern California, and sadly there has been few misty morning like the Saturday I made these photographs.

Thoughts from Jake Stangel

This morning I was reading A Photo Editor and came upon an interview with a young buck photographer named Jake Stangel. Although his work is not my cup of tea, yet what from what I read of and by him I'm very impressed. He's a photographer's photographer, and seems to be a good guy. He has a blog, and on one of his posts he shares the 4 things he believes are most important to becoming a professional photographer. It's sound advice, and even an old pro could get something from reading them. No 4 is to initially shoot small with local weekly journals, i.e. get your feet wet. He has a list of items that he suggest the emerging photog to know before doing an assignment, and this photographer wholeheartedly agrees with all of them. I've actually copied the list. Of course it's like anything: you read, read, read but there is nothing like experience. And fortunately or unfortunately you learn the most and hopefully only once when you screw up. He suggests it, but let me drive it home-- I don't care what or who you're shooting for, treat every assignment as if it's your last. Shoot it, to the degree your budget allows, as if it's an assignment for Vanity Fair.

Quote

There is a great blog post where all 35 of the Magnum photographers give their advice to young photographers. It's a great read. My favorite quote is by Dennis Stock, "make an articulate image."

Rishwain Boys

Since their oldest son Gabriel was a baby I have been photographing the boys of my good friends Erin and Brian Rishwain. Often I photograph them a month before Christmas, so Erin can use one image for a holiday card. This can present a challenge because I'm always attempting to make a portrait, while Erin wants me to take a fun, smiley, and animated photograph. This year we reached a compromise. For her I pulled out the 5D and shot away until she saw something she liked on the back of the camera. This year, now that the boys are old enough to hold still for at least a minute, I brought the 8x10 Horseman. Working with an 8x10 is never easy, yet making a portrait with it is a real effort. Too shoot people with the 8x10, working the camera must be second nature. At the price of sheet film these days improperly exposed film is a very expensive waste. Yet, when you nail an exposure there is just nothing like it. I'm not sure you can see the quality of this exposure on your screen. If you can't let me assure you it's full of detail. And the tonality is extremely rich. I hope to annually photograph the boys, a la Nick Nixon, using the Horseman. The boys are restless, especially Julian on the left, but after they start to see the results I believe even they will begin to appreciate their annual portrait. I also intend to make Platinum/Palladium contact prints. I'll keep you abreast of my progress. Cheers

Nothing

I am desperate for another project, and nothing is coming to me. I've had ideas, but ideas and a buck 50 will buy you a cup of coffee. I've looked at a thousand websites searching for a spark of an idea. I've looked at the work at all 50 of the 2011 Critical Mass winners. I search for something that is not derivative of me or others. So, today, desperate, frustrated, I packed up the Super Graphic and drove around just searching for a photograph. Anything, and sadly I found nothing. The high clouds, which beautifully diffused the sun when I was packing my gear disappeared once I left my house allowing the harsh contrasty sun to dominate any potentially decent photograph. Especially after having been in Tuscany and Paris last month I'm feeling creatively stifled, and sometimes I just hate where I live. It's so culturally unalive and uninspiring. To demonstrate my frustration, this is the first blog post where I omit an image. Bahhhhh.

Herman

Yesterday with Fluorescent lights that I purchased at Home Depot I made these two portraits of my friend Herman Johnson. I met Herman at a photography class at Long Beach City College. We collaborated on a project and have since become friends. I have a lot of respect for Herman. He's been through a lot, and done time. Yet, through it all he's one of the most positive people I know.

I photographed him with both the Super Graphic 135mm F 4.7, and these two examples here with a Nikon 50mm F 1.4 with an adapter on the Canon 5D Mark II. I am very pleased with the results. I'm also liking, even though it's been done again and again, the cyan-blue color cast of the Fluorescent bulbs.