King’s Cross Station roof.
Aug
04
2010
August 4
Aug
03
2010
August 3
I love this app for iPhone 4 (although I hate its name): it’s called “You Gotta See This!“, and it uses the gyroscope to figure out roughly where the pictures go, and makes a (yes) Hockneyesque mosaic. I used to do this sort of thing in the late 80s, and again 6 years ago for my M.A. I’ll do a proper entry with links to my stuff later!
Anyway, this is day 3 of The August Break. A familiar view to me. Although when I’ve looked down before, I’m pretty sure I’ve only counted one pair of feet…
Aug
01
2010
August Break!
Today is the first of August, and the beginning of Susannah Conway’s August Break! After a lack of posting, the plan is for one a day – at the very least one upload to Flickr a day and a blog digest.
This image is a dried old bit of tree in the forest, taken on some Impossible Project PX600 First Flush film.
I wonder what tomorrow will bring…
May
08
2010
‘Roid Week, Spring 2010 – Friday
And so it ends! As ever, I’ve really really enjoyed ‘Roid Week, especially as this time I wasn’t a. violently ill or b. in hospital for an operation!
Do check out the pool and the discussions.
My final shots are daffodils, one on PX100, the other on Fade to Black which was peeled after a few minutes and scanned against plain paper.
I love the Fade to Black film, and am sad that it was only a limited supply (they’ve just sold the last of it from the Impossible Project store). It’s also slightly anxiety-making as it needs scanning or peeling before the image goes too dark. A nice challenge though.
On a technical note, I discovered a great way to shield the emerging PX100 shots from light, using a Paul Giambarba Edition box from pack film. Worked a treat:
So that’s ‘Roid Week done for another spring. Bring on Autumn!
May
07
2010
‘Roid Week, Spring 2010 – Thursday
May
06
2010
‘Roid Week, Spring 2010 – Wednesday
I had to post off my old Nikon D50 which I finally sold on ebay (only took me a year to get round to it), and even though it was a fairly grey day, I thought I might as well take my Holgaroid out and about with the Sepia film that’s been in it since the Autumn.
Just round the back of the Post Office is quite an old part of Cambridge by the river, and the street names – Abbey Road, Priory Road – give you an idea of what used to be there.
Mostly, it’s just Victorian terraces. One house has heavy wisteria on its front. Looks like an artist lives there.
But as to the older stuff, there’s an abbey building dating back to the 17th Century. I’m really pleased with how the focus and framing worked here. Anyone who’s used a Holgaroid will know that aiming it is more art than science…
The third shot I took (only two per day in this ‘Roid Week) is of the last remnant of the 13th Century priory itself. Carefully framed to miss out the connoisseur of high strength lager on a bench nearby.
Only two more days to go!
May
05
2010
‘Roid Week, Spring 2010 – Tuesday
Day two. Took some shots during the day, another couple of London corners on 600 film which may go up during the week (but I don’t necessarily want to repeat myself).
So instead, here are two melancholy angels from Mill Road Cemetery in Cambridge on Impossible Project PX100 film. Moody.
Visit the pool for so much amazing goodness.
And in another exciting development, the stars behind ‘Roid Week are giving away two packs of PX600 film every day to two lucky people. And I won one for Tuesday! Obviously I have lots of film already, so watch this space for what I plan to do with it…
May
03
2010
‘Roid Week, Spring 2010 – Monday
I love ‘Roid Week. It introduced me to so many amazing photographers in the two blasts last year, and the shots coming out so far are amazing as ever. Such a great, supportive, interested community. The only problem is there not being enough time to look at everything as much as I’d like.
And for the digested read of people’s faves, check here.
Here are my two entries – two grand buildings in London, catching the evening light, captured on ATZ film.
Mortimer/Wells
Goodge/Newman
Apr
30
2010
New Camera!
With ‘Roid Week ‘10 a couple of days away, I have of course been applying my mind to which cameras/films I’m going to point at things. I have my SX-70s with the possibilities of Artistic TZ, Fade to Black, 600, some Time Zero, and of course some Impossible Project PX100 and PX600. There is also my ProCam with its Spectra film. My Holgaroid still has a couple of shots of Sepia left in it…
Ah yes, the dwindling pack film. I have some more Sepia, some Chocolate, a couple of packs of 669 and one of 690, as well as a pack of B&W Fuji. But as my Polaroid 250 is on the fritz, I’ll have to use my…
600SE!!!
(Here’s an excellent overview at filmwasters. I sadly only have the one lens at present…)
Yes, I finally managed to snag one off eBay for a reasonable price. I was very excited, even though the seller said it might need a little attention. Turned out is needed a LOT of attention as nothing worked: cable release was stuck, shutter wouldn’t fire, rangefinder wasn’t moving, viewfinder was foggy, both backs were in a crappy state.
Got straight back to the seller, and he was keen for us to get it fixed, so I sent it off to a great repair shop in Sheffield, Premier Electronics. It took a couple of weeks, and involved pretty much stripping the whole thing down and rebuilding it. Turned out the poor camera had probably been submerged at some point. Anyway, it came back to me, as good as new, and the seller and I went halves on the repair (which was only £120). Repair guys said it was a pleasure to work on, as it is completely mechanical – no batteries or wiring. Most modern cameras are a pain, as circuit boards are not the most fixable.
If you’ve never used a 600SE, it’s a beast: a big black box with a large lens on the front, definitely more functional than ergonomic. But it produces beautiful results. My first film was some 125i Silk which has lovely “true” colours. I tried it under some cherry trees.
So I think I should be OK for choices this coming ‘Roid Week.
Oh yes, and in other news, it turns out Polaroid are bringing out a new camera! The Polaroid 300 is a new design for the company, and it uses a brand new Polaroid film! And by new, I mean it’s a Fuji Instax Mini 7 and film with the word Polaroid on the front. Literally.
But they seem happy about it: “We are thrilled that today marks the return of instant. It’s bigger and better than ever.”
You can probably guess how I feel about this. I’m not going to waste pixels on their crap.
Here’s the story at BJP. Feel free to circle in red the parts that piss on the memory of Polaroid, the ambitions of Edwin Land, and the hard work and love of The Impossible Project.
You may need more than one pen.