Polaroid SX-70, Impossible Project films and sparking creativity
I’ve always loved the Polaroid SX-70 Land Camera and finally found one in great condition on eBay so bidded on it and won. I had been saving some Impossible Project Fade to Black Film 10/09 film just to use with this and did a personal project with it to see how it’d turn out. Of course with expermental film like Fade To Black you never know exactly what you’ll get and that’s half the fun.
One of the things I love about film was how you couldn’t chimp your screen right after and had to wait to see what you got exactly. Of course when you were on assignment and weren’t sure if you got the shot, it wasn’t so exciting in a positive way always. Well with the Impossible Project bringing back Polaroid I’ve found it to be a great source for creativity. Giving yourself assignments is easy when you have an 8-10 pack of film that you can use all in one day or weekend. I decided on something very Mr. Rogers-like and gave myself the assignment of “who are some of the people in your neighborhood” and went out and took their portraits. What follows is the results…
I asked each subject to give me one word or phrase that they could relate to starting with the first photo above: Breegan (pronounced BRE’-gun) – “adventure” – taken on Guerrero Street between 18th and 17th
Photo 7: Risa “Be One w/the Wobble” at the Dolores Park Slack Lines
About the Author: Gene X Hwang
