Yearly Archives: 2012

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{Instant England} On Holiday

November 25, 2012 11:01 am ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

‘Ello guvna!

I went to England again, ya’ll. As was the case in 2006, I took along an exorbitant amount of film cameras. Are seven cameras too many cameras? Probably! I lugged those cameras around and shot about 22 rolls of film! I foresee it being a few weeks before it’s all developed and ready to be shared with you all! In the meantime, here are the (random) shots taken with my Polaroid SLR 680 and Impossible Project PX 680 Color Protection film (or Colour Protection – these were taken in England after all!)  This film is so awesome! It performs better than any other Impossible Project film I’ve tried thus far.

(Of course, being slightly careless, I put some of these pictures in my pocket to help warm them during development, causing the photos to crumple and acquire some “character flaws.” Just thought I should mention that, since these flaws were not the fault of the film but of the one using the film!)

 

I loved all the awesome doorknockers in London

Cuteness from Kayla’s kitchen 

 Yellow roses, on top of the recycling bins outside the Swiss Cottage Tube station

( Silhouetted) The Rising Sun pub in the Tottenham Court area

 Another awesome doorknocker 

 Memorial statue dedicated to WWII Polish General/Prime Minister Wladyslaw Sikorski 

Festive shop window 

 Iron railing + window flower box

Pretty seafoam/turquoise-y railing   

(Greasy) eggs and a side of chips at a Russell Square cafe

Gold flower on iron gate in Bloomsbury

 

Sadly, I dropped my beautiful, near-mint Polaroid SLR 680 one grey afternoon in England. That cut short my ability to use the last pack of Impossible Project film I had brought  with me. However, the bright side to not being able to use that film in England is that I’ve been able to sort of get my 680 working again and have been using that pack of film here in the States! You’ll see some of those results on the blog as well!

Posted in: Polaroid, The Impossible Project, travel photography ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

{Engaged} Nathalie + Brandon, Part Two

November 3, 2012 2:00 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

I did an engagement session for Nathalie and Brandon this Spring. When I met with Nathalie to discuss the photography for their December wedding (I’m shooting it! Yay!) I told her that I’d like to offer them a little second engagement session. This was because I thought it’d be nice for them to have some portraits made together that had a more “autumnal” feel, since their wedding is in autumn! Happily, she and Brandon took me up on this offer!

It was another super fun afternoon with the betrothed couple, making our way around Memphis for our photos. Here are a few of my faves from our little photo shoot:

 

I am oh-so-excited for Nathalie and Brandon’s wedding!And, of course, it will be detailed here on the SWP blog!

Posted in: engagement session, friends, portrait sessions ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Out with the Gold, in with the New

October 19, 2012 9:30 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Subtitled: The Good, the Bad, and the Divoted

I have been saving up a stash of the Impossible Project’s gold frame PX 680 film. I bought it in June, hoping that I’d buy a plane ticket to London in July, for a November travel date. I also hoped that I would find a Polaroid 680 SLR that’d be perfect for me, before November rolled around. All of the above goals were met. However, I was so anxious to use my Polaroid 680 that I couldn’t let the gold frame PX 680 sit unused for another month! I decided I should burn through my last two packs of gold frame film right now, so I’d have a good excuse to buy the newest Impossible Project film. From all accounts, their new film kicks major booty!

First photo taken with my new camera – I then accidentally dropped and broke the lid to my sister’s  glass pumpkin jar. Womp womp.

Goldenrod 

Balloon dart game at my niece’s school carnival

“All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth” Club, guests at my niece’s birthday party

Red leaf on a rainy day

I tweeted about my plan to “accidentally” use up all my gold frame film in order to make room for their new color protection film; The Impossible Project tweeted back saying I should, since the gold frame film is turning into “old generation film” now that it’s been about a year since its production date. Boy, were they RIGHT! I had little of the tell-tale maturation issues when I put the first pack of gold film through my 680, but pack #2 was very much touch and go. Some of the shots had divots and uneven developer distribution/undeveloped patches. We’ll just say that it gives the photos a more “artsy” look!

My divot-y French press coffee and homemade baked donut

Baked pumpkin donut on one of my favorite saucers

For a new photo series I’m starting – more on that later

 

I’ll write up a proper review of the Polaroid 680 when I’ve put more film through it. I can already tell you that I’m in the early stages of love with that camera though!

Posted in: film photography, Polaroid, The Impossible Project ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

{Ricoh FF-1} Camera Review

September 29, 2012 9:30 am ⋅ 3 Comments ⋅

I admit it: I’m a sucker for pocketable 35mm cameras.Exhibit A – I’ve owned multiples of some of these cameras. And yes, my cameras formed a cheeleader-style pyramid for this photo session

A few weeks ago, I found myself browsing the camera section of an auction website – which is not the wisest thing to do when you’re trying to pare down your camera collection like I (supposedly) am! I spotted a little camera that I’d never encountered before: a Ricoh FF-1. Visually, I knew it was eerily similar in design to the Minox 35 line. One website I read said that this camera looks as if a Minox 35 and a Lomo LC-A had a baby together. I agree! I did a fair amount of research on the FF-1 during the days leading up to the end of the auction. I found relatively little info online about this camera. But I was intrigued! I had to make the Ricoh mine!

I probably squealed with delight when the postal carrier brought the parcel containing this camera. The FF-1 looked to be in good shape cosmetically (it looked purdy to me!) and it already had working batteries installed. That’s always a nice surprise! As you can see, the auction I won also included a little Rollei flash and a cute retro-style camera bag.

So. Here’s what I can tell you about the Ricoh FF-1: It’s a zone focus (or scale focus, if you prefer – same diff) camera. That means you estimate the focus distance and set it manually. On the Ricoh, you set the distance on a little focusing ring that is marked in meters. There is a folding, drawbridge-style lens cover that protects the lens and acts as an on-off switch, if you will. When the drawbridge is in its upright position, the camera cannot take a photo nor can the camera’s electronics be accidentally activated – meaning a photo can’t be inadvertently snapped nor your batteries drained if the shutter button were to somehow get pressed (in your camera bag, for instance.)

Drawbridge action

Film speed selector 

Metal lens barrel with distance scale ring (marked in meters) – and it is QUALITY! 

Handy dandy meter/feet conversion chart. Phew! 

The Ricoh actually arrived on a very good week: Kayla happened to be Stateside, visiting her family, and I’d been invited over for a bake date. What a good opportunity to bring along my latest photographic acquisition! I was right that our bake date would be a photo-rich environment- except my rusty scale focusing skills caused a few shots to not turn out the way I wanted. Boo! But we still got a few keepers that day!

Loved the soft light in Kayla’s mum’s kitchen – and her Cath Kidston tea towels

Mixing up the bourbon pecan pie she was making for her family reunion

Just Kayla is in focus, but I kinda like how it looks as if she’s dancing in her seat as she eats her Ajax Diner leftovers

Kayla prepping for the “food porn” shoot of her completed pecan pie – almost  in focus!

I had loads more success with Roll #2 in the FF-1!

Slight vignetting?? I sure hope so!

Lomo-ish?

See – it’s quite sharp when you focus correctly

Hiya! I have to be able to take mirror self-portraits with the compact cameras in my life

Weird frame overlap thingy – this is the only time this happened and mos def due to what I like to call “operator error”

Bokeh, bo-kay?

 Ricoh FF-1 • Kodak Ultramax 400

Closing thoughts: The main question in my mind about this camera was (and remains): Does it work as an aperture priority camera? There is conflicting information about this online, and I still am not 100% convinced that you can’t use aperture priority. However, I view this camera as a replacement for my Olympus XA2 and my no longer working Lomo LC-A, and neither of those cameras offer anything other than auto exposure. So no biggie if the Ricoh doesn’t work that way either. In fact, any limitations in the Ricoh can also be found in one or both of the two cameras I just mentioned. So I can’t fault the FF-1 for any limitations it shares with the cameras it’s replacing, now can I??

What I like about this camera:

  • maximum aperture of f/2.8
  • “drawbridge” lens cover
  • quality metal lens barrel
  • film advance lever (♥ this a lot!)
  • hot shoe
  • threaded cable release plug

What I don’t so much like:

  • Maximum ISO setting of only 400
  • Minimum focusing distance of 3 feet
  • Setting the distance is a bit fiddly on the itty bitty lens barrel
  • The viewfinder on my particular FF-1 is a little foggy – could be cleared up probably, but I won’t take it apart myself to do it!

That’s about it on the “cons”!  As I said, apparently I’m a little rusty on zone focusing, but I have mastered it in the past and shall do again! I think the Rioch FF-1 has earned its spot on my “Going to England” camera list. And directly caused my XA2 to earn a spot in the “excess camera sell-off on eBay.”

Posted in: camera equipment, informational, shop talk ⋅ Tagged: , , ,