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This blog is intended to showcase my pictures or those of other photographers who have moved beyond the pretty picture and for whom photography is more than entertainment - photography that aims at being true, not at being beautiful because what is true is most often beautiful..

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Entries in polamatic (8)

Tuesday
May262015

civilized ku # 2903 / Polamatic # 12-15 ~ old blue eyes / he did it his way

NYC ~ pastry and a cigaretteNYC ~ Wall Street neighborhood /eating dinnerNYC ~ cheeseNYC ~ Flatiron buildingNYC ~ lower Manhatten from Govenors Island

When in NYC, one expects to see some strange and unusual things. However, I can not remember ever seeing anything as strange the picture of Frank Sinatra we saw hanging in a pastry shop / eatery.

IMO, that's one seriously weird / almost surreal picture.

FYI, I am still in NYC and am posting Polamatic pictures because I have arrived at a point where I have decided that, in addition to my normal / "serious" picture making when traveling, I will make pictures with the iPhone Polamatic app because - despite my eye for exquisite seeing and the arranging of elements on the 2D surface of a print - they look like typical tourist travel pictures. While this picture making M.O. is not the next thing, it will, in fact, constitute the beginnings of a new thing / body of work.

And, BTW, after I return home on Wednesday I will set about processing - and subsequently posting - my "serious" pictures made during my NYC visit.
Sunday
May242015

Polamatic # 8-11 ~ we're all here because we're not all there

NYC ~ Sophie's (bar) • East VillageNYC ~ E4th window view / treeNYC ~ cactusNYC ~ kitchen trashSaturday night and Sunday morning in NYC. More Sunday + Monday and Tuesday to follow.

Sunday
May102015

Polamatic # 7 / Wood Camera # 5 ~ 2 views - Spring in New Hampshire

Sunday AM, heading home.

Thursday
Apr302015

oddly exalted # 3 / Polamatic # 6 / Wood Camera # 4 ~ tchotchke

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tchotchke ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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speaker top tchotchke / Polamatic app ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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speaker top tchotchke / Wood Camera app ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

As I continue to play with various camera and developer effects apps for the iPhone, it has occurred to me that, sooner rather than later, there will be a considerable number of iPhone derived pictures culled from which a book will emerge.

That book, in keeping with my picture making life long belief that Polaroid prints are little joys and should be seen as such, will be a small format book. And as I make display prints, those too will be kept small. All because, to my eye and sensibilities, the small thing seems to create a visual impression which I can only describe as "precious".

And speaking of small, it has come to my attention that Polaroid (the real Polaroid) offers a digital instant print printer, the Polaroid ZIP Instant Mobile Printer. The printer fits in the palm of your hand and it spits out, directly from a mobile phone or table, little 2×3" prints with a smudge-proof protective polymer overcoat (and a sticky back for extra fun!!!).

And, just like the original Polaroid film, the paper, ZINK (zero ink), has the heat activated color dye crystals embedded in the paper. No inks to replace is a most definite plus. The paper is available in 10 sheet packs at the modest cost of $.50 a sheet.

Needless to write, my wanter is in overdrive and I just might have one of these printers by this time tomorrow.

Monday
Apr272015

manipulated Polamatic Polaroid # 4

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Polamatic Polaroid • click to embiggen

I'm curious. Is anyone else out there making cell phone pictures, screwing around wise? If so, can I/we see them?
Saturday
Apr252015

screwing around in a hotel ~ getting up to pee and a great Japanese meal

In Albany for the weekend and haven't made any "serious" pictures but I have been screwing around nevertheless.

Top 2 pictures are Polamatic Polaroids - very early morning light (had to get up to pee - one of the "advantages", picture making wise, of getting older) and Chicken and Shrimp Teriyaki, haute cuisine style.

Bottom 2 are Wood Camera (app) pictures - using the nearly infinitely variable lens tilt adjustment - and should be self-explanatory.
Sunday
Apr192015

Eggleston-ish Trek / Polamatic # 3 ~ do I hear $578,500.00?

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imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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manipulated polamatic ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Just in case anyone has not figured it out, I'm spending some picture making time just screwing around, just for the pure enjoyment of it all.

My bicycle - not tricycle - Eggleston-esque picture sorta came outa nowhere this AM when I looked out of the back door at the driveway and saw Hugo's old patina-ed bicycle laying in the rain. Eggleston's Tricycle* (his picture plus a good read about it) came immediately to mind and I was off and running, singing and picturing in the rain .....

.... moved bike to front sidewalk, propped it up with a monopod (later removed in Photoshop), balanced the camera on an inverted cereal bowl, used the articulated LCD screen so I wouldn't have to lie on the wet ground, and snapped some pictures.

I would highly recommend just screwing around to one and all. I am enjoying the hell out of it and, in my case, it's provoking some thoughts on the answer to my "what's next" question to self. I am most definitely in still life / constructed picture frame of mind.

*recently sold for $578,500.00US. I'd let mine go for half that.
Thursday
Apr162015

polamatic # 1 ~ me and my shadow

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manipulated Polamatic ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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glass table top ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen
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Hipstamatic + Grungy ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggen

Another day, more monkeying around. Today's discovery is the camera app Polamatic which does a pretty decent job of replicating the look of Polaroid film. The app has quite a few processing options to get just the look you want.

I made a few pictures with the camera app and sent them to my desktop machine where I figured out a way to manipulate the images - ideal if you use a tablet+stylus - to give them a look that is close to the manipulated film version of doing so. Because the manipulation is done by hand - stylus or mouse - the mechanics of the manipulation is very similar to doing it the old fashion analog way. That is especially true if you use a stylus/tablet combo.

My process for the manipulation technique is not quite refined as I would like it to be of yet. I'll keep hammering away until I think I get it right on.

FYI, after snapping the shutter release on the Polamatic camera, the app takes a second or two to process the picture. When the picture is ready, it slides on the iPhone screen from the top, accompanied by the ejection / whirling sound of the original Polaroid camera. Very cute.