The changing face of asia

Another image from my travels... This was shot on Kodachrome slide film and cross processed in C-41 in a little town called Ao Nang. I love the viabrancy and range of expressions!

This is what film is all about...

When you plan for a holiday you look fwd to it for months... The very thought of roaming airport corridors and flying off to exotic destinations gets you through the working week where you do nothing but play desk monkey under fluorescent lighting counting down the days till you're on no time but island time...

You hit the road, meet new people, take a million digital photos, get home, return to work... and before you know it your holiday is all but a distant memory. You see the thing with digital photos is its instant gratification (which can be fantastic) but when you get home what do you have to look fwd to I ask you?

This is why on a recent jaunt through Asia I shot film (and not just any film but slide film, cross processed in C-41) so when I arrived home from my epic journey I dropped my 13 rolls of 36 exposures off to get developed and just today (3 weeks later) the photos have come back from the good people at Platinum Imaging and boy oh boy let me tell you - the buzz... the not knowing what turned out and what didn't was like reliving the joy of new travel experiences all over again...

Not only do these photos capture a moment they managed to capture the mood and emotion I was feeling when I pressed that shutter button all those weeks ago, and every time I look at them that feeling comes flooding right on back - I'm telling you people you just cant get those results via digital.

Cross processing is the bee's knees! Check out a sample of the results above. Gold!

Oh and Ive had several people ask me what photoshop effect I applied to get these results... and each and everyone has been shocked to learn that these images have not been touched at all... not even a little nudge on the old brightness and contrast button the results you see here are owed souley to the fortunate accident that is cross processing slide film.

Cross processed triptitch...

I took this in Thailand last month of my boyfriend reclining on Phi Phi Island... Its a little random but once you line up all three shots together its a fantastic portrait idea!

Digital Polaroid photo frame

I don't know what you guys think but I'm not real keen on digital photo frames.. My theory is they will make you lazy... Once you own one all hope of getting your photos developed will be lost forever.

Admittedly I have 1000's of digital photos from my travels on my iphoto that fall under the "I really must get them developed and put into albums one day" category and If I were to purchase a digital frame then all hope of having volumes of tangable memories on my walls and bookshelf would be lost forever and, well, that's just a very sad thought

I would however consider purchasing one of these, You can even pin them to a cork board (just like a real Polaroid) its currently just a concept but with more and more people jumping on the Polaroid bandwagon of love every day I dare say they'll hit shelves soon.

Hey You! Give me my bloody camera back

Well its finally happened... As regular readers would know I originally started Hey You! Say Cheese as a little bit of a lesson in human decency... Id tie cameras to trees or telegraph poles with this note secured tightly to any available surface and return hours or days later to collect the camera which would always be full of random images such as these.... But alas! the worst has happened...

Some dodgy f**ker has finally stolen one of my cameras! Not only that they have taken my sign and left the masking tape strewn on the ground - didn't they pay any attention in primary school? Littering is not cool!

Either is stealing for that matter...

So if you are a regular reader, live in the Cronulla area and happen to hear of someone with a penchant for stealing disposable cameras and hoarding the results please let me know so some form of karmic retribution can be arranged - Although i think the first shot on the role will be enough of a shock for the unsuspecting fool! (its of me dressed as i giant bunny rabbit, My friend jade dressed as a wolf in sheep's clothing and the oldest lady in Erskinville who just happens to be 102)

My momentary disappointment in the human race aside I will not let the man get me down and on the weekend I will be tying another camera to the exact same spot for more random strangers to create beautiful images with!

October 17th is World Toy Camera Day!

Every year the 3rd Saturday of October just happens to be "World Toy Camera Day". WTF is world toy camera day you ask? Well according to light leaks magazine "It is a celebration, a plastic parade of happiness that we invite you to partake in with all your plastic friends - toys and humans"

Its all just a bit of silliness really... but whats not to love about silliness... you can explore the toy camera site more here, Their gallery is particularly cool and if you register you are free to upload a gallery of your very own, submit an article or participate on the forum.

Hey You! Say Cheese!

Just a quick update on the 8 disposable lomo cameras that I sent around the world 6 weeks ago to various random strangers. Most cameras are currently residing with the 5th or 6th person on a list of 12... I'm sorry to report the pink camera has been lost in circulation somewhere but I'm working on getting another back out to you pink group so hold tight!

Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time to participate, Please (pretty please) don't hold onto the camera for more than 3 days (72 hours) I hate to sound all hard arse and parental on you but the quicker these cameras do the rounds the quicker Ill have them back and developed and i can start curating what I'm sure will be amazing results!

The shot above was taken by convexstyle and can be found here on Flickr

A few random facts about Polaroid

Although most famous for the instant camera, Polaroid began life producing polarized sunglasses and goggles for US servicemen during the Second World War.

The famous Polaroid camera was first conceived by Edwin Land in 1947 and thanks to its iconic SX 70 version, which first went on sale in 1972, the company had sold 13 million cameras by 2000.

Lets sharpen our blades and prepare for glory

I hate to sound horribly childish but IN YOUR FACE CORPORATE GIANTS. People power bought down the Berlin Wall. It elected a new leader to re-brand America and now it's bought Polaroid film back from the dead.... It just goes to show what humans can do united as one. Next on the list world poverty*

*yes yes I realise Polaroid film making a comeback is not quite up there with the fall of the Berlin Wall, but go easy on moi would you, I'm a little excited about Polaroid being back on the market

The shot above was taken on my Polaroid Job pro with 600 film in a back alley called Haji lane, Little India, Singapore.

The Diana Mini: Too cute for words...

Well shit! Just when you thought the Diana camera, what with its Polaroid attachments and multi purpose flash couldn't get any gosh darn cooler they go ahead and release this - The Diana Mini!

Just between you and me, I think the good folk over at the lomography store were a little worried The Golden Half camera was about to steal some of its super cool camera thunder with its 72 shots to a 36 roll saturated 35mm goodness so they did what any smart competitor would do. They remodelled the Diana so they would have a competing product on the market - Enter the Diana Mini.

They pulled out all the stops too! Not only does the Diana Mini take 35mm film (the original Diana takes 120) It also allows you to switch between half frame and square frame shots, weighs in at a teeny tiny 235g and is cute as a god damn button!

My friend jade just happened to have one at a fancy dress party we went to over the weekend so you can check out her shots above! Pure gold! (and yes that's me in the bunny suit)

Click here to find out more about this little piece of awesomeness!

Inside all of us is a Monster Child

If you dont know what Monster Children magazine is by now shame, shame on you. The new issue is on sale today so if you have a hankering to soak up some damn fine creative content click here to get yourself a copy of this pretty slab of paper.

This cover is especially cool as its inspired by Spike Jonz take on Where The Wild Things Are.

Polaroid to make Polaroid film again (seriously)

The people have spoken. They demanded Polaroid film be saved and saved it was by The Impossible Project... but things got interesting this morning when news broke that big bad Polaroid (the dummies that back in 2008 thought abandoning the production of 600 film and investing their dollars in digital technology was a good idea) have done a complete utter backflip and will re-launch some of the most famous Polaroid Instant Cameras and "are commissioning The Impossible Project to develop and produce a limited edition of Polaroid branded Instant Films in the middle of 2010"

I know what your thinking! Finally! The idiots have caught on... but nows not the time for finger pointing and "I told you so's" - Lets take a moment to give ourselves a pat on the back, its people like you and me who use, read, write, live and breathe Polaroid film that have helped the corporate giant see the error of their ways.....

Although I think we can all agree that the pat of all pats on the back must go to organizations like The Impossible Project and Save Polaroid.com, these two organizations have campaigned heavily and worked tirelessly to bring Polaroid film back to the masses and they have succeeded in ways they never imaged.

You can read more about this glorious news here, here and here, other than a big fat hoo-freakn-ray I dont have much else to say!

5 minutes with.... Raymond Molinar

Raymond Molinar likes to skate, take Polaroids and prays to sweet jebus he's alive in 5 years time to do it all again. He's the kind of human most people wish they could take photos like so sit back relax and get set to absorb 5 minutes with Ray....

1. How old where u when you took your first photo and what was it of? Well i was really young when i got my first Polaroid camera. I wanna say the first photo i took was of my friend finding 24 dollars in a trash can in El Paso, Texas.

2. What is your Polaroid camera and film of choice and are you all about flash or natural light? I prefer to use the original SX-70 land camera, using original time zero film or Artistic time zero..I'm not a big fan of 600 film. I always prefer to shoot in natural light, but there are a lot of amazing shots using a flash bar out there.

3. If your photos where a soundtrack what songs would they be?
ummm..thats a tough one. I Can tell you some bands that i've been listening to recently.
Just to name a couple... Tom Waits, Cass MCcombs, Beach Boys, John Fahey, Bert Jansch

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. Skater who loves to travel,shoot photos,eat good food,hanging out with friends and family..pretty simple guy. I don't know what i want to be taking photos of in 5 years...i just hope i'm still alive.

5. Do you shoot other film mediums? If yes what's your fave film and camera of choice I purchased a wista 4x5 field camera not to long ago and I'm planing on taking some personal lessons from some friends of mine. I would have to say Polaroid original time zero is the best film ever made, hands down. i really love using my wista 4x5 camera, the whole process of using the dark cloth,tripod,loading of the film. and the focusing is exciting.

6. What's your favorite photo you have ever taken and why? Don't be shy. Tell us a story I don't really have any personal favorites of mine I go in and out of what photos i like...it just depends really.

Thanks for your time Ray, the dude doesn't have a website but you can check his shit out above or here on Flickr. Pretty damn impressive stuff.... Its so far left of field you can barley see right!

I'm back in the habbit

I was so excited my blog had such a HUGE month in August with so many new and lovely visitors and a plethora of interesting photographic related oddities to muse over... Then September 10 rolled around and I jumped a plane to Asia and spent 4 weeks hiking through mountains in far north vietnam and exploring ancient temples in cambodia with rarely a computer in site (not that im complainging - life, my friend was good)

I just got back and I fear if i dont start blooging again write away - I never will. And whats the first thing i want to blog about? FILM!

Film film and more film, I was traveling with my Pentax MZ-50, a LOMO, Polaroid 600 Job Pro and a canon G9 digital. A 4GB memory card, 13 rolls of 36 exposures and 9 packs of Polaroid film later and I'm home.

The trip itself was amazing... I wont go into detail until I get my rolls of film developed but in the mean time check out this story on Hanoi, Viet Nam located here at the lomography website.