A Month in Polaroid: The August Break 2017 - Final Week

Can you believe that it's already September? August just flew by! To be honest, I'm glad it's the end of summer. August was far too hot and humid for my taste. Now, that the temperatues have dropped 10-15 degrees Celsius compated to last weekend, my energy is coming back and I got more done this weekend than on all the weekends of August put together. But I did finish this year's August Break, and here's the final days of my month in Polaroid:

It was fun to think about how to interpret the prompts and find something to photograph. Of course with Polaroid, it takes a bit more planning. But that's the charm of analogue photography. 

I also made a little Steller story of my Month in Polaroid. I think it used to be possible to include a Steller story directly on your blog, but it doesn't seem to be so anymore. That's a shame, but anyway, you can find it here, if you want to have a look: A Month in Polaroid 2017 on Steller.

A Month in Polaroid: The August Break 2017 - Week 3

Here's last week's photos for the August Break challenge, again, all taken with a Polaroid SX-70 Alpha 1 and a Polaroid SLR 680.

A month in Polaroid: The August Break 2017 - Week 2

Here's my second week of the August Break challenge. As last week, all the photos were taken with my two vintage 1970s Polaroid cameras, a SX-70 Alpha 1 and a SLR 680. If you'd like to see the prompts for the challenge, and these photos, you can find them here.

A month in Polaroid: The August Break 2017 - Week 1

I've been away from my blog for a bit, spending a lovely holiday in Dorset in July and then just taking it a bit slow in the summer heat. But for August, I've taken my Polaroid cameras out of the cupboard, where they have been sitting, unused, for far too long, to take part in the The August Break challenge. Some of the prompts are quite challenging, and not made easier by using Polaroid cameras, but it's good to get thinking, trying to get the right photo for it, and get the photo right.

So here's my first week. I've used my two favourite cameras for this, the SX-70 Alpha 1 and the SLR 680.Y ou can find the prompts here.

April weather and some Magnolia polaroids

April is showing itself from its best side. Some sunny days with temperatures up to 20 degrees last week made all the trees burst into bloom. All kinds of trees laden with white and pink blossoms, such a joy to see. A solid downpour of various degrees all Saturday took down a great deal of the delicate blossom leaves, and for the last two days, temperatures dropped and we've had two mornings of snow, and more frost is threatening to kill off the apple blossoms. And today there's a strong wind that will make the remaining blossoms fly through the air. April, April, let's just hope you won't take this weather too far into May.

Polaroid SX-70 Alpha 1

I took these photos earlier in April. There's a beautiful big old magnolia tree down my street, and every year, I'm looking forward to see it bloom, hoping that the weather will hold long enough. This year, it did, and I took my whole arsenal of cameras to take photos of it, my Canon DSLR,  Nikon SLR, and three different Polaroid cameras.

Polaroid SX-70 Alpha 1

I haven't used the Polaroids since autumn and they all had only two or three photos left in them. Like food, film has a use by date, and letting them sit in the cameras for so long can give some funny effects. And each camera has its own characteristics too.

Polaroid SLR 680

I'm still waiting for the film in my Nikon AF to get full and have it developed. Being used to being able to snap 500 photos a day if I wanted to with my DSLR, I thought that having only 36 photos in a film might prove a real challenge when I started using the Nikon earlier this year. But it seems to take forever to fill that film. And 36 photos is still a whole lot more than the 8 in a Polaroid film.

Polaroid Image Pro

I'm looking forward to using my Polaroid cameras more often again once the weather turns warmer and less wet again. And I'm already racking my brain about which analogue camera to take with me on my holiday in June.

Good Bye 2015

2015 hasn't been the most exciting year, still a lot of things that I would have liked to change this year, are the same as 12 months ago. But it hasn't been a bad year either. No illness, no misfortunes or bad surprises. The one or other serioush health issue within the family, but everyone is still alive and doing well. 

It's always easy to only focus on the things one didn't achieve and that didn't work out, and to ignore the ones one has accomplished, and the good things that happen. So here's a few good things to remember (in no particular order).

• I finally managed not to kill every orchid that entered my home. I've tried again and again over the years, but they never survived for long. This year, all of my three orchid have not only survived, but are thriving and flowering, and continuously producing new flowers.

• I wrote 85 blogposts, which is almost 2.5 times more than last year 

• I started a (more or less) regular meditation and yoga practice, and am trying to live more mindfully

• I read 33 1/2 books, among them Gombrich's The Story of Art, a book I have been wanting to read for years and years

• I spent more time in the studio, worked through an online course and even got my art journal out again

• I celebrated my 5th blog anniversary

• I discovered instant photography and aquired a little family of vintage Polaroid cameras

• I started to write in my journal regularly, and started a daily journaling practice 3 months ago

• I met some pretty awesome people online, and even had coffee with one of them in person in West Bay, Dorset

• I finally made my own Christmas cards, including carving a stamp

• N and I spent some wonderful holidays together, inlcuding a 4 day trip to the Alsace and Southern Germany (at furnace like temperature) in summer, and some amazing day trips to Brownsea Island (and meeting lots of sweet red squirrels there), Charmouth Beach and some other plaes in Dorset in September

I might not have achieved everything that was on my "to do" list at the beginning of the year, but I'm sure there is lots more that could be added to this list and that I can't think of right now.

Good Bye 2015, all in all, you've been a pretty good year.

Happy New Year everyone!

Hope that 2015 has been good to you too, and that 2016 will be an amazing year for all of us!

A Dorset holiday in Polaroid

It's already over a month since I returned home from my holiday in beautiful Dorset. Where's the time going? Before I left, I was thinking about taking one of my Polaroid cameras along, but wasn't sure if it would be worth it. My trusted SX-70 Alpha 1 was the preferred candidate, but if it was going to be all grey and rainy, I wouldn't be able to get a decent shot. Well, I couldn't have been any more wrong about the weather. It was sunshine almost every day, and often actually almost too bright. I had ordered three b&w films to N's place before I left, so that I wouldn't have to carry them with me and get them damaged in the x-rays at the airport. But something was very strange with those three films. All of them showed strange spots and streaks appearing, and blown out areas at the bottom. I had taken lots of b&w photos the month before, same film, and they had all turned out well. I was beginning to worry that somehow my camera had taken damage during the trip, but when I put a colour film, that I had bought on our day trip to London, into the camera, I was glad to see that it definitely wasn't the camera. I don't know what was the problem with those films, whether they got some damage somewhere on the way from the factory, where just out of a bad badge, or if it was just too bright. I still treasure all of the photos I took, and I'm so glad that I carried the camera with me, along with my DSLR.

I have 30 photos from my holiday. Below you can see them all, wrapped into a story made with Steller.

Polaroid Autumn

I love autumn. All the beautiful colours, the cooler temperature, the longer nights. It seems I have missed most of its glory, though, as autumn seems to have arrived here much earlier than further north, while I was in England. But I still managed to capture some of it with my favourite Polaroid camera, my SX-70 Alpha 1.

A month in Polaroid: The August Break - The final week

The final week of the August Break, and the end of the challenge. I really enjoyed it, especially taking the photos with my vintage Polaroid cameras. And there was such a great bunch of people that took part, and shared their photos and stories in the Facebook group and on Instagram. I will definitely miss this community. I didn't take a photo each day, with the Polaroid cameras, that wouldn't have been possible. They need a bit more planning, so I took them when the conditions were right. I took each photo for each respective prompt, though.

I created a story of all of my photos on a new app that I just discovered. Well, it's probably not such a new app, but it's new to me. I love how you can turn your photos into little story books with it. I just wish there was a desktop version, having to do it all on your phone is quite time consuming. But fun too. And this will probably not be my last story.

A month in Polarid: The August Break - Week 3

The third week of The August Break, taken with a Polaroid SX-70, a SLR 680, and an Image Pro camera. I just love black and white film at the moment, as you can probably tell. And I had some great fun with the double exposure and timer settings on my Image Pro camera.

A month in Polaroid: The August Break 2015 - Week 2

Here's week two of my photos for The August Break 2015, taken with a Polaroid Automatic 100, a Polaroid SX-70, a Polaroid Image System and a Polaroid SLR 680.

A month in Polaroid: The August Break 2015 - Week 1

I started painting a bit last night, but I've only got as far as putting a first layer of the background down. Not much to share yet, in other words. So I have to give Paint Party Friday another miss, and am posting some more Polaroids again instead. It's still too hot to do much, really. This must be the longest and hottest summer in decades. It's quite usual that we get a few days with temperatures up to and over 30 degrees here, but it's been like this now since June, with only a few cooler days in between. I'm really getting tired this summer, and can't wait for it to end, so in order to take my mind off the heat, I've decided to do a little project of taking a photo for every day of the month. I have joined The August Break hosted by Susannah Conway. You get a prompt for every day, which you can follow, but you don't have to, and you can share your photos in a separate Facebook group and/or on Flickr. I've decided to use my various Polaroid cameras, which is a challenge at times, but I'm also learning a lot. So this is my first week of August in Polaroid (click on the link above to see all the prompts. I'm also posting them on Instagram, Flickr and FB).

Going backwards: the Polaroid Landcamera Automatic 100

My Polaroid adventure continues with yet another addition to the family. I started with a boxy plasic camera from the early 1990s, then came the classic SX-70s from the 1970s and a SLR 680 from the early 1980s. My latest camera is the oldest of them, a Polaroid Automatic 100 from 1963. And what a beauty it is! It has a lot more buttons and settings than the other ones, and you need to think about and remember a lot more things before you shoot. You can set the ISO according to the film you're using, to whetehr it is bright sunny or overcast day, what film you're using (colour or black and white). It also has not just one viewfinder but two. One for focusing, and one for composing your shot.

Unlike the other models, which all use the film that we all associate with Polaroid cameras, the one where the photograph comes out automatically when you release the shutter and immediately starts to develop, this one uses a so called peel apart film. After having taken your picture, you will have to pull the photograph out of the camera, let it develop for a certain time (according to the temperature), and then peel the top off to reveal the image. You actually not only get the developed image, but also the negative.

It is certainly a lot more fiddly than with the other, later cameras, and the chemicals tend to be still wet after you have peeled the photograph apart, so you have to be careful when you handle it. But the quality of the photographs is astonishing (I certainly never got such a blue sky with any of my other Polaroids!). I guess that has to do mostly with the film itself (these cameras work with Fujifilm FP-100C and FP-3000B), but the sharpness of the lens really is beautiful.

The first photographs. Not really very exciting subjects or compositions. I just wanted to try it out. And of course, my scanner couldn't handle the colours very well. Even worse than with the Impossible films.

I am finding it almost hard to believe that these were taken with a camera that it is over 50 years old. I guess that speaks for the quality of these old cameras (as indeed of the later models as well, even though you can't really compare the photographs). I'm looking forward to trying this camera out more.

Polaroid Summer

Summer captured with my Polaroid SLR 680 and Image Pro cameras during our staycation.

Cyan Polaroid summer shots

I had this Impossible Cyan 600 film that had been sitting in my fridge for a while, and I thought that our holiday was a good time to try it out and use it up. I was a bit sceptical about the film, and I must say, I'm not convinced. One thing that I found a bit strange was that it seemed quite impossible to get a sharp image with this film. And my Polaroid SLR 680 does take sharp images. It has to be said, though, that these scans don't do the actual images justice. While they aren't sharp, they are by no means as grainy as they appear here. And the contrasts are much stronger and the transitions much softer and smoother. Apparently, it was not only the camera, that struggled with the cyan, but also the scanner.

I still like these four images, though. A boat trip on the lake, a cool drink in the garden, and of the course, the two of us. And it does not happen very often that N agrees to have his picture taken. It was fun to try out this film, but I'm not going to buy it again. Actually, I prefer the simple films to all the fancy special edition that are available. Colour or black & white, and a simple white frame. The photographs have enough magic in themselves, they don't need any fancy shapes or colourful/patterend frames.

Planning and organising your blog posts

2014 has been a rubbish blogging year for me. Despite all my good intentions, ideas and plans in my head, the posts ended up few and scattered. And despite of all my good intentions, ideas and plans in my head, 2015 was precariously beginning to go the same way. The problem is that sometimes, all the good intentions, ideas and plans in your head just aren't enough. I'm great at making plans in my head, with the best intentions to put it all into practice. But unfortunately, I'm even better at procrastinating. In April I decided that I needed a proper plan if I wanted to turn things round and actually put my plans into action. I started my Blog Schedule. For me, putting things down on paper and ticking them off when they're done, is extremely helpful to actually getting them done.

I wanted to get into a regular blog schedule of three posts a week, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday, sharing both my photography and my drawing and painting. I'm using the free blog planners by Productive Flourishing, and they're working well for me. I'm using the Blog Post Planner, which allows me to order my planned posts into different categories, and the Blog Post Calendar, which gives me an overview over the entire month. I like my notebooks and journals, and I like writing by hand, so I print them out and glue them into my Blog Book. This way, I have everything in one place, and also enough space for extra notes. At the beginning of each month, I write down all the 'left over' post ideas from the previous months, as well as new planned posts into the categories pages and the  calendar, and add new ones, or more details, as I go along. For example, I write PPF down for every Friday of the month, because I want to post something for and link up to Paint Party Friday each week. This also helps me to actually sit down and paint something every week, because without painting, no post. I have not only become more productive blog posting wise, but also creatively. When a post is posted, I add the date in the categories planner, and tick them off in both.

I try to work ahead as much as possible, and I almost always use the Schedule option for publishing my posts after having finished writing them. This way, I don't have to think about it anymore, which is especially useful for when posts that aren't due to be publihsed until a week or two later. And I can also keep my regular schedule even when I'm at work. And thanks to my Blog Schedule, I know exactly what and when to post each blog post. My schedule has helped me to actually post three days a week in May, and to get painting each week, and I hope to keep it up.

If you're sometimes struggling a bit too, with getting your blog posts up more often and more regularly, I hope that you might find the information useful. Or maybe you have some good tips of what works for you?

Peonies. Polaroid SLR 680

A reunion in the city, a walk in the countryside and Summer of Colour

Last Sunday, I met up with some old friends here in Zürich. 14 years ago, we all studied together in Stockholm, and since we all live in different parts of Switzerland and Germany, we rarely see each other much. But when we do, it's all the more fun. We did a lot of walking that day, and lots of chatting too.

This past weekend, summer has arrived in these parts, it seems. The temperatures are rising, and it's already getting a bit too hot for me. So I'm even more grateful to have a forest not too far away to go for a walk in its cooling shade. I LOVE forests.

And the cows in the fields always make me happy, especially these here, that still have their proper horns.

I took the Image Pro and the SX-70 on my walk, and I find it fascinating, how differently the images turn out. Each camera has it's own character and personality, making the photos unique to that particular camera.

And I finally got to try out the double exposure function on the Image Pro. I'll definitely have to explore that option more.

This week now is the first week of Summer of Colour, a six week blog party with weekly colour prompts, hosted by Kristin from Twinkle, Twinkle. I did it two years ago, and enjoyed it immensly. Last year, I didn't finish it, but I hope to do so and play along each week. It isn't a painting challenge, you can use whatever medium and technique you like. Click on the button below for full details. For me it'll definitely be paints, most likely watercolour.

On my wish list: a SLR 680

I had the opportunity to try out a Polaroid SLR 680 camera for a few days. The SLR 680 is sort of the successor of the SX-70, a foldable single reflex camera with sonar autofocus. I always think that that sonar autofocus system, some sort of soundwaves, sounds (and looks) a bit weird. Like something from a science fiction novel or a submarine. My two Image cameras also have sonar autofocus, and I must say, that it works very well. But as to SLR cameras, the SX-70 seemed the one to go for. The real thing. Now I love my SX-70, and when you get the focus right, the photos are brilliant. But depending on the subject, the focusing with that small viewfinder can be rather tricky, and since I'm shortsighted, I don't really trust that what looks in focus to me, really is so in reality. And then I tried out a SLR 680, and wow, how cool's that! Unlike my Image cameras, where you just know that the focus is in the centre of the viewfinder, and you focus and compose your image accordingly, with the SLR 680, since it is a single reflex camera, when you push the shutter button halfway down to focus, you see the actual image in the viewfinder, which allows you to have much more control over your focus and composition.

There are some issues with this particular camera that I don't like. For one thing, it doesn't close properly on one side when folded, which results in the lens making a whirring noise almost every time you move the camera. It is not only a rather annoying sound, but I also guess that it means that the batteries get drained quicker. Also, there are some undevelopped patches appearing at the top of each image, and the overall exposure seems uneven, with the bottom being much too light. But at the top, where it is right, the contrast and exposure are wonderful, and the detail and sharpness are just brilliant. I'm afraid I'm sending this baby back, however.

But a SLR 680 camera is definitely on my wish list.

The sweet bliss of getting a sharp image, and two new cameras to play with

I'm still learning how to take photographs with my new SX-70. It's not as easy and straightforward as with the later autofocus cameras, and every photo that turns out properly focused and sharp just makes me insanely happy. Because you have so much less control of the outcome than with a digital camera, getting it right is somehow so much more satisfying.

Yes, I admit, I might be getting a bit obsessed with these old instant cameras. I just bought another not one, but two cameras. Well, they came as package of two, looked good and were reasonably priced. One's a Polaroid Image System, the other a Polaroid Image Pro. They're quite similar but the Pro has a flashy LED display and some extra features in addition, such as the option of multiple exposure, which I'm quite excited to try out. I only had one Image/Spectra film to try at the beginning of the weekend, so I decided to try out the Image System first. The Image/Spectra films used for this camera have a different image format, not the traditional square, but a rectangular format of 9.2x7.3cm. It also has an electronic display in the viewfinder, which gives you green light if your photo is going to be good, or a warning if it isn't so that you can recompose it.

16/05/2015 - The Old Apple Tree

After the first couple of photos I noticed that the frog tongue was a little bit creased at the edges, which leads to those two light stripes at the edges, where the photo is exposed to too much light when ejected. I plan to eventually replace the frog tongue, but for the moment I found an easy solution to the problem in one of the discussions on Flickr. When you take the photo, instead of releasing the shutter button immediately, keep it pressed down. As long as you don't release it, the photo won't be rejected. (This actually also comes in handy when wanting to take a double exposure with this camera, but more on that when I've tried it out). I took a dark canvas tote with me, sticking the whole camera into it before releasing the button so that the photo is ejected straight into the bag and not exposed to any light at all. And that did the trick beautifully. The stripes are as good as gone or only faintly visible.

16/05/2015 - Garden Corner

Yesterday, two more packs of Image/Spectra films arrived in the post, and I could finally try out the Image Pro. The frog tongue works perfectly here. I just need to read up a bit more about its functions and how to set all the settings on the LED display. It does feel almost modern, compated to the all manual SX-70 and the simple switches of the Image System.

Learning the SX-70, and a walk in the forest

I'm slowly, very slowly, learning how to use my new Polaroid SX-70. It's not easy, and I still get it wrong most of the time. This one's definitely a lot more  temperamental than the plastic box, my 600 type Polaroid. So I'm even more excited about every photo that turns out reasonably okay, which at the moment is about every one in four or five. I hope to get the hang of it soon, or else it's going to be very expensive. I'm taking photos in all kinds of different situations and taking notes of what worked and what didn't to find out what works best.

I also find it quite difficult to scan them. The colours just don't turn out quite right. They do look much better in reality.

On Sunday, I went for a long walk in the forest with my Mum. I took the SX-70 too, and I've learnt that the forest is not the best place for it. Maybe it was too dark, even though it was a sunny (and hot) day. Or maybe the contrast was too strong in the midday sun. Also, I find it very difficult sometimes to focus. Not only because it can be very tricky to get it right with the split focus circle, but also because I find it difficult to keep the camera still enough. Which is actually one of the reasons I'm embracing instant photography so much the moment. To help me become more mindful, focused, calm. Something I've been working on for a while now. But I'll write more about that some other time.

While my Mum walked through the forest at a brisk pace, thanks to her walking sticks, I was constantly either lagging way behind while taking photos with up to three different cameras (though mostly my DSLR), or trying to catch up at an even brisker pace while carrying a heavy camera bag over my shoulder. And most of the way was going slightly uphill, may I add.

But I'm glad I brought my DSLR. It was a lovely walk (even though I was exhausted afterwards) and I enjoyed taking photos in this beautiful forest. For the past ten years, it has been allowed to grow back into a natural forest, with next to no intervention, except when trees have fallen over the pathes. And even then, only the bits that block the path are cut off. Everything else is left to nature. It's a truly magical place.

Well, we might not have carpets of bluebells in our woods, but the forest was full of wild garlic, and it looked and smelled beautiful.