Largest Instant Camera Collection in the World!

This was SUCH a popular post, if not the most popular post I've made to date, given there are so many new comers lately, and frightened it would be lost forever to archives I thought I'd re post the story below for you all - prepare to be wowed!

Wow! I thought I was pushing the limits of respectable shelf space with my collection of 18 vintage cameras in my tiny little lounge room. Oh how wrong I was, My cameras are free range hens with fields to roam compared to the 930 Polaroid cameras this Austrian collector has, row after row after row, instant camera after instant camera is somewhat reminiscent of a battery cage hen that never seen the light of day.

Semi (not so) clever analogy's aside you can't argue with the fact this is one pretty damn impressive collection ain't it!

Click here to be taken to the makeshift home page complete with a wanted list of over 200 Polaroids the dudes still searching for!

A wedding Photographer with a difference

Its not every day you come across someone with a refreshing point of view, someone that just looks at things the same way everybody else does but just a little bit different. Cick here to get to the home of Max Wanger, documenter of life extraordinaire.

The love and marriage section is especially up lifting. Go figure!

You personally can help save Polaroid film

How the bloody hell am i going to do that you ask? by buying one of these t-shirts to support The Impossible Project who are tirelessly working away oceans and continents away trying to rebuild Polaroid 600 film, just for you, by 2010!

You can invest in one of these semi daggy but oh so lovable tee's here or read more about the project here, here and here!

"I love life" competition details

The good people at Lomography have kicked off another comp to get the creative juices flowing. Aptly titled "I love Life" this comp is a salute to all of the activities we do to keep us sane after a hard day at the office!

There are three categories to shoot for... Kiss or resist, Life less ordinary and Dance the funky chicken... In true lomo style these themes are less than conventional, so to find out the finer details click here for competition rules and regulations. Click here to upload your entries, you have to be a Lomography member to enter but don't stress if your not, its free to register here.

You are allowed to submit a maximum 10 photos for each sub category and entries close August 31 people so grab your analogue camera and hit the road jack... I would love to see every ones results once you've entered!

Peter pan syndrome

I thought I'd republish this post as its such a cute polaroid!

Don't you just love dressing up, and when i say dressing up i by no means mean "dressing up" Ive never been one to spend hours curling my hair, powdering my nose and umm'ing and ahh'ing if my shoes match my bag, hell i don't even wear shoes.... I'm talking about the original dressing up... back when tying one of mums tea towels around your neck and running around in your underwear meant you were superman!

Playing dress ups these days, when I'm closer to 30 than 13 transports me back to a time when we were young, care free and attacked everything in life with curiosity and childish enthusiasm, somehow we loose that a little bit as we get older but I'm here to tell you - slip on a pair of ruby slippers, tie a blue ribbon in your hair, jump on your bicycle and go for a cruise and trust me it all comes flooding back again.

This page is planet friendly

well friendlier.... a white screen, such as google uses approx 74 watts to display a single page while a black screen uses 59 watts! It aint much but it sure is something and something is nothing to turn your nose up at these days

... every little bit counts.

The Photo Trade

This my friends is a particularly rad initiative. It's a little something called The photo trade, and its well, just that, a group set up so artists like yourself can trade photographic works of art! You can sign up to participate here, The way it works is you get teamed up with another participant from anywhere in the world and your given a theme, this time its summer, its kind of like having a mini assignment - with out the pressure of being graded!

You have to include in your "summer"package a photo at least 5x5inches big, and the rest is up to you, make a mixed CD, write your partner a little note... anything... Its a fun way to exchange art (not get rid of photos you would other wise throw out), make new friends, meet random photographers and just interact with other creative's on a global scale. 

Jen Altman is the woman behind the project, she has her fingers dipped in many pies that one! Like any successful organisation there are rules though and you can read more about them here, or see past exchanges here.

The Polaroid EE44 is driving me crazy!

So is the EE66 for that bloody matter. You see I happen to possess both, well not really possess, that sounds kind of materialistic - they've lived a long and decent life and are just residing with me for the rest of mine, however neither of which are much good to me with out a flash, unless of course its a beautiful sunny summer day riddled with natural light - its not by the way, its the beginnings of winter here in oz right now and Ive just bought some flash cubes of eBay and i cant for the life of me figure out how they work!

Its not like this is some square peg in a round hole type scenario, I've bought the right flash cubes, I even got them shipped here from the UK... and the socket on the side of my EE66 seems to be in working order but no matter how much a jiggle twist push and turn I just cant seem to get the flash cube to firmly attach in the socket so I thought I'd put it to you kind souls... see if anyone could throw some knowledge my way? anyone...?

Adie loves Polly.

Sometime last week I wrote that your never too young to take your first photo, which was inspired by photographer Chris Searl teaching his 20 month old son how to use his Canon G10 and the resulting strangely wonderful and wonderfully strange compositions can be seen here.

You've gotta admit, firing off your first shots at the tender age of two is pretty damn impressive, whats more impressive is Adie. Adie is four years old, has her own Polaroid affectionately named Polly and her own blog to showcase the fruits of her labor to the world... sure it helps that her mums master photographer Jen Altmen, but the photos themselves, dreamy compositions and expert use of light are all Adie (and remember Adie is only 4!) Click here to see more and prepare yourself to be suitably impressed

For the Love of Light

"For the love of light" is A damn fine book thanks to a damn fine collection of Polaroid photographers/lovers (whats the difference I ask) Click here to find out more about this beautiful book and the talented crew that put it together, including Jen Altman. Oh and Paper Cameras interviewed her here, definitely worth the read my friends!

The Polaroid interior by Selby

Bella Howard and Rosa Connell are two crazy cats who love a good Polaroid. Selby is a photographer who froths on taking photos of crazy cats and creative types with super cool living spaces. Click here to check out their Polaroid clad walls and here to perv and stalk your way through various interiors dwell'ed in by random creative types from all over!

Krysten Ritters Los Angels home is particularly freak'n awesome... Not a polaroid in site but she looks like the kinda gal who would own a cool cam.

The Barbie Cam Polaroid Project

Photographer Jackie Kingsbury has a hot pink Barbie Polaroid 600 camera! Jackie, like the rest of us, was a little sad about the death of Polaroid 600 film and set about undertaking a little project to mourn the death of such a beautiful medium, armed with a few colourful props, including barbie nailed naked to a hot pink cross she spent some time roaming the mean streets asking total strangers to look like a complete fool for a few moments while she took a happy snap of them with the aforementioned barbie.

The point to all this insanity? She just wanted to remind everyone "how much fun they are going to miss out on" when Polaroid is gone forever! Well played Jackie. Click here to be taken to the Barbie cam Project.

Mystery Polaroid...

This post is less about the Polaroid and more about the subject matter! I just stumbled across this shot here on Flickr - My brother and I had a million of these little things way back when we were knee high to a grasshopper! They had little bodies and hats you could detach switch around... supplying hours upon hours of distraction and fun.

Right now my memory is failing me and i cant think for the life of me what these things were called? Would love to get my hands on a couple for posterity's sake so if anyone could help me out comment below... ta muchly!

365 days of Amy

Daily I wonder am i going to find any decent content today to share with you guys? Why I even let my mind wonder anywhere near the vicinity of worry i don't know.. there certainly is no need too, sure some days it may take a little searching, other days a lot - but always i stumble across something beautiful, something moving  in the way of a photo of film based project.... and today is no different.

Meet Amy Mortimer. She's a budding photographer who has taken it upon herself to keep somewhat of a online diary, taking a photo a day for a year and posting it here on flickr. She started sometime in November last year and at 192 of 365 she's showing no signs of slowing down. It amazes me how technology has opened up our lives to complete strangers... its a scary but intriguing phenomenon... and nothing out of the ordinary these days. 

I've blogged before about similar projects, a Brisbane Photographer called Hailey undertook 365 days of grateful last year and her Polaroids are just stunning! Amy tends to mix it up what camera she uses, but it just makes her photos, above and here that much more interesting. Keep it up Amy, cant wait to see the remaining 173!

Like father like son....

You're never too young to take your first photo... Photographer and all round publishing guru Chris Searl has been teaching his 20 month old son how to use a Canon G10.... Its still a little heavy for the kid to hold up, but according to his dad "shit he loves it when the flash goes off" - ah the joys of photography! I for one am digging this photo of his dad's feet...with compositions like this I wager by the tender age of 3 he'll be loading film into his Holga and bouncing flashes of walls while planning his debut exhibition. The apple does not fall far from the tree!

To check out Mr Searls handy work click here.

Hey You! Say Cheese!

I have finally created a home online, besides this blog, to display the results of what happens when you leave a disposable camera in a public place and ask people to take photos of what ever they bloody well like! Click here to see the somewhat hilarious results or here, here and here to read past posts about this little project of mine. The shot above was from the Cronulla camera - how freak'n cool is the saturation! Man I love 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.

Kill All Artists

I just launched my new website, it's nothing horribly exciting, no flash download required.... Just a humble home to display my work and some pretty photos. Click here to check it out

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.

Polaroid Alternative

Cant afford Polaroid film anymore? Desperate times call for desperate measures people. Grab your digital camera, a pair of scissors and a nice white sheet of cardboard and lets go!

Go where you ask? Anywhere. Hell you can even run with scissors.... The idea is to cut a "Polaroid Frame" out of your white piece of cardboard, stand in front of camera, hold it up to your face and proceed to look a little crazy.... passers by may point and laugh but you'll have some pretty fun shots and that's what its all about!

I stumbled across this photo here on flickr.