Friday Photography Open Thread, Sept. 30th
The catalyst for today's photography open thread was Mollies mention of Polaroids in an earlier open thread. Thanks Mollie, for inspiring a trip back through several years of my life recorded on polaroid film. Because of the experimental nature of polaroid photography, I found it quite an exciting medium to work and play with. In looking back I was actually surprised at how often I used the medium to photograph people, my main focus being the landscape. So I’m honouring both in this presentation of a few of my polaroid images from the past.
The first two are polaroid ‘image transfers’. Very simply, the ‘transfer’ process involves projecting a slide (transparency) onto a sheet of polaroid film. Instead of waiting for the image to appear, as is usually done with polaroid, you interrupt the process and transfer the emulsion layer (which contains the image) onto a paper surface. You can repeat this process with the same slide and never get two that are same. It is a very delicate process, but quite satisfying in the way it reinterprets the original image. You can watch a demonstration of the process here …. The last three are polaroid ‘SX 70s … For a number of years in the early-mid 80s, Polaroid offered to replace any SX 70 images sent back to them, with an equal amount of fresh film. That was a budding photographers treasure chest! I don’t think they anticipated how their offer would be used. The alternative, paying for each exposure, would have been prohibitive due to the expense. Polaroid is an exceptional teaching tool. It contained (before digital technology arrived) the advantage of seeing immediately, how your vision actually translated on to film; in this case without the expense or time required, which was generally hours, if not days.
The image transfers have to be carefully protected from light. They fade quickly from direct sunlight, but survive minimal indirect exposure. The Sx 70, on the other hand, is very robust. The couple SX 70s that I have left exposed to moderate light haven’t changed at all in 30 years. Their colour is as vibrant as it ever was.
A brief history of Polaroid.
I will be here for an hour and half before I leave for the day. As always, please post any photos, past or present that move you, that you’d like to share today.
Thinking of you, stevej …
Comments
Now published,
although still not sure what I did last night. I'll have to ask Johnny.
Mistakenly, somehow
posted prematurely. I will post a photography open thread tomorrow. Sorry.
Thanks for hosting this week Janis
I remember the Polaroid camera, but I never used one. I really like your shot of the gentleman in the hat.
End of the day in paradise.
Chasing the rainbow
Colorful crater
I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right, and exercise.
But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.
You're welcome, Socialprogressive.
And thank you for your weekly contributions. I see that your recent visit to Maui is still very much present for you. It's impossible to shake the experience of Hawaii, thankfully.
The subdued colour of the craters are beautiful. It must have been very special to be in that very spot.
Love afair with Maui
I was 13 years old the first time I went to Maui and I've been in love with it ever since.
I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right, and exercise.
But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.
Hawaii has a way doing that.
I'll check back in here later, when I return.
I'm looking forward to seeing people's photos.
Thanks for the thread janis b.
Your Polaroids seem like coloured images from National Geographic from, say, 1925. A very historical feel.
Anyway, from last Sunday's wander along the Minnehaha.
Fiddling around with camera/sepia settings........
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
You're welcome, Bollox
Most of it is ancient history to me ; )
I really like the subtlety of your sepia toned Minnehaha photograph. There is a road close to here with the same name, Minnehaha. Now I want to look to see if there is a relationship between your Minnehaha and the one found here in NZ.
The name Minnehaha
seems to have travelled the world ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnehaha
The Minnehaha runs about 1/2 a block away from our house
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnehaha_Creek
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Wow! Thank you for the interesting 'Polaroid' essay, Janis!
There's a huge difference in the quality of your photos and mine--not surprising, considering my total lack of knowledge of photography, and the fact that I used both the cheapest, and the 'next to the cheapest' Polaroid cameras, IIRC.
I'm going to poke around, and see if I can locate any of my old Polaroids photos that would warrant sharing. If my memory serves me correctly, most of them had begun to fade several years ago. (They were taken during the 80's, or early 90's.)
I've been tied up tending to 'Mister B' since he underwent a Cholecystectomy (fancy word for gall bladder removal). Actually, he underwent two additional minor surgical procedures, as a result of this very much necessary/emergency major operation.
Anyhoo, I'm just glad that I dropped in this evening, and saw your excellent essay. Thanks to you, and to all the wonderful Caucus photographers for sharing your/their work with all of us (including photography no-nothings like me!).
Have a great weekend, and thank you for pitching in during SteveJ's vacation/break.
Happy Fall!
Mollie
“I believe in the redemptive powers of a dog’s love. It is in recognition of each dog’s potential to lift the human spirit, and, therefore, to change society for the better, that I fight to make sure every street dog has its day.”
--Stasha Wong, Secretary, Save Our Street Dogs (SOSD)
National Mill Dog Rescue (NMDR) - Dogs Available For Adoption
Update: Misty May has been adopted. Yeah!
Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.
You're welcome, Mollie.
Thank you again for the inspiration.
I bet if you look carefully enough, you might find an image that is enhanced by the fading. If you do, I'd love to see it.
I hope you and Mister B are recovering well from the ordeal, and enjoying each others company.
evening janis...
thanks for the interesting polaroid work, the photo of the fellow in the hat has some of that dutch light look. very nice!
also, the portrait of the young girl beneath it is just stunning. great stuff!
Joe, your flower studies are getting close
to seed catalog photos, although the latter tend to bunch flowers at a unnatural density. Every year, by this time especially, I regret not planting zinnias. Perfect flower form, great selection of size and height and delicious color range. Sturdy buggers.
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
heh, thanks...
yeah, i mostly tend to photograph what really attracts my eye.
Far better than any seed catalogue I've come across
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
Your first photo ...
hit my "x" spot! It's just beautiful.
Thank you joe, for sharing your beautiful work, and for supporting the thread of photography on this site.
Somewhere upstairs I have a full-face Polaroid of me
taken with the brand-new SX-70, a dated and surprisingly not faded photo taken the day our photography sales department (I worked in Records and Cameras, combined sales, in a Department Store in 1969-1970). For some time, Polaroid photos were used later in science labs, B&W kind with the little applicator for coating pictures, a smell not forgotten. The SX-70 pic I knew would be my memory of one historical little camera. I was a 35mm girl by then.
LOL, that photo of me is style-sensitive in dress and hair. My hair then was long, straight and strictly-center-parted. Girl Hippie style. I am serious-looking, it was long after high school that I could "develop" a camera smile that I thought was flattering. At least two decades beyond!, thinking about it. Not-perfect teeth and vanity. Plus hours in front of the mirror. I could be a vampire now, never mirror-check myself, certainly not to study, other than formal dress-up moments like my daughter's wedding. The Clinton drop-jaw is a very studied smiley/surprised/pleased face. Both do it.
I hope you all have a nice weekend!
Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.
Thanks river, for the image you painted in words
of that polaroid of you. Sometimes words are just as visual.
I can imagine that polaroid would have been a useful tool in science labs. They would record more than the eye could see and show you something right then and there. Plus you would have a record that didn't involve a whole darkroom process which would save time.
Have a friend who goes trekking in Nepal every year.
He takes a Canon portable printer and gives prints to the villagers along the way.
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
What a great use of photography, I think.
It must be interesting for the Nepalese to see images of their life reflected by an exotic creature.
One more before head meets pillow
Not far from the parental establishment.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
What is that building,
and how beautifully nestled in the landscape. I have a Washingtonian Palm here too, if that is what I am seeing flanking the walkway.
It's a memorial structure (Temple?)
for King William IV in Kew Gardens (part of the Italian garden).
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
(No subject)
The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?
May I add a subject line for you ...
" Ancient shadows, crossing unfamiliar markings"
Thank you NHK, whoever you are.
Hmmn, Let`s see what I can come up with.
The Lynching
(In both color & black & white)
Despair in Darfur
(A poor soul in Sudan, ostracized from his tribe because of his blue eyes, a result of the rape of his mother by a Western aid worker.) A study.
Martian Sunset
Primal Scream
Ashes to Ashes, Rust to Dust
Malibu Waterspout
Me & Barney
(I saved his life doing the Heimlich(sp?) maneuver)
Hungry Baby Mockingbird
Moonrise in Malibu
( Jet Contrail)
D U (Depleted Uranium)
McNaught Comet
A Yaqui Way Of Knowledge
Forum in Green
(A wild parrot flock that visited daily)
Mirrored Poison in Blue
Cactus Cowboy
My Back Yard
I`m already against the next war
Your work is so varied and expansive,
beside being fascinating and beautiful.
And you hardly have to leave your back yard. Thanks Knucklehead.
cara de niño!
They are godly.
Knucklehead
What is your camera and which lense did you use for the moon shot?
I have a Pentax film camera with a 400mm lense and a 3x telextender that I need to drag out of storage.
I'm using a canon 40D with a tamron 28-300 lense and wish I could afford to buy a telextender for it, but the price for them are WAY out of my price range.
I'm in Ogden Utah and the sunsets over the great salt lake are outstanding when the sun sets between the islands.
Even better than the ocean sunsets at times if there is a fog bank. This photo was taken over 35 years ago with a Pentax and I think a 50mm from a spot on the mountain.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
Nice photo snoopydawg.
I like how insignificant the sunset becomes in the presence of that tree.
Love it SD !
A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.
snoopydawg
I had a borrowed camera for a few weeks & tried my best to get full use of it.
It was a Nikon D2H & I did spend most of my time with it outside at night shooting the moon with the 300mm lens.
Like this:
Or this composite
Raven Moon
All my other shots are with a point & shoot.
I`m already against the next war
you assert
that these are photographs, but I am skeptical. That top one, for instance: that's really a painting, isn't it.
For you hecate,
it's anything you would like it to be ; ).