The years between 2008 and 2011 were a golden age for me in getting to really experiment with various types of film photography. Digital was really taking over, leaving it easy to find fun and inexpensive film cameras. Film was still widely available, and I had the added bonus of a roommate who worked at a photo lab, processing and cross-processing to my heart's content.
The following photos would be incredibly difficult to re-create today. The film used, Fujifilm FP-100B instant black and white film, was discontinued in 2014 (polaroid discontinued their version of the same film even before these pictures were taken). You can find the occasional expired pack on ebay for $75 or more, and there are new companies coming out with instant films, but as of yet there hasn't been a new product on the market that fits these old cameras.
The camera shot on was an old Polaroid passport camera, we bought it from a local Walgreens for $3. It was just sitting in the back collecting dust since they'd switched to digital for passports. The camera had the capability of shooting 2 of the exact same photos at once, or you could switch to shoot one at a time.
For the photos themselves, I shot the initial portraits together and then double exposed one side. My favorite thing about this type of instant film was the ability for double exposures. These were done before I had any kind of studio set-up with just whatever lighting I had at the house.
I hope one day someone will bring back this film. I still have some great cameras I'd love to experiment with (Mamiya RB67 with a Polaroid back, anyone?). Until then, I hope you enjoy what are now relics of the past. Do you have any forms of old technology you miss that has died out as we modernize? I'm a bit of a sucker for outdated forms of media in general...my entire movie collection before I left the US was on Laserdisc.
Model: Ryan
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Model: Me
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Model: Ian
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Model: Galen
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Check out some more of my recent posts:
Travel: The Santa Fe mountains
Wine and Music: Moerae (End/Vacantfield/Awe split) album review and wine pairing
Art: Portrait of my father in pencil
Travel: Cats from around the world.
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Wow! Really nice portraits! love the B&W on them, gives them a nice mood.
Dropped you a follow, i am sure you will surprise m every day!
thank you! following back! :)
fuck! really cool/ this work ...emm..."has own soul"/// but when im read articles that its on polaroid - first question -
do they (polaroid) still exist?))))
yes, and no. The film these were taken on doesn't exist anymore. There are some new instant cameras that you can get today that take smaller pictures, and one company that's making film for old polaroid 600 cameras, but nothing on the current market for old medium format cameras. Its so sad, I cant use any of my old polaroid cameras anymore.
wonderful portraits and a pretty good job! a surreal reality indeed.
Thank you so much!
Wow, the Galen and Ryan portraits, so awesome - with contrasting emotion coming out that can be easily seen! Love it!
Thank you! And they were definitely the two best models :)
Nice series! I really like the Fuji peel apart films. So sad that they stopped producing them. Did you underexpose because of the contrast?
I did want them slightly underexposed for the first shot because I didnt want to double exposure to be completely washed out, however I was also limited by my gear. The camera used had no manual shutter speed or aperture settings, and at the time I didn't have any professional lighting, so I worked with what I had. Some of them could have been a touch lighter ideally, but overall I'm pretty happy with the results.
impressive ! thank yo for sharing !
thank you!
Great idea and realization, keep it up!
thank you!
These are nice. As a young boy I used to play around with rolls of Ektachrome ina camera my Dad gave me. To double expose, the ASA rating would have to be really low right? sub-100 perhaps?
Old tech - I had a hobby of shortwave listening. I am still chasing an analogue sony shortwave radio but they are super expensive. I now have a tiny Techsun radio and aim to get a better one sooner or later. There are still broadcasters out there. It's a dying thing beiong replaced by the internet of course. BUt there are also digital shortwave technologies in the pipeline. DRM Mondial for instance, so it is a form of media that has use cases and will probably evolve. DRM raedy radio units are pricey at the moment though.
It depends on where you're shooting...If you wanted to double expose in full daylight outdoors, you would definitely need low speed film, and probably a pretty high f-stop and shutter speed to compensate. I was shooting indoors with ambient light, and in that case the 100 film was fine. I don't think an instant film under 100 was even available on the market at the time.
shortwave radio, that's a super interesting hobby! maybe as the digital technology becomes more popular the old sony radios will go down in price? As digital took over I ended up getting some really great film cameras for really cheap. unfortunately I cant find anywhere local to get film processed anymore...and my house is too small for a darkroom. One day perhaps!