Light Leaks Magazine
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Light Leaks Magazine
Light Leaks Issue 11 L o w F i d e l i t y P h o t o g r a p h y Special Issue : polaroid Interview: Joachim Knill Emulsion Lifts It’s Hip to Be Square! Gallery POLAROID Film Manipulation Subscribe to Light Leaks ! 1 YEAR (4 issues) 2 YEARS (8 issues) $39.99 $69.99 33% OFF COVER PRICE 42% OFF COVER PRICE Pricing in U.S. dollars, not including shipping. SUBSCRIBE ONLINE AT: www.lightleaks.org/subscribe Contact us at [email protected] for more payment options on shelves: *NEW: Freestyle Photographic Supplies 5124 Sunset Blvd. Hollywood, CA, USA *NEW: Street Level Expresso 714 FORT STREET, VICTORIA, BC, CANADA Jack’s Camera 2090 N DECATUR ROAD, GA, USA Glazer’s Camera 430 8TH AVENUE NORTH, SEATTLE, WA The Photographers’ Gallery Bookshop 5 & 8 GREAT NEWPORT STREET, LONDON, UK Vancouver Art Gallery (Gallery Store) 750 HORNBY STREET, VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA and at Lomography stores worldwide: BARCELONA, HONG KONG, BEIJING, PARIS, SEOUL collect them all! back issues available: www.lightleaks.org/backissues Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks L o w F i d e l i t y P h o t o g r a p h y Publisher | Rachel Morris (Light Leaks Press) Supervising Editor | Steph Parke Issue 11 Contents Operations Manager | Michael Barnes 3 The First Word By Steph Parke Gallery Photo Editor | Aline Smithson Editors | Janet Penny, Mr. E. Cipher 4 Interview Would You Like To Supersize That? Joachim Knill Interview Contributing Writers | Steph Parke, Jay Heuman, Aline Smithson, Kevin Pointer, Wallace Billingham, By Jay Heuman Sean Rohde, C. Gary Moyer 14 Gallery Design and Production | Michael Barnes Polaroid: Your Last Best Shot Photo Editor, Aline Smithson E-mail: [email protected] 36 DIY Web site: www.lightleaks.org Polaroid Emulsion Lifts Fax: 1-866-220-0480 By Kevin Pointer 40 Field Stories Printed in Canada The Grand Illusion by The Lowe-Martin Group By Wallace Billingham www.lmgroup.com 42 Showcase Sean Tubridy © Light Leaks Press ISSN # 1911-429X 46 Showcase Grant Hamilton 50 Feature It’s Hip to Be Square! By Sean Rohde 54 DIY SX-70 and Film Manipulation By C. Gary Moyer 56 COMING UP ISSUE 12 SNEAK PEEK Cover Photo By Derek Vincent Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine The First Word I By Steph Parke t’s no secret that I love Polaroid. If you’ve seen the last couple of issues, the photos I’ve included here have been Polaroids, and if you’ve taken a look at my Flickr photostream lately, you’ll find it virtually inundated with ‘Roids. I’ve got a sick addiction, a frenzied fascination. I made a Polaroid wall in my house, in my heart. I look almost daily on Ebay and Craigslist for SX-70s. The clomp/whir noise from my SLR 680 and SX-70s plays in my head like a song. My poor husband’s even got the sound memorized, and can imitate it quite well. And you should see my refrigerator. Oh boy. The idea to do an all-Polaroid issue came to me in the middle of the night, as most crazy ideas do, and after a period of quizzing the locals (you fine folks) we decided to go forward with it at your behest, and we hope you like what you see. Inside, you’ll find Jay Heuman’s interview with Joachim Knill, and Joachim’s larger-than-life Polaroids; Sean “it’s hip to be square” Rohde’s type 80 series article, Kevin Pointer’s ditty on emulsion lifts, and Wally’s rock star night with Styx. And speaking of rock stars, our Showcase artists this issue are Grant Hamilton and Sean Polaroid truly is a magical medium, and one that will be sorely missed not only by the art community, but also by the general public. Everyone knows Polaroid! While Fuji continues to make instant peel-apart film (thank you Fuji!), it is my dream that some knight in shining emulsion will swoop in and save integral 600. As evidenced by the amount in my fridge door and crisper, that’s clearly my favorite film, and one that I can’t imagine living without. Sometimes I think about what I’ll Tubridy, two creative and fun-loving Polaroid do with my last pack and then get sad and baffled and move on to other thoughts, photogs. Of course, you’ll also find “Your Last but I wonder if I’ll just shoot it like it’s any other pack, or if I’ll hang on to it for Best Shot” gallery stuffed with instant goodness. a few more years. I might use it for portraits of family and friends, mementos of This gallery theme drew more submissions days gone by. I might just keep it in the fridge and let it live there. I’m sure I’m not than we’ve ever had, so thank you to all who alone in this. All you Polaroid lovers out there, what are you going to use your last submitted! pack for? Whatever it may be, I hope it’s something special. Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid Interview WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUPERSIZE THAT? JOACHIM KNILL TALKS ABOUT LARGE FORMAT POLAROIDS, MIXING MEDIA … AND MORE! Questions by Jay Heuman Answers and Images by Joachim Knill Jay Heuman: To design and build the world’s largest Polaroid camera, that produces 20 x 30 inch prints, is quite remarkable. What about Polaroid technology inspires you? Joachim Knill: It started out with just liking the painterly Technicolor-like look of Polaroid film. Then, in art school, we had the 20 x 24 Polaroid camera housed there. I never actually used the camera there, but loved almost anything that was produced with it because of that same look, combined with the sheer size and incredible resolution that rendered the images as something else than a photograph—images so sharp that they appeared almost beyond real. Later, I was working on 4 x 5 Polaroid transfers printed from slides of trees and quickly found Photo by Elsa Dorfman them to be too small. It was then that I decided to build my own large format Polaroid to produce huge transfers. As I finished my camera, my work changed; I never actually did those large transfers of trees. I really liked the process of being able to set up a scene and immediately get a result, thus having the whole image-making process take place in the studio with instant feedback between the set building and the imaging process. I also treasure the concept of creating a photograph which has been exposed with the actual light emitted by the subject. It’s like the Polaroid is the actual witness of the scene it depicts, rather than other photography where the print is exposed with light from an enlarger light bulb. Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Liberty Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid Gallery Gallery Editor, Aline Smithson polaroid A your last best shot few months ago, when this issue was planned, the future of Polaroid film looked pretty dark and dismal. I won’t say that the sun is shining again, but attempts are being made to bring back certain films and other manufacturers are entering the market, and that’s a good thing. That being said, it was a cloudless day in terms of submissions. In fact, it’s the most we’ve ever received, and unfortunately, way more than we can fit on to these pages. Bravo to everyone for such interesting and varied work and thank you for taking the time to submit. On another note, I was standing at the newsstand the other day, and I couldn’t find one photography magazine that made me want to part with my money. So many great fine art photography magazines have closed up shop and disappeared. Please know that Light Leaks is a labor of love and the only way it stays afloat is by your subscriptions. If you don’t have one, get one. Or two. And finally, when you submit an image, make sure it’s nice and clean, sized properly, and well scanned. We lose some great images to “spotty” submissions! 14 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine St James Bathing Houses, Eldore’ Wood, El Dorado Hills, CA, USA Hyperion Bridge with Lamp, Ann Mitchell, Burbank, CA,USA [email protected], Polaroid SX 70 Land Camera www.ann-mitchell.com, Vintage Speed Graphic Untitled, Luis Prieto, Rome, Italy, www.luisprieto.com My First Polaroid Emulsion Lift, Balazs Sprenc, Taksony, Hungary Hand-made pinhole Polaroid camera www.lostinpixels.hu. Holga GCFN + Polaroid back + expired Polaroid 88 film Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid 15 Ride the Lightning, Nathan Higgins, Penarth, Vale of City of Glass, Chris A. Fraser, Vancouver, BC, Canada Glamorgan, UK, [email protected] [email protected], Polaroid OneStep 600 Polaroid 2000 Land Camera 16 Marvão, Tiago Luís, Lisboa, Portugal Snow in Paris, Albin Brassart, Paris, France, [email protected] www.flickr.com/photos/b1p0l2r, Polaroid 636 Polaroïd SX-70 Land Camera Model 2 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Blue, Alison Garnett, Toronto, ON, Canada, www.mylalaland.com, Polaroid SX-70 26 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine ***, Alexey Kurbatov, Vologda, Russia http://www.flickr.com/photos/_grizzly_/ I Dreamt of Wolves, Jenny Coffman, Canton, OH, USA Polaroid 680, Polaroid 780 Film http://www.ghostsinthemachine.org, Polaroid Land Automatic 104 Bec, Daniel Nevin, Perth, Australia Empty Nest, Rebecca Pendel, Farrell, PA, USA [email protected], Polaroid One Step, Time Zero film http://rebecca.my-expressions.com/, SX-70 Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid 27 Demolition Derby, Hell Yeah!, Amanda Moore, Polaroid SLR 680, 600 Film Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid 31 Emulsion Lifts A By Kevin Pointer n emulsion lift is the process of separating the image emulsion from certain Polaroid peelapart films by soaking the film in hot water and then transferring it to another substrate. Emulsion lifts are usually done with Polaroid color films (Types 669, 59, 559, and 809) but can also be done with black and white films (Types 664, 54, 554, and 804). Black and white emulsion lifts require the use of boiling water. I usually make my lifts onto watercolor paper, but a variety of substrates can be used such as canvas, wood or glass. The Process The print must be dry before trying to lift. Drying can be helped along with a blow dryer but it is best to let prints dry overnight. Older prints work fine, though they may need to soak for a longer period of time to separate the emulsion. I’ve successfully lifted ten-year-old prints. Cover the back of the print with contact paper to keep the paper backing from disintegrating in the water. Cut off the white edges of the print, or leave them on to have a translucent border around the image. Set up two trays, one with at least 160°F water and the second with room temperature water. Soak your receptor paper in the room temperature water for a minute, then move to a flat surface and squeegee off excess water. 36 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Field Stories By Wallace Billingham The Grand Illusion STYX IN CONCERT AS SEEN BY A POLAROID W hen the news broke in February of 2008 that with the guys and listening to the music of Pink Floyd, Kansas, Kiss, the once great Polaroid Corporation would no REO and, perhaps my favorite band of all time, Styx. Somewhere longer be making instant film, it hit me with packed away in a box in my attic, I have a large collection of funny great sadness. While I hadn’t really shot with a Polaroid for quite square pictures from that era. You could not really call them art some time, it took me back to the good old days of the 1970s and but they stand as a record of my life at the time. Wherever I went, 1980s, when I shot many hundreds of Polaroids while hanging out my Polaroid went with me, and funny square pictures were sure to with my friends. There was just something magical about the film follow. popping out of the camera and then watching it develop before For this very special all Polaroid issue of Light Leaks I wanted to your eyes. do something really special. I wanted to have one last hurrah that As a geeky, zit-faced, long haired boy from South Baltimore, would be a bridge in time and take me back to the days when I hung Maryland, I could always find refuge from the world by hanging out with Mike, Tommy, Joe, Jamie and Kellee. Light Leaks Magazine Issue 11, Polaroid 39 42 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Clown Stripes 46 Black Yellow Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Feature ’ It’s hip to be square! By Sean Rohde I t’s a sad fact, but Polaroid is on its way out. But this My Square Shooter, modified with a Colorpack II front so it can use all isn’t the first time the company has discontinued a Type 80 formats. line of instant films. The last roll film (Type 40) was produced around 2001. There was an earlier, smaller roll film format (Type 20) that disappeared in the early 1970s. Most recently (aside from “the end of Polaroid”) was the discontinuation of all Type 80 pack films in 2006. Type 80s Type 84 - 100 ISO, black and white Type 80s are square-format Polaroids, or almost square at 2-3/4” x 2-7/8”. Introduced in the early 1970s, Type 80s Type 85 - 80 ISO, with print and negative were touted as a cheaper format than previous films, Type 87 - 3000 ISO , black and white including the 100 series of film, which are designed with Type 88 - 70 ISO, color the same style pack as Type 80s but are rectangles at Type 89 - 125 ISO, color 2 7/8” x 3 3/4”. Viva (non-U.S. market only) - 80 ISO, color Along with the film, the second series of hard case Viva (non-U.S. market only) - 3000 ISO, black and white cameras were introduced (the first being for Type 20 roll Type 80 Chocolate, sepia film). Previous cameras were all folders with bellows. These new cameras were cheap, around $19.99, and were marketed as such to appeal to a wider market. Soon to follow were cheaper hard case Type 100 cameras. The first Type 80 camera was aptly named the “Square Shooter”. 50 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Chocolate is currently available from Unsaleable and is a mix of color and black-and-white chemistry. Choco Canyon Choco Hut Type 85 produces both a print and a high-quality negative. Wilma Print Light Leaks Magazine Wilma Negative Issue 11, Polaroid 51 DIY POLAROID SX-70 Time Zero and Artistic TZ Film Manipulation By C. Gary Moyer Turning SX-70, Time Zero, or Artistic Time Zero film into a mini impressionistic piece of art is an easy process with a few tools, patience and practice. You will need a Polaroid camera that accepts these types of film; I personally use an original SX-70 camera. A quick Google search will show you how to use other Polaroid cameras with some modification. What is cool about using the SX-70 camera is the fact that it is an SLR model, which means that what you see through the camera viewfinder is what shows up on the film. Note: when freezing photos, place them in a plastic bag first. I like to shoot subjects that I think will look good as paintings. When removing the photos, For me that’s usually vintage cars, but really anything goes. It’s a allow them to warm to room matter of taste. I usually shoot a few different angles and check to temperature before taking them see if I am happy with my final photos. If they look good, I move on to the manipulation process. out of the bag. Since Time Zero film is no longer made, expired When I use original Time Zero film, I can start the manipulation film may act differently than process almost immediately after taking the shot. If using the described in this article. Trial newer Artistic TZ film, I will wait about an hour before starting. and error is necessary to see Each film can be manipulated up to a few hours after exposing or what your results will be like. even longer if you freeze your photos. As soon as a photo is ready for manipulation, I set up my work area and heat the Polaroid with a small hair dryer. This helps make the film emulsion more pliable. I use several types of tools to move 54 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine Issue 12 Sneak Peek Review: blackbird fly The toy camera world continues its resurgence of new toys being introduced on the market! We’ll take an in-depth look at the new Blackbird Fly, a 35mm TLR created by Japan’s PowerShovel. Will this be the next toy camera in your collection? Check out our review before parting with your hard-earned money! Photos by C.J. Stephen ~ http://www.theplasticlens.com Issue 12 Gallery Theme: Evidence: Photographic Proof All photographs are evidence of the world around us and bear witness to a moment in time. We are looking for your one best image that show signs of photographic proof: proof that something happened or someone was there. Gallery Editor: Aline Smithson www.alinesmithson.com Visit www.lightleaks.org/submissions.html for submission details 56 Issue 11, Polaroid Light Leaks Magazine