Shooting Polaroid/Fuji instant for the negative
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Olivia in the Top Field[/caption]
So as most of my regular readers know I love and still shoot a fair bit of film. Most of my personal work would be on 4x5 or 120 roll film in the Holga. Being born in the sixties, I grew up on film, learned on it, processed it, printed it and manipulated it. I've seen many of my favourite films disappear into the ether as digital became more and more prominent in photographer's lives.
One film or the idea of it, has always captured my imagination and spurred my creativity; instant negatives.
Back in the 80's when I first became aware of Polaroid t55 in school, the idea of a magical instant negative, that I didn't have to process was a godsend for rushed class projects in school. Think about all the time saved by not cleaning film holders, loading film, unloading film and then the long journey of processing. Even running the film through the quickest process you could, you'd still be looking at around 10 minutes in the dark, then another 5-10 attempting to dry it as fast as you can (obviously not even thinking you'd have an archival negative after this).
I'll never forget seeing a fellow student, pull the Polaroid apart, showing the print on one side then telling me there was a perfectly usable negative on the other side.
Wha wha whaaaat?
From that point on I fell in love with the look of black and whites, printed from Polaroid negatives. They were contrasty and more often than not had some sort of imperfection in the emulsion, roller marks or some other characteristic that just gave the image more life and a more crafted feeling. Not long after that I bought my first full frame Polaroid camera, the Polaroid 195. The 195 was the last of the line of folding Polaroid instant cameras that had adjustable shutter speeds and apertures. I ended up traveling a fair bit and only ever bringing the 195 with me, of course just shooting the t55 equivalent for 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 pack film, t665.
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Lonely stop sign somewhere in rural California[/caption][caption id="attachment_1650" align="aligncenter" width="733"]
Amarilylsis lit with window light in my home in California.[/caption]
Type 665 or t665 was very similar to t55, its bigger brother though it came in pack form only, not sheets. That meant that you have to process the film before you take another exposure. With t55 shot in a 4x5 large format camera, you can flip the processing lever back to "L" for load and pull the exposed film sleeve/envelope out of the holder without processing it. This feature is handy if you want to process the film in a more controllable situation; closer to a proper fixing(for the positive) and clearing(for the negative) areas. While out on locations I used to shoot off a few frames of t665 and just leave the negs to bake in the sun in the production vans. When I would get back to the hotel, I'd clear the negs under normal tap water and usually hang it to dry on the trouser hangers in the hotel room closet.
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Two surfers waiting on the beach in Carpinteria, CA.[/caption]
Each negative would be unique; some might be in the sun while drying, some were in shade, some would be solarized and others would look normal. I just always left it to chance.
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Pétanque balls lying in the garden in the south of France[/caption]
Okay, back to the present now.
I ordered a couple of packs of FP100c from Calumeta couple of months ago and finally got around to shooting some of it. Olivia and I went off to the back fields of the farm and with a wide open vista I took some photos of her with just available light.
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Gorgeous Olivia in the Top Field (excuse the collapsing bellows)[/caption]
The important part of it all are the negatives though. Below I show step by step how to preserve them from the original "throw away" portion of the film.
https://vimeo.com/143553176
I will post up the scans from the negs, once I make some neg carriers for the scanner.
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Red dress, blue sky[/caption]