PUSH! it real good – I say goodbye to PX70 PUSH! film for good

I tried it once. I didn’t like it.
I tried it again. I couldn’t get it right.
I tried it one last time. I’m over it.

PX70 PUSH! was the first color film put out for SX70 cameras from The Impossible Project. I was ecstatic, but couldn’t really get too excited about it. I mean, it was the first flush – and practice makes perfect. Since then, they have come out with some pretty spectacular color films, which I tested and I’ll blog about soon. PUSH! film was so difficult for me. I just couldn’t get it right for some reason. One or two out of every eight pictures might turn out. It’s super light/temperature sensitive, so you had to be so much more careful with it than the newer film. Regardless of it being a pain in my ass, I got a few pretty incredible shots with it. I remember posting some a long time ago. I just had the privilege of shooting a few more packs, just for old time’s sake, and I said goodbye to PUSH film forever. Here are the six shots out of 24 that turned out. Not bad, huh?

This was shot in Bremerhaven at the Hotel Atlantic. They pretty much stocked our fridge full of wine and mineral vasser. I had none. Well. I had a little.

A portrait of myself and one of our dogs, Clementine. She’ll be a year old next month!

Paul holding a crow’s skull. He found this at Land Between the Lakes for me last fall. What a guy!

euros, which I spent on pizza, pretzels, Coca-Cola, and Haribo gummies

I’ve shot these guys numerous times. They’re reliable and always make for a good photo. The first time I shot them was with my very first SX70, this time, it’s with my new Sonar.

A portrait of my fiance, Paul. Two of our other friends are laying at his feet in the woods. This is my favorite out of all of them.

Well. That’s about it for now. Life is good, and Eden meets the world in a little less than 5 months!

The Nashville Zoo on Instant Film

A few weeks ago, Paul and I went to the Nashville Zoo. I’d read that there was a new baby giraffe there, and I really wanted to go see it. I finally made it to Nashville. I’ve lived in Clarksville, which is 45 minutes north of here for about 17 years now. If you live there, my only advice to you is to GTFO. I still have family there, though.. so I can’t completely wipe it out of the picture.

All of these photos were taken on instant film purchased from The Impossible Project, and shot with a Spectra System Polaroid camera. The color film is expired Spectra Image Paul Giambarba edition, which you can purchase by clicking HERE. The rest were shot on PZ 600 Silver Shade UV+ which you can also purchase by clicking HERE.

This is Paul, and he’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me.

That’s about it for now. I’ve got quite a few more to scan.. so more to come later. Toodles!

This Place is Full of Ghosts – new works on film

Cave Johnson house – Polaroid Spectra (expired)

About a month ago, I read this book ‘Spook’ by Mary Roach (Science Tackles the Afterlife.. “…brings her tireless curiosity to bear on an array of contemporary and historical soul-searchers: scientists, schemers, engineers, mediums, all trying to prove (or disprove) that life goes on after we die.”) .. in it there’s a chapter about seances. Who did them, what went on, and HOW they did them. When I found out the entire process that went on, I was utterly amazed.. and was especially interested in mimicking ectoplasm in a photo shoot. We had limited supplies, but cranked out a pretty stellar shoot with what we had.

Inside of the piano – PX 600 from The Impossible Project

The milk was just another idea that ended up sour. (har har) Regardless, I had a blast. I worked with my good friends Chad Spann and Kelsey Lange. Chad shot with his 50D, and I used a Canon EOS Rebel with Kodak Tri Max 400 black and white film, which I developed at home. (4 minutes @ 79 degrees F) All black and white images were shot at the Cave Johnson home at 916 Madison Street, right next door to me. Cave Johnson died in 1849 of Scurvy, and introduced the first postage stamp in 1846. (I’m such a mail nerd) The house has been abandoned since a family was poisoned with carbon monoxide.. I frequent it often, and it will soon be demolished.

Shot with Polaroid One Step express & expired 779 film

Here are a few of the digitals that Chad Spann shot from that day:

Artistic TZ & The Impossible Project

You know what I like? Soft, milky tones and Polaroid film. You know that if you mix all that neat stuff together, then you get Artistic TZ Integral film, right? Well you do, and it can now be purchased from The Impossible Project.

People still come up to me all the time, amazed that I have a Polaroid camera, and amazed that you can still get film for it. It’s been a hard year for Polaroid lovers. Up until the summer, we were all on ebay, viciously bidding against each other in the seemingly never ending battle for instant film – & now WE DON’T HAVE TO. (some of us still choose to, though. Nothing like getting my grubby little paws on some expired 669, 690 & Spectra!)

I’d like to celebrate my very first Impossible Project photoblog post by showing you some select photos from the first packs of Artistic TZ Edge Cut I ever bought from Impossible! I’ll skip the really blurry ones. It took me a few shots to master the terrible Model 3! Click through any of them to view full size

I’m really looking forward to shooting some of the new color film for SX-70, which is now being sold as a 3-pack at the website. You can purchase film directly by clicking HERE.

Sparklers & Long Exposure

In the past month, I got together with people twice to play with some sparklers and do some long exposures with my Canon 35mm film camera. There’s not much to explain.. but I will give you one tip: if you’re going to try and do a serious & creative photoshoot – don’t get drunk while you’re doing it, especially if you’re the one pushing the buttons. I’m not going to say that we ruined these because I was drunk, but I will say that something weird happened with the second roll, in which I thought I was shooting with a completely new roll, but I ended up double exposing the whole thing. Kind of interesting, but I think we had a hard time coordinating. Here’s what happened:

All photos were shot with a Canon EOS Rebel on 35mm color 400 ISO film. Special thanks to Matt Smith, Gabe Garcia, Deli Neblett & Chris Allen. Good times!

Polaroid Spectra Macros

Out of all the Polaroid cameras I have, my favorite one by far is the Spectra System. A while back, my husband purchased me a Close-up attachment kit for it. Policemen used to use them for photographing evidence. I’m not sure if they still do, but I do!

I haven’t written an entry in a great long time, so I’d like to show you the macros I’ve been shooting as of late.

“But all I have for light is one book of matches and the duration of each ma-” (for whatever the reason the tape cuts off here)

This is a House of Leaves diptych, and it’s accompanied by an excerpt from the book, which you can read by clicking through the image.

bubble

a soft sort – a very delicate diptych of balloon flowers & a garden spider

wasps, grazing – this is my favorite. It’s a close-up of two red wasps.. I was worried I was going to get stung, bit it seemed like they didn’t have a problem with being shoved inside of a tiny box.

untitled – a cactus

blkbrry – delicious blackberries in my mother-in-law’s backyard. These weren’t fully ripe yet, but four days later, they were delicious!

I’m going to try and keep this short. You can click through the last four beneath this to see full detail of the photos.

Polaroid Spectra film can be purchased at The Impossible Project HERE.

Beauty In Death – not for the faint

If you’ve been following my progress throughout the years, then you’ve noticed that I’m a bit weird. Very, very odd. Let’s face it, I photograph a lot of dead shit. You might think, “Fucking gross.” but I think “Fucking awesome.” There is beauty in death, whether that’s just my opinion or not, it’s a huge part of why I do what I do.

Yep, that’s me – when I was just a wee nugget.

In 2004, I took my first set of Polaroid 600 photos in Ashland City, Tennessee. (My mother had bought me an iZone & Joycam in my junior high school days, but the photos remain lost.. so I consider the ones from 2004 to be my first true Polaroid experience.) Four polaroids remained in the camera before I went for a walk.. out in bumfuck wherever.

These are the last three in the set, click through for full-size.

I was cleaning a trailer out for a friend’s mother with my roommate. This friend was a woman who worked at a popular hospital in Nashville, TN. She was an RN. We were teenagers. She paid us to clean this place out in return for Ritalin & things of the sort. (a few years ago, I read her obituary in the newspaper. She had committed suicide while on her lunchbreak at work.) These first Polaroids of mine were from her camera, that she’d lent to me before I went for my walk. I owe a lot to her, and I wish I could tell her ‘thank you for really getting me into photography.’ … but I can’t.

Ribcage found at the end of a driveway to an abandoned house off of Britton Springs, Clarksville. Digital shot.

Bird skull found at Trice Landing, Clarksville. Rattle can spatter on canvas. Shot with Polaroid Spectra System/Image film with law enforcement close-up attachment.

Outside of Cumberland City. Shot with Polaroid Spectra System/Image film

Near Paris, Tennessee. Shot with Polaroid Spectra System/Image film

This guy was found ripped to shreds near our apartment in downtown Clarksville. Deer hooves. Shot with Polaroid Spectra System/Image film

This photo was shot with several different cameras. This one was shot with a Canon EOS Rebel 35mm. Kodak Tri-X 400 film, & developed at home with Kodak D-76 chemicals.

Same shot, again, with the Holga 120N. Fuji Neopan 400 film.

You can view the entire “Dead Things/Houses” set on flickr HERE.

Moleskine, Moleskine!

I got another Moleskine notebook about a month ago. I’ve been filling it up with everything I can think of, and after I’m done with this one, I’ll do another – and another – and another. I want a bigger one, next time.. anyway, here’s a preview of what I’ve been up to in the art department:

View the rest of the Moleskine set on flickr HERE

Other things I’ve been up to: check out my May entry for THEARTOFWAITING – click here!

Tylertown?

Last Wednesday I went out with a friend to explore some abandoned houses. I was really taken by them. They were beautiful! The first one was a two story white brick home with a hot, stuffy, dark attic & a graveyard in the backyard.

Not only did I want to photograph the house, but I wanted to take a few pictures of Kelsey as well. And they turned out pretty good, I think!

The green shutters of the first house made me very happy.

Here are a few of my favourite shots of the girl that I went with (click through to see full size):

Upstairs, we found some love letters from Erica to Brad & read them aloud. They were from 2001, and no doubt, just two high school kids.

The second house we went to was a little more nerve wracking to explore. There was a roadblock @ the end of the driveway, so we couldn’t take the car down & around the back where no one could see us like the last house. I braved the outcomes, and just parked the car at the end, and we walked. Whenever I’m in a situation like that, I always end up going for it. My last thought is always, “I mean come on, what could happen? …Uhh. Uh, I’m sorry officer, I’m sorry that I was taking photographs of this house.” .. I mean really. I could understand being prosicuted @ the meat packing plant, but a house? Hm. This house was even better than the first, though..

It was sort of half log cabin, half brick. .. the side was covered in flora, & when we walked around back we heard TURKEY!

There was a turkey trapped in here. Long story short; we made the turkey an escape route, heard loud noises upstairs, & fucking ran. You can view the entire set HERE (which has photos of the insides as well.)

All photos were shot with a Nikon Coolpix L12 with Nikkor 5.7-17.1mm 1:2.8-4.7

Camera Collection!

Today I took a few hours to shoot my camera collection, and I’m actually not finished yet, as I have some cameras displayed in my room as well & had to cook myself breakfast. There are many of these that I have managed to get instant film for, but the film turned out to be too expired, dried up, or dead battery. However, most of the film cameras I try to use as often as I can; even if I have to experiment a little.

This camera takes type 42 rollfilm, which is like finding a needle in a haystack. Last year, my husband found some on ebay for me and I had successfully loaded the camera, however unsuccessfully pulled the film out. (every time.) The film was wet! It would have been amazing.. but I failed & have yet to find any more Polaroid Roll Film.

Yashica Lynx 5000E 35mm – I have shot with this camera a few times, and was very pleased with the results, as they have a dreamlike quality about them:

Kodak Brownie Hawkeye – this vintage camera takes type 620 film, but can also be loaded with 120 film. It’s a really fun camera to use. I’ve yet to load it with color film, but am planning on it soon. You can see a roll that I’ve shot with this camera here: Brownie Hawkeye set on flickr

I love this camera! There’s not much more I can say about it. It’s fun. Lightweight, and I can put as much 35mm in it as I want. Still trying to figure it out, but learning more & more. I have even converted it into a pinhole that can take macro images, but haven’t scanned the negatives. Here are some of my favorite Holga shots:

Hopefully, I’ll be using my Holga a lot more for the ART OF WAITING projects soon. I’m going to go urbexin’ now. It’s a beautiful day, and I don’t have to work. Huzzah!