Polaroid Workshop with Hula Seventy

Thanks to Stefi Renee for letting me try out her camera and for taking the top pic

Little K and I headed up to Teahouse Studio last weekend to take an instant photography class with Hula Seventy. I had vague fond memories of polaroid pictures from my childhood and it was fun to check out Andrea's collection of cameras. She kindly laid out photographs with each camera so that we could see what the results were:



I fell in love with the 250 Land Camera (the one on the far left above). The color photos were so vivid. The camera dates from the 60s and was surprisingly light. I've never had experience with the peel apart film before, so I got a kick out ripping it out of the camera, counting the right developing time and then peeling it apart:

Photo with the backing paper still on

The other side. I think you can do transfers with this side

We talked about leaving the film in and taking a second photo on top of the first one for a double exposure effect. I'll have to try that someday.

I also tried the SX-70 camera, which takes the more familiar white framed photos. Polaroid has stopped making the film. The Impossible Project took over the process and they are still improving their technique. You have to shield the photos when they pop out of the camera so they don't overexpose. The color still needs some tweaks. Here's the impossible film:

Black and white film on top and two colors

Here's the original Polaroid film:

Eye popping color!

We had a great time experimenting, meeting fun people and seeing their creativity in action. My digital camera habits are completely ill-suited for instant photography. I take a ton of photos in hopes that one will turn out well. In this case, the film is so expensive that you are really mindful of how you use it. I liked it. Sorta a Slow Photography Movement. The shutter and ejection sound on these cameras was so meaty. Loved it!

Fellow classmate, Leslie Lindell, created these fun frames so that we could play around with our composition:

Had a great time. Thanks to Andrea for a fun class and to Teahouse for providing this great opportunity.