Polaroid/Impossible

A lot of people ask me “Frank how can I improve my photography quickly?”
I could of course tell you to study as hard as you can, join sites like www.kelbytraining.com check out the masters like Dean Collins and buy all my instructional videos and book my workshops, but……. Let’s be honest when you only sit down and watch and maybe shoot a bit during a workshop it’s a great way to learn but there’s also another way which is probably just as much fun and will without a doubt boost your level another notch.

You’ve already read me writing about old lenses and old cameras, and this post has the title Polaroid/Impossible so I guess you see it coming 😀 and indeed the tip for today is very simple.

Go on E-bay and hunt for a Polaroid camera, for example the SX70, most of the times you will score one well below 100 bucks. Now get some film from the Impossible project and start shooting.

There are a few different reasons why your photography will benefit from this.

1. Every shot counts
   With the pricing of the film you are forced to not “spray and pray” it’s just too expensive to do that.
2. There is no feedback, but there is
   You won’t see anything in the camera that will help you, the settings are incredibly basic and the AF in these cameras is more in the range off “Ok I will try but don’t be angry if I screw up, which I will probably do but is also my charm” the good thing is that you immediately see what you get and learn what you did wrong.
3. Become a stronger story teller
   With polaroid and all other basic photography solutions you will very quickly learn that there is nothing to hide you behind, if your composition, story etc. is not strong you will end up with a bad looking image, however if everything works the look of the film will actually lift your photography to art.

Now Frank why not just use digital to learn this?
Well you could, but I found out that when shooting a Polaroid camera you will get used to working with a bad viewfinder, a “stiff” camera, but instant feedback on what you did right or wrong, this is a great learning tool.

And let’s be honest the look of the Polaroid and the modern Impossible project film is just plain awesome.

Ok Frank if you love that look so much why not do it digital?
Pfffffffff
ok let me explain… no better ….. get the camera and start shooting and very soon you will find out that something’s can be achieved digitally but the pure randomness of results/looks I get from using the real deal makes shooting it a real challenge and forces me to do the best I can on every shot, if I do it in post I can look for the effect that makes my image look good… and that…. Boys and girls takes away from the learning process I think 😀

Feel free to share your polaroid images and stories.

Impossible color shot with SX70

FujiFilm Instant RZ67 ProII

FujiFilm Instant RZ67 ProII

Impossible Blue shot with RZ67ProII