IMPOSSIBLE Camden Market Portraits

When was the last time you visited Camden Market?
I hadnt been there for years. Georgia and I met up with some other Polaroid shooters and spent a great day in this vibrant, busy area - full of market stalls, food stalls, old records, books, antiques - you name it its there. Plus you can wander anlong the canal.
I took the Polaroid SX70 Folding SLR and the SLR690 folding SLR with me and of course these wiers old cameras cause quite a stir. Its much easier to approach these people when you have an unusual talking point to shoot with rather than the common camera phone.
This latst film from THE IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT does not need shielding from the light and is a major development in the re engineering of instant film.

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http://www.the-impossible-project.com/

More Holga Street Moments

There's a moment that often passes me by, a moment when I dont have a camera only the one in my mind. That's OK, it's good to train your mind to see images everywhere you look. But if you have a camera with you, then how much better it is to make that image permanent and share it with others.

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Plastic Fantastic

This £30 camera, plastic "toy camera" called the Holga takes 120 film 6cmx6cm negatives. It has a single plastic lens that gives lovely crisp images in the middle and out of focus images at the edges. I used this camera whilst in NYC in August for all my film work.
Here are some of the images printed in the darkroom over the last week.

The Hard Roack Cafe in Time Square

Crossing one of the intersections along broadway heading North from Flatiron to Timesquare

Waiting for the Tour bus to take us on the "Northern loop" tour of Manhatten

Waiting for the bus, this guy walked past and waved

Provincetown Harbour

We had gotten up early to drive the 6a to Provincetown to go whale watching.
These are the cute huts that line up along the harbour, some are selling paintings, some tickets for the boats.
Polaroid 103 Land camera
Fuji FP100c

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In Provincetown, Cape Cod

So here we are, whale watching out of the way and walking along the main street of the "gay capital of the USA" - check out the drag queen cycling into the frame in the first image.
Getting a buzz from using the Polacolor 108 film which expired a few years ago.

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Route 6a Cape Cod

Route 6a takes you along the length of Cape Cod to Provincetown, the Gay Capital of the USA and a great base for whale watching.
On the way we stopped at a small craft store so Julie could buy Pandora stuff, I went outside and was immediately drawn to the US flag and the thick electricity lines, I had Polaroid Polacolor 108 expired film loaded in my 250 Land Camera.

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Obsessed with the Stars and Stripes

We moved on from the heat of NYC to the heat of Cape Cod, but at least here we had a sea breeze and a lake to swim in...bliss Oakcrest Cove at Peters Pond is the place to stay.
Since getting a copy of Robert Frank's The Americans for Christmas the other year have become obsessed with Americana images and the US flag. What immediately hits you in the US is that these things are everywhere, they are very patriotic. The flags began creeping in to my images.

Impossible PX70Cool film
Polaroid SX70 Folding SLR

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Freedom Tower

We'd gotten off the bus at World Trade Centre stop. Already had our entry passes to the 9/11 Memorial so we walked on and were confronted by the looming spectacle of the nearly completed Freedom Tower. Tha stars and stripes were fluttering from a nearby building.
A jet airliner flew past and that was such a strange moment.
Polaroid 103 Automatic Land Camera
Fuji FP100c

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9/11 Memorial

We queued a while to get into the memorial site at Ground Zero. Once we'd got past the inevitable airport security we were blown away at the peace and tranquility of the place despite lots of people milling around.
Also met a guy who worked for Polaroid for 8 years

Polaroid 103 Automatic Land Camera
Fuji FP100c

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More New York Streets

Still wandering with the 103 Land camera looking for images on the go.

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new York Streets #1

Time to wander from the Hotel, this is mid town NYC on a hot ealry August morning. Polaroid Land Camera in hand looking for instant (in more ways than one) shots of streeet life.
Store dummies and the man in the white shirt coming towards me - no time to think, shoot and peel!

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5th Avenue Blues

Love the expired Polaroid Blue Film, I have some packs still in the fridge but it's becoming increasingly difficult to find at a reasonable price.
This is a "peelapart" 100 type Polaroid pack film, it does record colour but with heavy blue overtones.
The only modern, made today alternative is the Fuji FP3000b black and white film and the Fuji FP100c Colour - both excellent.

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FlatIron from Madison Square Park

Polaroid Blue film is getting harder to find at a reasonable price so the stock I do have I try to use with care. This is no bad thing as it forces you to take care with each image. This is the complete opposite to the scatter gun approach of the digital chimpers out there (Chimping, look it up).

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Avenue of the Americas

Loving this expired Polaroid Blue film

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Liberty on 5th

Lady Liberty, selling postcards on 5th Avenue

Impossible Project PX70 Cool Film
Polaroid SX70 Folding SLR

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3rd Avenue and 42nd Street

We'd been on the "Southern Loop" of the bus tour, still stifling hot in NYC and we just wanted to get off and walk in the shade. UN building was the next stop so off we hopped and walked down 42nd street towards Grand Central Station. At the junction with 3rd Avenue I snapped a picture of the receeding street and the yellow cab.
Impossible PX680 Test Film
Polaroid SX70 Folding SLR

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Brownstone and Water Towers

A morning walk from the Broadway Plaza, round the block via 6th Avenue (The Avenue of the Americas) and back up West 26th Street. The early morning sun was just creating dappled lighting on these classic New York warehouses with the wooded water containers on the rooftops. (low water pressure in Manhatten).
Polaroid SX70 Folder
PX680 Opacification Test Film V4b

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FlatIron

The FlatIron Building set against a bland sky really helps here I feel.
Looks almost like the bow of a ship.

Polaroid SX70 SLR
Impossible Test Film PX680V4 (Opacificaltion Layer Test)

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FlatIron, New York

Our Hotel was just a few blocks away from the iconic FlatIron building. A much, much photographed building, not, however by me!
An early morning stroll before the heat of the day built up with the Polaroid SX70 SLR

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Village Market, New York

It was toward the end of the same hot day, we retreated into this intereting little street market filled with quirky hand made gifts.
I found myself constantly looking up at the NYC skyline and there she was, in her shades, waiting to be photographed.

Polaroid SX70 Folder
Impossible Project PX680 Test Film

Keep It Analogue