18 Years and 6,000 polaroids...

This is the 3rd blog post I ever made, its just such a amazing story I wanted to re post it for all of the new readers! I read so many stories about individuals taking a photo a day for a year, and i always marvel at their dedication but this man below takes the cake... read on to find out more!

Mr Livingstone is just a human, a regular Joe like you and me. He took, for no specific reason, a Polaroid a day... for 18 years. 6000 photos later his life ended with a self portrait on his deathbed... it was his 41st birthday. Click here to check out the beauty amongst all the madness. the cherry on top, a chance to see New York City evolve over the 20 years that was 1977 to 1997. enjoy

Snap Station

Too bad I don't believe in marriage, this is a fantastic idea for wedding photos... Imagine the vast array of different shots you would get not to mention its ripper of a chance to dust off your camera collection and put them to good use.. See more here

Disposable camera project update

If you have been snoozing under a rock for the past few weeks then you probably would have missed this post about how I purchased 8 disposable lomo cameras to send around the world...

As previously mentioned each camera is assigned a color, and if you have dropped me or Matt a email in the past week or so then the chances are you have now been assigned to a specific camera! There are 12 people p/camera and the cameras are as follows:

1. Australia camera - BLUE (full)
2. Australia camera - PINK (full)
3. Australia camera - ORANGE (full)
4. America camera - YELLOW (There is 1 spot left... come on Americans jump on the bandwagon while you can...alternatively if 13 people drop me a email here then I'll assign a second camera to America)
5. UK/Europe camera - RED (I only have 5 participants for this camera...come on you crazy poms... where is the love)
6. Australia camera - GREEN (full

...and i am well on my way to filling 7.Australia camera RED if anyone is still keen to participate there is indeed room, and if there isn't I'll make room!

You see the way it works is once you have emailed me expressing your interest I put you in a group of 12 random strangers, gather all your postal addresses and ship the camera off to the first person on the list... that person takes 2 photos and sends the camera on to the next person on the list until it gets to the last person, who takes the last 2 photos before posting it back to me, I'm hoping to have some sought of exhibition once all the cameras have returned home!

The cameras will be posted out on Monday morning people... its time to get excited people, if the shot above, found here on Flickr, isn't inspiration enough i don't know what is!

A picture is worth 1000 words

5 minutes with....Max Wagner

Ladies and Gentleman it is a beautiful night for blogging! Ever since i started posting about a one Mr Max Wagner (here, here and here) Ive had loads of requests to hunt him down for one of my "5 minutes with..." Interviews. Seems the dude has quite the fan base the world over!

I first stumbled across Max when I worked at Sunday Life magazine and we ran a small story on how wedding portraits were, in short, all kinds of last season and engagement photos were the new black & Max it seems, was leading this charge with his beautiful light infused images engulfing fans far and wide - I believe he even had one young couple fly from their home base in Singapore to LA just to have one such "engagement" session with Max... So not only does he have great taste in wine and music He's one hell of a photographer too.... So here it goes people...

1. How old where u when you took your first photo and what was it of? I built my first camera out of paper and scotch tape when i was 7 years old. I think it was a Polaroid and I think I built it in our living room... so my first photo was probably of the living room - not very exciting I know...

2. What is your camera and film of choice and are you all about flash or natural light? I shoot primarily all digital these days. it's easier for my work flow. I use a canon 5D mark ii and I try to always utilize available light. I carry a flash with me just in case, but i prefer not to use it if i don't have to.

3. If your photos where a soundtrack what songs would they be? they would be songs by, the white stripes, the beatles, kanye west, sting, miles davis, coldplay, arcade fire, michael boyd, st. germain

4. Tells us a little bit about you? Why you are who you are and what you want to be taking photos of in 5 years....I was born and raised by rock and roll parents and educated in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Berkeley and the here and there of Tokyo. I’m a fan of scrap and simplicity as well as sushi, cranberry juice, chuck taylor’s, Paris, 3” robots, English premier league soccer, and last but almost certainly first, margaux. In 5 years, I'd love to be shooting food in Paris, architecture in Tokyo and still life in Hawaii :)

5. Do you shoot other film mediums? If yes what's your fave film and camera of choice? I want to get into large format some day. I love holgas and old Polaroid cameras.... but i love my mark ii right now.

6. What's your favorite photo you have ever taken and why? Don't be shy. Tell us a story Wow. I guess i love the one of the couple sitting in the train station. we sort of just stumbled upon it and the lighting was perfect, their poses were perfect... everything just literally clicked. there's a mood to the photograph that i particularly love. it's wonderful to have time with the couple before the ceremony so you can be creative and seek out locations. this couple gave us plenty of time so we were lucky enough to find the train station and get some cool shots...

And there you have it people, 5 glorious minutes with Photographer Max Wagner, Thanks so much for your time Max! If you would like to check out more of Max's work click here or pay regular visits to his blog here, a great place for endless inspiration.

The Golden Half is coming to Australia...

Last week I stumbled across the golden Half camera, I'm so in love with it Ive already blogged about it here and here, I'm telling you people if we are talking lo-fi photography here and Disposable cameras are the new Polaroid then the Golden Half is the new Holga!

For a plastic camera they are pretty bloody pricey though... AU$115, but turn that frown upside down my friends, Ive been researching my butt off the last few days and found a wholesale distributor and plan on buying some in bulk in the coming months and will set up a online store on my website here! And i promise they'll be alot cheaper than AU$155 big ones!

Just looking at the shots above found here on this Flickr pool me thinks a light weight camera like this would be amazing for travel. A 36 roll of 35mm film gets you 72 shots! Just imagine your hanging around Pyramids for the day in down town Cairo, you take a close up detail shot and a contrasting landscape shot and POW two super rad compositions on the one 4x7 frame!

A fotunate (Polaroid) accident

The lighting in these photos is the very definition of a fortunate accident, taken on a SX70 with polaroid 600 film, and having learnt the lessons I did in the blog post below these two shots are my new favorites! I love the strong gaze this brother and sister combo have going on... stops you in your tracks doesnt it!

600 Film in a SX-70

So I haven't posted much of my own work lately because decent scanners are hard to come by these days, my new office only has one of those industrial sized crappy lo res ones that doubles as a printer/photocopier....

But desperate times call for desperate measures and today I had to confront all my demons and use this lo res piece of garbage, its with this in mind I apologise for the pixelated images above...until I get a spare second to go out and buy a decent scanner, this my friends will have to do!

The shots above were taken when I converted my 600 film cartridge to fit into my brand new (as in really really old) SX-70 camera (you can learn how to do that here) given 600 film is 4x faster than time zero film the shots come out 4x lighter... I even had the camera on the darkest setting and this is the best I got in full sun.... get yourself in some shade however and everything comes up beautifully, check out the daisy shot above taken on the same roll of film!

I wouldn't call any of these photos a raging success but all the experimenting led me to the success of these photos right here, hands down my two favorite photos I have ever taken!

Hey You! fancy taking a photo?

Im reposting this as I'd love to get some more people on board the Disposable bandwagon!

As you may of heard here, here and here, we are launching the disposable camera project Hey You Say Cheese on a national scale.... Full time work, p/t set dressing, daily blogging and running around tying cameras to tree's just doesn't keep me busy enough these days.

Short version to a long story is I want to send 8x disposable cameras around the world.... After that there may be more, but lets just see how this round goes first!

Each camera will be assigned a color (inspired by the Polaroid Rainbow stripe) and country to circulate and the only limitation will be to take a photo that is predominately your assigned color. Each participant is to have the camera for 72 hours and only has to take 1 photo before passing it on to the next person on the list.

The idea being by the end of it we'll have a massive rainbow mural of some amazing photos, and you would have lived a moment longer looking at life through a view finder.....take a second to stop and smell the roses ... hug a tree etc

Ive had loads of interest from random strangers and friends a like. If you're a photographer type or just creative type in general I figured If i asked nicely enough you would be keen to sign up to receive a camera or perhaps fwd the essence of this post on to other photographer type humans anywhere in the world that you think will be interested.

All anyone has to do is click right here after which you will be transported to my website where you'll find a rather large "email me here" button... trust me you cant miss it! All you have to say is a quick "I'm in" and you'll be added to the mailing list... too easy!

Light Leaks Call for Submissions

I blogged yesterday about light leaks and how every issue they call for submissions from photographers the world over, well they are currently knee deep in issue 15 and have put a call out for Pin hole photos.

The Issue is due out in November and they are looking for your ONE best pinhole image for submissions... Restrictions are as follows: the CAMERA must be low-fi, so pinholes on your Holgas, Diana+, simple box/homemade are OK by them however don't be thinking you can chuck a pinhole cap/attachment on 'good' cameras such as your SLR or DSLR as you will be promptly turned away from the door /the pin hole gods will frown upon you forever!

You can read more submission details, including where to send you picture right here, I don't have a pin hole camera so I'll be sitting this one out but Id love to see what you guys submit and I'll definitely be on board the next one!

I heart Golden Half Cameras

Oh man... I just love cameras! I know that sounds all kinds of random, declaring my love for a material object... but they just come in so many different shapes and sizes, and as a collector I always seem to get to a point where I'm like "OK I have enough cameras now - time to stop" and then I stumble across something like the Golden Half camera and it totally blows my mind... now i cant wait to get my grubby little mittens on!

You know what else I'm hankering to get my hands on? Your address! well your address if you have signed up for the Disposable camera Project! These cameras arrived today and I cant wait to post them out to you!

Golden Half Cameras

How I have never heard of these babies before I'll never know! The Golden Half Camera takes 35mm film and transforms each frame into 2 individual standard vertical format photos - How freak'n awesome is that? That's one right next to the other, thus doubling the number of pictures your roll will take (48 pictures on a 24 exposure roll)

The camera's small size and plastic lightweight body, allows you to take it anywhere....22mm lens; f/8.5-11 aperture; 1/100 shutter speed; manual film advance... It bares all the qualities we have come to love about Holga's and Lomo's with TWICE the exposure and with packaging like this whats not to love?

If you want to know more head here

Light Leaks are us

If there was a magazine that personified this here blog it would be Light Leaks! Good god this is a amazing magazine... Its all about low-fidelity photography. Light Leaks covers the world of simple analogue film cameras. They feature photographers who use these cameras, and photos taken by them.

Each issue has a call for submissions for our feature gallery—a guest gallery editor chooses the photos for publication. They also feature regular columns, interviews, news, and special features in every issue.... so in a nutshell you are nuts not to subscribe!

Find out more details here

No time for quiet time...

I wrote here about 6 months ago that what I love about painting is it absorbs you whole... That when I paint my mind empties and I think about nothing in the world except where my brush will land next... and I'm sorry to report that lately LIFE has absorbed me whole and I haven't had time to paint!

It's so sad I know but between Full time Art Directing, p/t set dressing, daily blogging and running various photo projects and maintaining a website I just don't have the time to sneak down to my secret spot at 2am and work on my mural... Mental note to self, make time to breathe (& paint)

The latest from Jen Gotch Part 2.

I've blogged about Jen before here, here and here, and even though she lives oceans and continents away and i don't know the lady from a bar of soap I commissioned her for a photo shoot at my old magazine, Sunday Life.... She's just that good!

Jen shoots with a SX-70 and is one of those photographers with such a great eye for styling and composition you never see a bad shot come out of her camera! If you don't already follow her work or her blog then you are missing out my friend... Check out one of her latest shot above... composed with items found at a local flea market!

The Shutter Sisters

I'm tired and sleepy and hanging to go to bed, but I just stumbled across this blog called The Shutter Sisters and I just had to share it with you before my head hits the bed....

It's a blog, and a very well organised one at that, dedicated to women and photography, they seem to have no bias towards either film or digital and they run a monthly community project called The One Word Project which is much like The Photo Trade in the respect you are given a unique word that's up for visual interpretation of the photographic kind by YOU... But instead of developing your work and posting it to random strangers around the world all you have to do is upload your shot onto the shutter sisters flickr group.

They select one photo from the Flickr group a day to be featured and tomorrow it could be you! Augusts theme is home... have a little glance at the above shots to get a idea of the quality on display and marvel at the many different interpretations of "Home".... You can click here for more details.

Cheap Plastic

Bears from Space is a blog I have been reading for quite some time...well following I should say as there is no words. Just pictures, but when you have pictures like the above, who needs words anyway. Its run by a lad called Matt and you can check out more of his Holga shots here.

The Sea Life

I subscribe to a daily news letter called the Sea Life which is essentially a surf report of the local breaks around Cronulla and the Sth Coast of Sydney... Its run by local kid called Matt Johnson who's up every morning at god knows what hour capturing random moments in surf culture to share with the local community. For those of us stuck in doors under fluorescent lighting Monday to Friday 9-5 its a nice little taste of salt water to get you through to the weekend.

He shoots digital so again I'm breaking my "film only" rules to make this here post but this weekend just gone he's left the shire (not something these locals often do) and headed Nth to my home town of sunny Coffs Hbr and captured some great shots at the Jesus Pro Am and i just couldnt help but share them with you...

Specifically of an old friend of mine Sean Cansdell, above in the red rashie... Enjoy the saturated goodness above and if your keen for a daily dose of the Sea Life yourself you can sign up here

Cross Processing results

I took these photos a while ago of my sister in law spinach... They are probably my two favourite examples of cross processing gone so horribly wrong its right! I mean think about it... developing your photos in the wrong chemicals is technically classified as "mistake" but what a beautiful mistake it turned out to be....

These photo were taken on my Holga, which of course ups the chance of some serious random shit going down, and the fact that my sister type person just radiates strength and beauty helps tad too :)x

10,000 people love photography...

I'm sure there are more than 10,000 people in the world who love photography... but that's how many I can with out a doubt, bet my life on, say for certain LOVE photography not to mention all things Polaroid because as of today that's how many unique visitors this blog has had since stat counter was installed in March, that's approx 1700 people a month.... the Internet blows my mind man!

I know its not much compared to most blogs... but I just wanted to let you know its greatly appreciated....

Jeff Robson takes dreamy polaroids...

I don't know how he does it as landscape Polaroids are a tough mother to get right but as you can see from the shots above Mr Robson had it down to a fine art!

I stumbled across Jeff's work here on this nifty little blog i read called Grass is Greener

Hey you! Call to action...

Hello fellow readers. This is a marginally desperate call to action, We have had loads of interest in Hey You! Say Cheese! going national in full rainbow style... The final details will be posted here and on Flickr by the end of this week.

What I can tell you now is each disposable camera will be assigned a colour (taken from the Polaroid rainbow stripe) To save on postage each camera will also be assigned a country, with only the last person on the list forking out to have it sent back here to Australia. We have loads and loads of Aussies willing to partake not to mention a few yanks and poms but we need MORE...

If your reading this and live somewhere other than this tiny island known as Australia then I'm talking to you... Fwd a link to this story to all your creative type friends and ask them to jump on the disposable bandwagon!

Click here to send me a email and express your interest, just a simple "I'm in" will do and Ill get in contact with you from there.

Hey you say cheese goes national - You want in?

You all know I'm a huge fan of disposable cameras, Ive blogged about them here, here and here and I'm telling you people in 10 to 15 years time they'll be the new Polaroid, so jump on this bandwagon now if you dare.

Matt, a creative type of fellow that reads this blog made a comment on my Photo Trade post the other day that said something along the lines of "Hows about we kick off a Australian version of the photo trade" We've exchanged a couple of emails on the matter and its kind of evolved into some kind of beautiful mash of the Photo Trade, my Hey You Say Cheese Disposable camera project and gosh knows what else....

We are yet to iron out the finer details but essentially it looks like its going to involve disposable cameras, each of which will have a different theme, that will either be sent to a registered group of people around the country to each take one photo with before they pass it on....

or as Matt suggested we could have one disposable camera per team and the first person takes 12 photos of god knows what sends the camera along with a list of those 12 things to their team mate to take the other 12 shots.. the idea being we'll have two photos of each thing/theme on each roll of film but totally different interpretations by two completely different photographers...

Another Idea would be to assign each disposable camera a colour and each person that gets the camera has to take one photo of something that is predominately that colour, we'd have a literal rainbow of images that would just be beautiful to flick through....

I'm leaning more towards the first Idea... but with the color theme thrown in the mix! What do you guys think? The Idea was to keep it local, but if you live somewhere other than sunny Australia, really want to be involved and are willing to ship the camera to or from your current location then I don't see why not... the more the merrier I say!

My Photo Trade contribution

I was reading through all of your comments the other day and noted someone wanted to see what I sent to Lauren for the Photo Trade, I wish i had of taken a happy snap before I bundled it off and sent it packing to good old America, alas i did not.

I did however keep the scan on file, if you raise your little eyes up a tad you'll see it at the top of this post. It was taken at Cunningham Pier in Geelong, Victoria on the hottest of hot summer days in 2008, right before I jumped on a light sea plane for a little adventure or two....

Ive had a small fascination and a bit of a a soft spot for piers ever since I read 5 people you meet in heaven.... Have you read it? No! Well you should... Don't let the title deceive you, it is in no way religious.... Its just a beautiful little story about a man named Eddie who works at a place called Ruby Pier. I wont sugar coat it for you, Eddie dies in the first few pages, but what follows is a story of beauty and if by the end of it you don't love piers (and Eddie) as much as I do, then I don't know what to tell you my friend...

I guess it helps I have a niece called Ruby, I bought a copy for her the day she was born and plan to read it to her one day and of course I included a copy in Lauren's trade package... Its funny apart from the front cover there wasn't a picture to be seen in that whole book yet it has inspired me to take many a photograph.

Pure unadulterated sunshine

Every time I interview a photographer for this blog I ask what their fave photo is. This got me to thinking whats my fave shot I've ever taken? Do I have one? Does it change daily? Who knows the answers to these questions? Not I... But I do know the shot above is easy in my top 5 Polaroid moments of all time...

Besides the fact it has some of the loveliest human beings I know in it, its just so bright and vibrant... or perhaps youthful is more the word I'm looking for? Either way I'm digging its happy vibe and just wanted to share it with you. I love how everyone is intertwined, even the cookie monster is getting in on the action down there in the bottom left hand corner making some kind of mad grab for Katie's leg! Golden!

You can read a little story about how this photo came about here or to see more of my Polaroids go to my gallery here

Look & Sea

This right here is a great blog.... Photographer Nathan Oldfield is a bit handy with a camera... especially when it comes to all things surf culture. Check it out when you get uno momento...

And you thought Polaroid 600 was expensive...

San Francisco is the home of a rare 20"x24" format Polaroid camera.... At $200 USD per exposure + studio rental fees what we are paying for 600 and SX-70 on eBay ain't looking so bad now is it?!? Although when your spending that kind of coin on a single photo the time between the shutter release and the great reveal of the Polaroid would be the longest minute and a half of your life....

Check out Industrial Designer, Amanda Huynh's attempt above and click here to see the actual camera.... pretty impressive piece of machinery if you ask me!

5 minutes with.... Robert Reader

Every day I come across new polaroid photographers that blow my mind, It just so happens last week it was Robert Reader... His calm observant take on pommy surf culture is a thing of beauty, I wrote a little something about him and his super cool name here and now with out further adue I give you another quality "5 Minutes with..." Interview with the man himself

How old where u when you took your first photo and what was it of? I guess the first time I really made conscious decisions thinking subjectively about shooting a photograph, was around the age of 15 when I was first given an SLR camera and a roll of film for a school art project. The photograph was of an abandoned decaying house. Watching the black and white image appear before my eyes in the dark room was a trigger. The photograph wasn't great but i was hooked. I had to get back out and do it again... pretty much been carrying some sort of camera everywhere ever since.

What is your Polaroid camera and film of choice and are you all about flash or natural light? The camera I shoot with most, is the beautiful original sx-70. And the film, it has to be the now discontinued Time Zero sx-70. I have only 2 packs left in my fridge. Just waiting for the perfect day! natural light definitely!

If your photos where a soundtrack what songs would they be? The soundtrack to Midnight Cowboy or maybe movie instrumentals by Lalo schifrin. mmm... or Bob Dylan's Nashville Skyline album.

Tells us a little bit about you? Why you are who you are and what you want to be taking photos of in 5 years. Photographer, illustrator, surfer based on the south west coast of the U.K. Grew up in the furthest point away from the ocean in the middle of England, visually dinning on 70's American imported T.V shows and culture, mixing together with British music and urban life. In 5 years I'll be happy if some kind of Polaroid film is still available, hoping that the Impossible project will keep the medium alive!.

Do you shoot other film mediums? If yes what's your fave film and camera of choice? I love the lo-fi effect of Holga cameras, the more characteristic quirks and abnormalities the better. But my favorite camera is the leica mp loaded with fuji velvia.

What's your favorite photo you have ever taken and why? Don't be shy. Tell us a story... This is tough, as my favorite tends to change, but I keep coming back to a photograph of an old vw camper sitting in the middle of this huge car park. Then from nowhere this little kid on a tricycle appears from the back of the bus, furiously peddling across the tarmac and totally changes the formal order of the picture and then the moment vanishes forever.

You can check out the glory shot above and check out more of Roberts work on his website here... Oh and if you have a photographer you dig and would like to know more about let me know and ill hunt them down for a "5 Minutes with..." Next month its Max Wagner

My First Photo Trade Experience

I've blogged about the Photo Trade here, here and here, so if you don't know what it is by now, shame, shame on you. A few short months ago I signed up for this project run by Jen Altmen and was promptly sent a email informing me the theme for this months trade would be summer and my trade partner would be a random stranger from the other side of the world who went my the name of Lauren Beacham.

Lauren (who ever she was) was to prepare me a little package of Polaroid goodness which according to Photo Trade by laws had to include a professionally printed 5x5 photographic image and anything else her heart desired

All I had to do was return the favor, we were given a deadline of July 23, which of course I missed and ended up forking out a small fortune to express courier the package to the USA but by golly gosh it was worth it... Knowing how excited I was to come home and find this parcel from this random stranger on my doorstep I would hate to be the one to let the team down when it came to returning the aforementioned favor.

Her Polaroids are stunning and I cant wait to find them homes on my walls! Thank you Lauren.. See you round the next trade!

The Photo trade has indeed arrived

My photo trade package arrived on my door step this week! The second I get a spare moment ill photograph the contents and post them for all too see! Seems I'm too busy to even breathe this week...mental note for next week to slow down. Breathing aside its pretty damn exciting, receiving a package of photographic Polaradic goodness from a random stranger!

If you are curious as to what the Photo Trade is exactly click here and jump on the proverbial bandwagon!