Serious Polaroid

<p>OK. So I usually do film (standard rangefinder) but nowadays workshops tell me that they cannot accommodate, or they will not schedule the workshop to work around, the slower pace of film photographers. <br>

I really do not want to do digital, so Polaroid came to mind! The question is, I need to get inspired and see what is out there.<br>

Can someone please recommend photographers (street, documentary) who work with Polaroid? Where should I start reading to find and decide on a good quality picture? I like the combination of sharp and dreamy, or dreamy but reliable. </p>

<p>Many thanks </p>

 

A couple of folks I follow on Facebook are using

Mamiya rangefinders with Polaroid backs.

 

And a few are using the Fuji Instax cameras,

which are reasonably priced and readily

available.

 

Check out Steve and Erin at Makeshift Photography

- http://makeshiftphoto.com/

 

 

 

And Phil Kneen:

http://philkneen.wordpress.com/

Oops, to clarify, I meant Mamiya Universal press

cameras with rangefinders, not the Mamiya 6 or 7

rangefinder.

<p>The slower pace of film photographers? Your smaller gear does give you some advantages. If experience shows you can keep up with the DSLR backpack crowd and you don't mind not having 2000 frames a days, I think your answer is "It's my money and I'll manage to keep up." Unless toting an Instax camera is your way of saying "pbbbbbbbth," in which case I'd definitely go with a two-body kit of the 210 with the wide film and the Mini 8 in pink.</p>

<p>Search on <em>Polaroid</em> in Flickr.</p>

<p>Here's are the Polaroid groups in FLickr.<br>

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?w=all&q=polaroid">https://www.flickr.com/search/groups/?w=all&q=polaroid</a></p>

The time problem for workshops isn't on the shutter snapping side, it's getting the film processed, edited, and if necessary

for presentation, scanned.

 

It's the primary reason digital as all but in a very few cases become obsolete for commercial photography. Time is money.

BTW, JD, you might consider instead workshops or

photo walks with folks who embrace film. Check

out Eric Kim and John Free.

 

The tricky bit will be providing access to a well

organized darkroom. But I know from my newspaper

experience that it's possible to process and

print passable b&w photos relatively quickly,

enough to have work prints available for

critiques the same day.

 

An alternative would be to hire a darkroom wizard

for the workshop to handle all the processing and

printing for the attendees.

 

Just depends on how much the organizers and

participants are willing to spend.

<p>Thank you for your responses. Frankly the workshop is organized by prestigious photographers have done a lot of film work, even recently. It is just that reality is digital is faster to process and the workshop takes place over 3 days only. <br>

So my question is really: any famous/notable/serious photographers, particularly documentary or street, have done work with Polaroid? any recommendations about good polaroid cameras? <br>

I applied for the workshop and I plan to go if they accept. </p>

<p> </p>

<p>You could get one of the higher end Polaroid pack film cameras at a reasonable price or even a converted 110a/b if you have the money. Or if money is no issue, and you want to use the camera you get for both film and instant pictures, How about a speed graffix or <strong id="yui_3_10_0_1_1424727850524_1249">Polaroid</strong> 600se</p>

<p>I don't think Polaroid is the going to work for this. One of the standard practices in a workshop is to review the work shot by the students. Back in the day, this meant looking at prints or projecting slides, either of which could be done overnight. Today, it's often by projecting the digital images or at least looking at them on large monitor. The workshop is not going to be set up to scan in your Polaroids to do this, and passing around 3x4 prints might or might not be welcome.<br /><br />Other issue is that Polaroid film, to the extent that it is even still available, is sort of an animal unto itself. The look is different than regular film or digital, and the equipment/lens choices are more limited. You would likely be in a class where most people have a DSLR and a full range of lenses, and you're the one person with a 1970s camera with a lens or two. Not that you can't take good pictures with that, but you could be significantly out of step with what everyone else is doing. Not to mention that Polaroid film isn't cheap.<br /><br />One obvious option is to take the plunge into digital. But there's a learning curve and doing that in a hurry just for the sake of this workshop might not be the best either. My advice would be to drop this workshop and find a workshop where film is welcome.</p>

<p>Didn't Ansel Adams have a polaroid period in his many years in the business/art/craft?</p>

<p>Ansel Adams did indeed have a Polaroid period. He even published a book "Polaroid Land Photography" in 1978. I attended his five day Yosemite Workshop in 1979, and, as I remember, everyone worked with either 4x5 view cameras and/or 35mm SLR's (I used both). The only way that we shared and critiqued photos was by mail after the workshop was over. A few Polaroids would have been useful, and digital even more useful for quick feedback. Still, the experience of tromping through Yosemite back-country with cameras and seeing how masters, such as John Sexton, etc., worked has left a life long impression. Ansel made appearances, but he was recovering from bypass surgery and could not actively participate. I don't know how it is now days, but back then the Yosemite Workshop was not a workshop for the sedentary photographer.</p>