# A Polaroid SX-70 and the Maine coast



## limr (Mar 21, 2016)

My first pack of Impossible Project black and white was encouraging:




Nubble1 by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Beach1 by limrodrigues, on Flickr




Lighthouse and grass by limrodrigues, on Flickr


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## 480sparky (Mar 21, 2016)

I'll have to ask my folks if they still have their SX-70.


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## limr (Mar 21, 2016)

480sparky said:


> I'll have to ask my folks if they still have their SX-70.



Dooooo eeeeeet!


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## 480sparky (Mar 21, 2016)

limr said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > I'll have to ask my folks if they still have their SX-70.
> ...


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## tirediron (Mar 21, 2016)

Those have an extremely "old school" feel to them.  I could easily be convinced that any (esp. #3) was shot before WWI.


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## bribrius (Mar 21, 2016)

like


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## limr (Mar 21, 2016)

tirediron said:


> Those have an extremely "old school" feel to them.  I could easily be convinced that any (esp. #3) was shot before WWI.



That's what I like about this film. This first pack was about making sure I could get good exposures. IP film is super sensitive to light even after it leaves the camera, so even though it's rated at ISO 160, I've found that I had to shoot it as if it's faster, and be really careful with keeping it totally covered for the first half hour or so after shooting it.

Now that I'm getting the hang of that, I plan on using it for shots that suit that old-timey feel.


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## xenskhe (Mar 21, 2016)

Nice images. I like the first one a lot.


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## vintagesnaps (Mar 21, 2016)

Nice, those are lovely. I love using the SX-70, wonderful camera.

I found after awhile using the Impossible Project film that I got into a process of flipping the photo over right away (or tuck it in a pocket or under a book or whatever). It got to be a routine so that even with their most recent films that you don't really have to protect from light as much as the earlier films, I still flip them over and keep face down for awhile before I peek!


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## vintagesnaps (Mar 21, 2016)

Have you seen the Eames video?

Video: The Polaroid SX-70 Promo Made by Charles and Ray Eames


I have Eames chairs, my parents bought a bunch at an auction years ago before they went up in value and we all ended up with some. Charles and his wife Ray sure knew design.


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## limr (Mar 22, 2016)

bribrius said:


> like





xenskhe said:


> Nice images. I like the first one a lot.



Thank you, and thank you!


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## limr (Mar 22, 2016)

vintagesnaps said:


> Nice, those are lovely. I love using the SX-70, wonderful camera.
> 
> I found after awhile using the Impossible Project film that I got into a process of flipping the photo over right away (or tuck it in a pocket or under a book or whatever). It got to be a routine so that even with their most recent films that you don't really have to protect from light as much as the earlier films, I still flip them over and keep face down for awhile before I peek!



Thanks, Sharon 

The frog tongue helps tremendously to keep it shielded in those first few seconds. After the print shoots out, I'll flip the whole camera over to hold it towards my body so I can pull the print out from under the tongue while face-down. I'll keep it in a pocket or in my bag and somehow I resist peeking at it for at least 20 minutes


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## limr (Mar 22, 2016)

vintagesnaps said:


> Have you seen the Eames video?
> 
> Video: The Polaroid SX-70 Promo Made by Charles and Ray Eames
> 
> ...



Cool, I'll check that out after work tonight!


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## jcdeboever (Mar 22, 2016)

Awesome, creative use of film and camera. Amazing really. 

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## Derrel (Mar 22, 2016)

Agreed,these have an old-timey look to them, with their soft lens look that was so valued at one time, before the obsession with sharpness and hard-edged image rendering on every shot took over.


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## limr (Mar 22, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> Awesome, creative use of film and camera. Amazing really.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Aww, shucks


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## limr (Mar 22, 2016)

Derrel said:


> Agreed,these have an old-timey look to them, with their soft lens look that was so valued at one time, before the obsession with sharpness and hard-edged image rendering on every shot took over.



Sharpness can be overrated


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## limr (Mar 23, 2016)

vintagesnaps said:


> Have you seen the Eames video?
> 
> Video: The Polaroid SX-70 Promo Made by Charles and Ray Eames
> 
> ...



I watched that video last night. It's really well done, if a bit cheesy, but what wasn't cheesy at that time?  There were some great shots they showed as examples. It's such a shame that Polaroid isn't making film anymore 

I can't explain what it is exactly, but I find instant photography to be so satisfying and inspiring. There's something about the way the emulsion looks that just screams mood and feeling and nostalgia. Maybe it triggers my Portuguese soul and its need for _saudade _(look it up - it's one of those "untranslatable" words), or maybe it's because I see photography as a form of expression, not just aesthetics. Whatever it is, creating a feeling with an image seems to be what I strive for in my photography, no matter what the medium is, and instant film makes this goal easier for me.

For Christmas, Buzz got me a book on Andre Kertesz's work with a Polaroid SX-70. Kertesz had lost his wife and his motivation to take pictures until someone gave him an SX-70 and he was invigorated. The work he did with that camera is just so heartbreaking and beautiful. A lot of it was inspired by his wife and his sadness at losing her, and that feeling comes through so clearly and so loudly. I have to admit to getting really emotional as I looked through the images. His use of light and shadow is masterful and inspiring.

andre kertesz polaroids - Google Search


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## limr (Mar 23, 2016)

This is one of the images that gets me all choked up: https://quietphotography.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/kertesz_polaroids_01.jpg

The glass figurines are symbolic. Here's a quote from the book:



> His recovery [after his wife died] began when he was compelled to buy a small glass bust that he had discovered in the wondow of Brentano's bookstore on 8th Street and University Place. Initially he resisted the urge to acquire the elegant figure but found he was haunted by it. He recalled, '_I was very touched...The neck and shoulder...it was Elizabeth. I went in, and I looked and looked and decided: "Don't buy," I didn't want to see this always before me, you understand. But after three months...it was a horrible day: March, cold, nobody on the streets. I went over. I was alone in the store. And: "May I help you?" "Yes I want this." "It is beautiful." "I know. I have been looking a long time. I want to buy."'_



After a while, he bought a second figurine and posed them together around the apartment. This image, with the two figurines and his shadow in the background...it just kills me.


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## jcdeboever (Mar 23, 2016)

I think I met that man back in 81 in an artist's studio in NY, not his. 

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## limr (Mar 23, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> I think I met that man back in 81 in an artist's studio in NY, not his.
> 
> Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk



Holy cow, really?? I LOVE his work. Do you remember what he was like?


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## jcdeboever (Mar 24, 2016)

limr said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > I think I met that man back in 81 in an artist's studio in NY, not his.
> ...


Very thick accent, hard to understand. Jovial that day. I believe him and Jasper Johns were kind of making fun of me, I was like 17 and wide eyed amazed at the largeness of Jasper Johns encaustic paintings. I was definitely amazed by Johns work and later took to encaustic. It was really a blur that day and I was only there like 5 or 10 minutes. I clicked on your google link and I recognized him immediately. Had no idea who he was or what he was about until clicking on that link.  He was old and seemed frail, kept staring at me too. 



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## robbins.photo (Mar 24, 2016)

What, no HDR?

Sigh....


Lol.. seriously though, fantastic set.  It's just so nice seeing a landscape that doesn't make my eyes bleed.


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## limr (Mar 24, 2016)

jcdeboever said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> > jcdeboever said:
> ...



That would have been 4 years before he died. I'm envious!

(Edit: Not envious of his dying, of course, but of your meeting him  )

And that's the second mention of encaustic so I had to google images and techniques, and I have a feeling that it's going to suck me in...



robbins.photo said:


> What, no HDR?
> 
> Sigh....
> 
> ...



Thanks, ya big ape!   The HDR function on the Polaroid is broken


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## robbins.photo (Mar 24, 2016)

limr said:


> Thanks, ya big ape!   The HDR function on the Polaroid is broken



Bummer.  So when it did work it would what, spit out three pictures and you'd have to tape them together?

Lol


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## limr (Mar 24, 2016)

robbins.photo said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks, ya big ape!   The HDR function on the Polaroid is broken
> ...


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## limr (Mar 24, 2016)

Incidentally, the last shot of my pack of color was also shot in Maine. And this is what happens when your frog tongue is crooked and doesn't cover the print, and you are shooting towards the sun: you open up a great inter-dimensional portal in the sky! Luckily it closed up before any demons could pass through 

(I did use my hand to shield the lens and the area where the print comes out, but clearly it was not adequate.)




Interdimensional portal by limrodrigues, on Flickr


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