instant photography – Old Hat Project

Backsides and then What?

September 1, 2020 Ashley

I find myself having the photographer’s equivalent to a writer’s block, and I am not enjoying it in the least.

In the first week of August, I spent all of my time taking photographs during my vacation. I used the time to acquaint myself with the camera I had just purchased, a Mint RF70. It was great because I had the opportunity to drive to different destinations, and take photographs pretty much all day, everyday. I took enough to have a decent shot to post on social media once a day for the majority of August.

Anyways, after I got home, I realized that I was coming up on my anniversary from my, “Look Up,” series. I thought, “What a great idea! I will do a specific themed series every month!” So I settled on September’s theme being, “The Backside of Buildings.”

Side Tangent: I’ve always been intrigued with the backside of buildings because they seem to have so much more going on than the front. Between electrical boxes, dumpsters and alley-way doors, it is almost like walking into another world. The front of the building is the mask, showing what the world is supposed to see. Viewing the backside is the equivalent of looking into the building’s soul.

That being said, I have 10 posts (11 photographs total) for Instagram, depicting the backsides of buildings in various towns of Colorado & Wyoming. The exploration involved in finding these photographs was great! I discovered places I had never known to exist. However, I will not be continuing the project any further. You see, I had quickly become bored with the subject matter. Urban photography has never been my forte. It can be fun for a change, but nature and scenery are my passion. I miss the world outside of the cities.

The other issue, besides boredom: I am finding myself trying to take photographs for daily Instagram posts. The shots were no longer for me. I was just taking them for the sake of social media. I can’t keep this practice up. It’s wrong. I like sharing my work and I enjoy helping others, but when it really comes down to it, my photography is for me.

So, this is what I have decided: After posting my, “Backside of Buildings,” series, my feed will be less structured. The promise I make moving forward is to only share the work I am most proud of, or the work that I have learned something from. No more posts for the sake of posting. I know I can do better than that, and I will from now on.

What is next, after, “Backsides..?” Not a clue in the world. This is my final delima. I wish to explore places I have never been. It can just be difficult when I only have one good day of energy to do so (night shift problems). I have one week to figure it out before I am back on my weekend. Wish me luck.

Until then, enjoy the above preview of the aforementioned series that starts tomorrow, September 1st, 2020. And thank you for reading this little rant of mine.

Instant, Personal Shenanigans, Photography

New Beginning: Mint InstantKon RF70

July 14, 2020 Ashley

I’ve been looking at this camera for some time now, and I have finally decided to take the plunge! I purchased the Mint InstantKon RF70 on Saturday morning and received the shipping confirmation early this morning. I am hoping it gets here before I leave for my trip to my Mom’s place. That is 13 days away, which is cutting it close. The camera is coming from Hong Kong and with COVID causing all sorts of delays, I may be out of luck for my vacation. I’m staying positive though that it will still show up before I leave!

Some background: The RF70 is considered a top of the line Instant camera. I believe it is the only fully manual Instant camera available. When using it, you have control over the aperture and shutter speed. Currently, the camera alone costs $899 US, and that does not include some of the extra accessories you can purchase. Since I was spending the money, I went ahead and selected the Ultimate Package. This will include 3x Neutral Density filters, a hood, 2x packs of film, and a camera strap. I’m glad they have the ND filters available, as Instax Wide ISO is 800, and I prefer to shoot during bright, sunny days.

So, all of that being said, I am stupid excited for this camera. It will be my first instant venture outside of Polaroid. I’ve been doing a lot of research on it and have found some interesting hacks that I plan to attempt. The first one I am going to try involves making another filter attachment. I found this hack through an Instagram account that I follow, @myinstantimages. This person uses the RF70 frequently and has a lot of really great tips. I’m basically following his mod instructions to the T. I will post another entry on that modification specifically, once I get the equipment. The best part about all of it is, the filter setup that I am going with will be compatible with my Sony camera as well.

I also took the time to reacquaint myself with how to use an external light meter. This is something I was taught back in junior high school and never used again. It’s definitely interesting. I don’t have an actual light meter so I will be using the application, “myLightMeter.” I have no clue how well this works, so I will probably post on that as well once I have some experience using the app along side my camera.

The final purchase I have made for my camera was a journal. Being a total Disney nerd, I decided to use this great find from the Disney Store in order to track the settings used on all of my shots. Since I try to incorporate a sense of adventure in all of my photographs, this “Quests of Yore,” journal is perfect! It’s from the most recent Disney Pixar movie release, “Onward.”

So, in short, I’m motivated and excited again. This purchase was much needed. Life in general has been rough with everything going on in the world. I feel like this camera is saving me from the stress and anxiety that has resulted from that craziness. I can not wait to begin this journey.

Instant, Photography

Test Shoot Extravaganza!

August 12, 2019August 13, 2019 Ashley

Today was my one and only day off of work. How did I spend it? Test shooting my new polaroids. It was wonderful! I slept in the morning/early afternoon and when my husband came home from paintball, we got dinner and strolled around downtown Greeley. I got a feel for each of the cameras, and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised with all of them.

The Polaroid cameras I reviewed are as follows: the 600 One Step Close Up, the 600 One Step (a later version of the Close Up, but essentially the same camera), an Impulse AF (autofocus), and the Pronto Land Camera. Given that the Land Camera is the only one in the group that shoots SX70 film, I will be talking more about it in my next post. In this one, I’m going to focus on the three cameras that shoot 600 film.

Given that I had no idea if any of these cameras would work, as well as the fact that prior to these three, I had never owned a 600 film camera, I didn’t want to waste money on their film. If all three of them failed, I wouldn’t need additional 600 cartridges. So, I only had one cartridge per camera, and I chose color for all three.

I’m going to start with my least favorite and work my way up!

Polaroid One Step Close Up (pre-1998)

Although the camera worked, I wasn’t very happy with the outcome. The pictures were not very focused, and the overall image seemed… bland.. for lack of a better word. Now, it very well could have been my subjects, framing, etc. And it is apparent that there was something wrong with this particular pack of film, as there was a vertical stripe in half of the shots (2,4,5, & 8). But that being said, I was only pleased with one of the shots.

Shot 6 could have been alright except it’s not in focus. And I was disappointed that the mural in shot 7 didn’t come out. I’m guessing it was just too bright out but I was hoping the colors were vibrant enough to show through. This makes me want to do a more thorough comparison between the two Close Up cameras.

Polaroid One Step Close Up (post 1998)

This camera worked great! I loved the shots I got from it and can’t wait to take more! They were clear and vibrant. This camera’s film was also defective, as there was vertical striping again. But that doesn’t change the fact that the pictures came out wonderfully.

Shot 1 & 2 has the vertical stripe which is a bummer. But I was blown away with the clarity. In shot 2 you can see the little dude’s face. I was surprised how well 6 came out. You can almost make out the cigarette butt on the sidewalk. And in 4, you se see the five inscriptions posted above the windows. Of course shot 8 stole the show.

Polaroid Impulse AF

And the winner for the day was of course this little baby. I have to say, when I purchased this camera at the antique store, I referred to it as, “that ugly one.” I named it Bob and didn’t really think I would get much from it’s photos. But I have to say its’ performance was outstanding. It even out performed the Pronto Land Camera (more on that next post).

I really have no complaints in any of the following photos. In my opinion, they are all great. Even the spotting caused by the dirty roller was great, although I will be cleaning the rollers prior to going out again.

The Next Step

Before I go out next, I will be cleaning all of the rollers. I will still only shoot color film for the two Close Ups but I plan on playing with some black and white on the Impulse. The Close Up cameras will be compared side by side by taking pictures of the same subjects, from the same perspective. I could have done that this trip, however I really wasn’t wanting to compare any of the models. Today was more of an attempt to confirm that they function which was a total success!