15 years. Mexican Pictures

This chap above, a one Mr Raul Gutierrez took a polaroid of himself, on his brothers birthday, every year for... well i dont know how many years... but judging the the photo bottom right I'll wager about 15 years.... There is quite the interesting/sad/uplifting story as to the why, I'll let you click here to hear it (read it) from the horses mouth. He also have a website aptly titled mexican pictures I think you'll dig too!

With a birthday coming up in a few weeks I think I may just undertake this little project myself

365 Days of greatful

When I first read about Hailey, a Brisbane photographer who, after some deep and meaningful's with a nun, decided to take a Polaroid a day for a year of the things she was grateful for and keep a diary of the whole experience - I thought what a rad idea... I want to do that... My friend Bobo already had plans to do a similar thing...

I'm not sure how Bobo is going but come new years day, day 1 for this little project I was too hung over to even locate my camera... 2 more days go by while I was busy at my Nonna's doing all the things she is now too old to do... folding washing, raking lawns.... refilling the kitty litter, while I'm sure these activities in the service of Non would have made great Polaroids life just got away from me a little bit and by the time the Christmas hols were over it just seemed too late to start.

Dont worry - I'm not a total lazy good for nothing, I did manage to keep my other new years resolution, which was to start this here blog on all things photography, and this in turn has inspired me to return to looking at life through the lens more often... taking more photos and sharing them right here with you.... (awww)

If you want to check out Hailey's 365 days of grateful look up, to see the remaining 363 click here & be taken to her beautiful Polaroid inspired website, where you will find not only this project but many many more images to marvel at... Hats off to you Hailey - you are one clever cat!

I Love Daisy's (& Vintage Dresses)

Its sunday, the weather is miserable and a great day to stay in doors and drink green tea so I thought Id share this little story below i wrote a few months ago for you to read while your at it...

This particular weekend was spent in Mollymook, a quiet little beach side village no more than 4 hours south of Sydney. I'm no stranger to this part of the world as its been a favorite camping destination for years... Once our tents are up and there is air in the mattresses the rest of the day usually consists of long expeditions into the bush in search of firewood, fresh fish purchases from the local jetty followed by grand explorification of the surrounding towns... as such, my friends and I have come to know every second hand store, vintage shop and antique dumping ground in a 100km radius.

The vintage finds around the area are glorious.... Its a return to the good old days before vintage became trendy and all of a sudden I was paying $22 for a ceramic monkey as opposed to $2! Unlike Sydney where its tough to find a decent evening dress for less than $150 the beautiful town of Ulladullah offers such gems as the ones above for no more than 30 bucks... well that's a lie, the one second from the right was actually $42, but still, nothing to turn your nose up at.

In this part of the world the thrill of vintage shopping is back, and in a big way - It's the thrill of this search, the joy of rummaging through 100's of Vinyl records to find that rare Johnny Cash Classic, the elation of flicking through racks of vintage dresses to find that perfect fit is what its all about... Its not about being in Vogue or "on trend" it's about stumbling across something uniquely different that no one else has, something that's already lived a long life and seen a lot of years with the person that owned the aforementioned ceramic monkey, loved listening to johnny cash or wore that dress before you.

Its exciting its about to take on a whole other life with you too.

Combine this love of vintage with a love of daisy's and I'm' here to tell you I had one hell of a wonderful weekend. When I was little I had a pet cow called Daisy, If i ever choose to utilise my ability to make humans my daughter will bare the name and I own countless daisy brooches bought on eBay... so when I found 2 new (as in very very old) dresses, above, covered in daisy's and everywhere I walked there were Daisy's crawling along concrete footpaths - evidence of a summer just gone... well, everything was just coming up Sophie.

I hope you had a glorious weekend too!

The photos above were taken with my Taz 600 Special edition Polaroid which was only its second outing since I bought him and I'm happy to report despite pushing 15 odd years in age he handles quite well.

The good old days

Say hello to the very first instant camera, the Polaroid Model 95. Pretty basic huh, and when I say basic, I mean freak'n awesome, since when did basic begin to carry a negative connotation i wonder?

You see, when I say basic I mean load film, take aim and shoot.... no hi tech light levels, pixel definitions, "night time" "party" or "kids and pets" settings....just some of the features of my cannon G9 - I'm not saying I don't utilise these features, I often turn to them when shooting at night or taking photos of my niece and nephew on the run, but I also long for the days when things were simpler, when it was all about pointing and shooting and asking questions later... or not asking questions at all...just being happy with what you have.

There is a ad doing the rounds of prime time television at the moment, that says something along the lines of "do you remember the days when life was simple, before you had 9 different passwords and apple juice only had one ingredient". I don't know about you but i long for those days... granted i was about 8, but i long for them all the same!

Bare with me - i do indeed have a point... or at least i think i do....

Upon viewing the rather large stack of Polaroids on my desk awaiting to be scanned a colleague asked "why do you bother? - why not just shoot digital if you are going to take so many" Granted, she's right, I could take less Polaroids, spend more time composing others... treat them a little less like digital photos... but the idea of not taking them at all, well, I'd never entertain such a proposal - and why is that?

Because I good and proper love the simplicity of it all, nay the beauty in the simplicity in it all, and that right there is my point :)

Mike Brodie aka "The Polaroid kid"

Its not often you come across photos that totally blow you away, Ive been lucky enough to stumble across such photos twice in two days, yes yes lucky me, and by default lucky you! The first was The Polaroid House and the second is a series of photos called "Ride'n Dirty Face" by a "accidental documentary photographer" Mike Brodie.

What the kid did was photograph his friends, their homes and life styles, Sounds pretty run of the mill huh! Not so run of the mill is the fact that their homes are train carriages and box cars. Their lives aren't so much squeaky American clean as they are gritty and dirty. The resulting photos and exhibition will show you a cross section of middle America you never knew existed....

At first I thought they were shots from some crazy new tim burton movie, or from some far off war torn country, but no, this my friends is America.

You can check out the exhibition by clicking here, and purchase his prints by visiting the needles and pens store here... now if you'll excuse me one must go and pick ones jaw off the floor.

The Polaroid House - California

The Below is a project i think about all the time.... Its just one of those things that stay with you for life. A story you stumbled across when you were young, a image that stays with you forever.

The Polaroid house was a project with a difference.... So i thought Id re post this story for the new readers - its a special one.

No its not some fancy mansion owned by Sir Edward Land, its a dilapidated old house about 4 hours drive south of LA.... and unfortunately it is no longer.... but it was for a little while...and that's what I'm here to tell you about.

Photographer Kim stumbled across this abandoned old shack on a road trip one sunny afternoon "It really struck me" she says "and I knew I'd be back, it was so quaint, representing a bygone era" The physical decay of this house became the poster child for the decay and impending death of Polaroid Film when, on June 9, 2008 Kim decided to make it "The Polaroid House" What exactly does "The Polaroid House" entail? Essentially its just a space to display Polaroids, like art is displayed in a gallery.... but it became much more than that to Kim and Polaroid lovers the world over.

Sadly not everyone respected the site as Kim did and the owner of the house was forced to ask Kim to kindly take it all down, The last Polaroid fell on April 4, 2009 but has been immortalised forever on film.

Click here to see more photos of the house, there's something about it, it just takes your breath away. To read more about Kim and the sadness she felt when "the glory faded" from this beautiful project pay a little visit to Holga Blog.

Enjoy

1960s Polaroid Commercial

Polaroid was in the 60's what Apple is to consumers today.. A must have brand, filled with charisma and constantly pushing new technologies.... It captivated the interest of a nation and with catchy ad spots like the one above, its easy to see why.

Live life like a Polaroid commercial I say.

How to load 600 film into your SX70 Polaroid

Loading 600 film into a Polaroid SX-70 from dotsara on Vimeo

I published this post a while ago, nearly a year in fact but it is still one of the most googled questions and the page that scores the most hits on my blog, You guys sure love a good how to! According to some of the comments below the link is now broken so ive pasted a vido above... This is one of two ways you can sneak a pack of 600 film into your SX70 you can find out the other way here

Read my original post below....

I just got a new sonar SX70, when I say new i mean old... I just converted it to take 6oo and thought Id re-post this for anyone who wants to do the same!

Lets not kid ourselves these be tough financial times we are in and none of us can afford to be battling it out on EBay with some random stranger that goes by the name of *cutesy__mcboo82* for 1 teeny tiny pack of SX-70 film... before you know it the clocks struck midnight and your sitting bleary eyed at your desk, staring blankly at your laptop ,wondering just how exactly you got stuck in a bidding war that ended up with you paying $98 for 10 shots of SX-70 while *cutesy__mcboo82* gets of Scot free!

With this in mind allow me to offer a alternative... Click here to be taken to the Polaroid Website, while keeping in mind we hate them for taking away our beloved film, they have at least been kind enough to offer step by step instructions on how to adapt your SX-70 camera to take 600 Film.

Polaroid Apocalypse

Polaroid Apocalypse is somewhat of a mourning group for Polaroid film... yeah yeah I know there are a million of those out there on the world wide web already... but this ones a little different... a little more interactive, a lot more fun. 

Their theory is Polaroid is dying and has somewhat of a "Bucket List" of things it would like to get done before it, well... kicks the proverbial bucket.... This list includes various themes for you to take photos of, they even go as far to stage group gatherings and events where people bring along random props, costumes and all the film they can get their hands on and just shoot weird and wonderful set ups to their hearts content... Unfortunately this option is only open to those in the San Fran bay area, but anyone can contribute to the bucket list just click here to find out more.

The Traveling Camera Project

Sometimes I worry I'll run out of content for this blog, Lets be honest, I've kinda painted myself into a corner limiting myself to Film (not digital) Photography, but when I stumble across groups like this its a corner I'm proud to be in.

Sean Tubridy is one trusting human being, He put a call out to Flickr members world wide to join somewhat of a "pass it on" list.... Pass what on you ask? A Polaroid camera and a pack of film. The idea being that the camera resides with each person on the list for no longer than 48 hours, just enough time to take a self portrait and mail it on, (or pay if fwd if your a fan of Kevin Spacey movies)

So far its reached about 20 people, it stalled for about 4 months with some lazy bugger but is on the move again now so if your interested in taking part click here to join and here if you want to perv on the portraits taken thus far.

Calling all engineers and industrial designers...

If you know anything about latex, coating or gelatin bases then the dudes at The Impossible Project need to speak to you. They are in the middle of constructing the new Polaroid film and have hit somewhat of a technical snag.... Email latex@theimpossibleproject.com if you think you can help... Perhaps you are related to or are currently sleeping with a engineer or industrial designer, if so i highly recommend you exercise your powers of persuasion and get them to drop the project a line.

Landscape polaroids....

The general theory is Polaroid photos only look good when you fill the whole frame, you know, 5 laughing friends 3 circus midgets and a partridge in a pair tree all crammed into that tiny little square... but just because everyone says that's what you should do doesn't mean you have to. If I told you to take 12 steps off a 11 step pier or go play with the trucks on the highway you wouldn't hop right to it now would you?

Point is ignore all that... experiment with negative space... especially big beautiful blue sky days, the results are just as good, if not better!

The photo above was taken on my Polaroid Job Pro 600 at Cunningham pier in Geelong.

The impossible project update.

Don't forget to pay regular visits to this website people. After all these are the kind souls that are working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring us a new and improved Polaroid film for 600 cameras by 2010 and they need all the love and support they can get, even if its just one single website hit from little old you, cos my guess is, that one little website hit in the eyes on investors is a vote for the comeback of Polaroid film... the more interest we show the happier they'll be forking out their hard earned cash to support The Impossible Project.

Paxtons - Discounted Polaroid Film

Paxton's in Sydney currently have discounted twin packs of Polaroid film here, while they don't have a online store I'm sure you could pay over the phone via credit card and the lovely folk at Paxton's would be more than happy to ship your order out to you.

Desperate times call for desperate measures people... Take every chance you get to replenish your stocks!

Porter Hovey - New York New York!

There is a lot of cool shit to take photos of in america.... and Porter Hovey is on the case. Check at her amazing polaroids here

Paper Camera's

Check out this beautiful camera collection and equally exquisite photography blog here. Trust me you'll be inspired... even if its just to go home and give your camera collection a little tlc.

Charles and Ray Eames. Polaroid Enthusiasts

We all know they were and amazing husband and wife team when it came to Architecture and industrial design, but did you know they were avid production designers and Polaroid users?

I didn't. But I do now! Check out the film above, its all about the SX-70 and is narrated by Ray Eames herself!

How to Re use your old Polaroid cartridges

Its all kinds of easy to use your empty Polaroid cartridges as frames to display your fave shots, you just need to slide the Polaroid in between the silver and black frames. there is a great "how to" here, or you can blue tack them to the wall or thread some fishing line between the two holes on the back and string up a whole bunch... 

I have been saving mine  for a year now and have approx 50 to work with.... I'm aiming to put together some kind of large mural  in the next couple of weeks so keep your eyes peeled for the results. 

More From Mike Brodie.

There are some fantastic shots here and a nice little summation to go along with them if you, like me, are jones'ing for more of The Polaroid Kid Or lap up, first person, why he does what he does here.. what a bloody crazy cat!

And here

More of the Polaroid House

Some more shots by Kim, The photographer behind the "Polaroid House" project I blogged about below... Click here to see more, it will blow your mind.