When the last stocks of Polaroid dried up I also lost my favourite camera a Polaroid Image.
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| © Hilton Vasey 'Cocked Hat' |
Although not the most retro of the range the 'Image' takes multiple exposures either via some wonderful fluke of engineering or genius of practicality, quality varies from hazy dream like to crystal clear and even cinematic depending on the lighting conditions and weather. I came across The Impossible Project after finding another 'Image' on E-bay and started searching for suppliers. Their film looked even more Polaroid than Polaroid and they even did black and white! Even better they had this great aesthetic to really promote analog photography, I’ve been a regular purchaser ever since.
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| © Hilton Vasey 'Cocked Hat' |
I booked a week off work to tackle my first shoot and put together my improvised 'Man Who Fell to Earth' costume and props.
The shoot was disappointing, the costume and props had been coming out far too light on the film. It’s easy to identify part of the problem - I’d been photographing ‘light’ objects against even lighter backdrops but the film also seemed to continue to over-expose as soon as it was out of the camera, disappointing considering the more successful ‘random’ swimming cap test shoot.
With my film spent I reluctantly used my Nikon to give myself ‘options’ but this turns out less forgiving, providing results which are only ‘so-so’.
Considering the amount of time taken the digital shoot just wasnt up to scratch with the Impossible film and its inherent dreamy look and chaotic creativeness, after much grumbling I decide to persevere and maybe darken the costume by adding more layers or dying much darker.
My girlfriend jokes “Maybe next time you should have a drink and relax; you always make better work when you’re hung over!” funnily enough she might have a point, maybe I’ve taken all of this far too seriously…
