Chemistry and physics teacher MattAttackPro shot the above photo showing what happens when a roll of unused 35mm camera film is dropped into a beaker of hydrochloric acid. What you’re seeing is the emulsion (light sensitive chemicals suspended in gelatin) separating from the clear plastic backing.
(via Boing Boing)
Image credits: Photograph by MattAttackPro
School Portrait is a project by documentary filmmaker and communications student Greg Ward, who asked a number of adults to show and share about their old school portraits. Ward writes,
Most people are embarrassed or find it funny to look back on their old school portraits. The photos where taken at a time when life was simple, school was fun and hairstyles where dictated by our parents.
Many years have passed since the photos were taken; physically they have all changed, but to what extent are they still the same people? In general, most people have had school photographs taken of themselves when they were younger. The photos are fantastic visual records of how people once were, however how often do we look back and reflect upon what we were like as kids? Sometimes in order to know where we are going in life, it helps to remember where we have been.
(via Doobybrain)
Well, lets just say I’ve gotten better at this over the last couple of years. The left image was one of the first I’ve “scanned” with my DSLR, and the one on the right I’ve just rescanned using the techniques described below (higher resolution available here). Right now I can get higher resolution and better image quality that what street labs give you on CD.
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You may remember Visual Supply Co as the company that brought you VSCO Film, a fancy schmancy film emulation add-on for Lightroom and Camera Raw. Now, after months of waiting, the company has finally announced its newest endeavor: the VSCO Cam iPhone camera app. Read more…
You wouldn’t think the world of instant film could learn much from the world of beer — and on most counts you’d be right — but in this particular case, a little bit of Coors inspiration may have played a role in The Impossible Projects new line of COOL Polaroid films. The specialty instant film, part of The Impossible Project’s Spring 2012 line, are kept in a temperature-sensitive package. In order to maintain its shelf life, the packaging will warn you when you’re storing it in too warm an environment by displaying the message “Keep Me Cool.”
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Bad news if you’re a film shooter and Fujifilm is your brand of choice: the company has announced that it will be increasing the worldwide price of its entire line of photographic films starting in May 2012. In the announcement, the company blames demand and economics for the decision:
The demand for film products is continuously decreasing, yen’s appreciation and the cost of production, such as raw materials, oil and energy, continues to rise or stay at high level. Under such circumstances, despite our effort to maintain the production cost, Fujifilm is unable to absorb these costs during the production process and is forced to pass on price increases. To sustain its photo imaging business, Fujifilm has decided to increase the price of photographic films.
Fujifilm remains committed to photographic products and asserts that even with the new price. Its photographic products remain exceptionally good value compared with other system products.
While the announcement doesn’t mention how much prices will increase by — they state that it will vary depending on market — Fuji Rumors reports that it will be an increase of over 10%.
(via Fujifilm via Fuji Rumors via Mirrorless Rumors)
Image credit: Roll On by Looking Glass
Sick of staring at giant darkroom timer while waiting for chemicals to do their work? Try replacing the timer with carefully selected music. Photographer Lauren E. Simonutti writes over at Lens Culture,
For some reason I only listen to music in the darkroom. I find watching clocks tiresome so I time film processing by music — I have a range of songs of the proper length. Film goes in, music goes on (Tom Waits, Bowie, Bauhaus), song ends, film comes out.
An easy way to find songs with the correct length is to sort your music library by duration.
Photographic notes from a madhouse (via Photographs on the Brain)
Image credit: Exposed Darkroom by Gamma-Ray Productions
The Camera is a beautiful 7-minute-long short film by amateur filmmaker Peter Lewis about a solitary girl who finds a creepy mysterious Polaroid camera in an abandoned beach house. It’s the first film Lewis has completed, and was shot using a Canon Rebel 550D T2i (and the Canon 50mm f/1.4 and Tamron 28-200mm) on a budget of $50 during a vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina. Lewis singlehandedly managed all the stages of production, including composing the original score, creating the foley sounds, and editing the film in Final Cut Pro X. If you enjoy this film, be sure to check out Framed, an eerily similar short that was shot with an iPhone 4S.
(via DEVELOP Tube)
Had an interesting conversation the other evening with the delightful Raina Kirn, the “Raina” half of the famed Raina + Wilson photo team (Wilson – worry not, you’re delightful too). The occasion was a west-end Toronto photographer’s pub night, and we were bemoaning the loathsomeness of sorting and organizing images digitally, the endless toil and drudgery of file management, the indentured servitude photographers must now endure as pawns in the palm of the evil god that is Computer. We glumly agreed that there’s really no way to avoid it. You just have to grit your teeth and slog away, like wading through mud — completely unpleasant, but necessary if you want to escape.
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Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film is an upcoming documentary about the death of Polaroid and the subsequent rise of “The Impossible Project”:
In February 2008, Polaroid announced that it was ceasing production of instant film. ‘TIME ZERO’ is a documentary that tells the story of the last year of Polaroid film in three acts. Act I introduces the magic of Polaroid through the perspective of Polaroid artists and former employees of the corporation. Act II begins with the discontinuation of instant film and covers the grass-roots movement to keep it alive. Act III centers on ‘The Impossible Project’ and follows their against-the-odds effort to reinvent instant film.
The film was created by Polaroid enthusiast Grant Hamilton, and will premier on April 28 at the Independent Film Festival in Somerville, MA — three miles away from Polaroid’s former headquarters.
