Saturday, April 30, 2011

How I spent my Easter

First was church, and enjoying the real meaning behind Easter. And then when everyone else was doing family dinners and such, Jon and I took a drive with our dog out to Arizona. We took her on a hike with us and I took a bunch of photos of the storm that rolled through. We thought we'd be avoiding the bad weather by driving south, but instead we got caught in the middle of it. It made for some pretty nice photos though. There were lots of mountains, clouds and Joshua trees.

The first shot was taken on a Polaroid SX70 Sonar camera. The film is PX70 PUSH! from The Impossible Project.

As a comparison, the next two shots were taken on a Polaroid SX70 Alpha camera using The Impossible Project's new PX680 film. I was using a beta test pack, so it has some tiny white specks, but those are sure to disappear when the real stuff rolls out on May 5th!




The next two were taken on a Polaroid Spectra System camera using expired Softtone film.




The last three shots were all taken on my Polaroid 430 land camera using expired 690 film.

As you can tell from the last photo, the storm didn't last terribly long. Within a couple of hours it was all but spent and the clouds really started to dissipate. Our pup did awesome for all the new stuff we were throwing at her on this excursion, and we really enjoyed being out in nature. 

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Ridiculously lucky

So earlier this month Jon and I had the great luck to be able to visit my folks in Texas. We ran about taking photos of all kinds of things we don't have around here and just enjoyed ourselves. On our last full day there, we all drove out to Galveston and wandered around taking photos of downtown before heading out to the beach. That is one big thing that I miss living in my landlocked desert. I was so grateful to have that day though. And now I have photos to remind me of that wonderful day spent in saltwater and sand.

I am still waiting to get some of my film back, but I do have Polaroids of that day to share:

Sand dunes captured by my Polaroid Spectra camera. Softtone film.

More sand dunes as seen through my SX70 Alpha camera. PX70 PUSH! film.


These next two shots are ones that I feel really lucky to have caught. I mean, who doesn't have a few shots (or fifty) of seagulls flying overhead? I remember some pretty lame shots of birds half cut out of the frame when I was a kid. Then the digital age came around and you could snap a few hundred photos and either keep the ones you liked or Photoshop them to make them into something cool. But these shots? They are straight out of a Polaroid camera--no photo manipulation is involved. This is where the luck comes into play.

The first is overexposed because it flew right away from my black box (where I put my film the second it comes out of the camera to keep it from getting overexposed). Normally I hate it when my shots get overexposed--they get all washed-out and boring. But not in this case. You still can tell what's going on and I think that the pink adds to the dream-like effect. Plus, just check out the way the birds posed for me while flying:

Geometry in flight.
Seagulls captured on my SX70 Alpha camera, PX70 PUSH! film.

The second photo has a more flowing geometry. It is much more organic. But again, I lucked out-- it isn't too busy and I caught several birds completely in the frame and focused. Did I mention that this camera doesn't have auto-focus? I had to dial it in and capture it while the gulls were busy doing their thing. 

Lavender Gulls
More seagulls, this time in a more loose pattern. 
SX70 Alpha camera, PX70 PUSH! film. 


Please stop by to check out my Flickr photos if you have a moment. 

Monday, April 18, 2011

Flickering leaves

I just had to get a photo that really demonstrates how well the new 680 film by The Impossible Project captures blue skies.

This photo was taken on my SX70 with PUSH! film a while back.

I love the effect, don't get me wrong. But magenta is not the color that the sky was that day. And the mountains the background were not purple.

But look at the sky in this next shot:

Blue. Yes, indeed. It just may have made my heart skip a beat to see it fully developed.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Kodak film

You can tell because it has burned its name onto the negative--

Desert loveliness: red rock, green pines, blue sky, and white clouds.

Something new

Beta 680 film from The Impossible Project. Their film just gets better and better.
I used my SX70 camera with an ND filter for these shots, taken in the backyard:




Compare the above tulip with this one, taken five minutes before, on the PUSH! film:

I'm not sure what caused the fogging at the bottom of the frame, but just look at the difference in color.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Things are growing around here

We've been at work trying to get our little garden to grow. I've been in charge of the flowers and starting seedlings.
This is what we've got so far:

Hyacinths. SX70 Camera, PX70 PUSH! film.

Tomato starts. SX70 Camera, PX70 PUSH! film.

Nasturtium. Olympus OM-1, Lucky film 200iso.