Sometimes you can find yourself struggling to remain creative. New ideas and the inspiration behind shoots can start to leave you.
Warriors
Perhaps you have a formula that you know works, and so you end up falling back to it every time. The result can be that your images all start to look similar.
Don't get me wrong. This may not be a bad thing. If you have developed a certain style, and this is why people come to you, then keep on doing it.
The problem is you may start to forget what you love about photography. Without drive and passion, interest can begin to fade.
It may be years since the Polaroid stopped selling the Spectra camera system, but various accessories still appear on Ebay.
I was delighted this week to win an auction for a close-up stand (which allows 1:1 close-up photos to be taken of small objects such as stamps etc...) along with a close-up lens ( which allows 1/2 life size photos to be taken from as close as 10" away from the camera).
Following on from my photograph of a branch in freezing fog I had proven that the camera worked. But that was pretty much all that I had been able to confirm.
I wasn't sure if I was getting much colour from the expired film I was using and I also didn't know what sort of shutter speeds were being achieved.
I spent the afternoon at a workshop about living with diabetes, but before going out I had seen the weather forecast was for a bright sunny day so I slipped the Polaroid Spectra camera into my bag.
The venue for the workshop is close to the airport and I did think I may catch a good shot of an airplane coming in to land. However after the workshop I needed to catch a train into Manchester. So I decided I would take a test shot of a train arriving into the station to see how quickly after pressing the shutter the picture was taken and if it froze the action or if there was any motion blur.
What did I learn from this test?
It was a bright sunny day and the shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the motion of the train. I pressed the trigger when I thought the front of the train was in the centre of the frame, and the response was immediate. I've noticed with some cheap digital compact cameras and camera phones that there is such a lag after the trigger has been pushed that you completely miss the shot.
Exposure is very centre weighted. The sun was quite bright, as can be seen in the top right of the photograph. Where I'm standing has quite a lot of shade as I am under the station awning. The front of the train is the centre of the shot and seems to have the best exposure balance.
I'm still not framing my shots correctly. With the branch, I lost the top into the white frame. With this shot I wanted the face of the train to be a square in the centre of the frame. As you can see, I've managed to get this correct in the distance from the right and left edges but (once again) I'm too close to the top of the frame.
Finally, I now know that I can get colour out of this old exposed film!
I have some more test shots coming up soon, but I thought I would just share this video I found on the internet. It pretty much covers everything I've discussed about Polaroid Spectra cameras and films in my last three posts.
You can see the photographs mentioned in the video on Angie's blog.
To try out my new camera I bought a pack of Polaroid 1200 instant film from Ebay.
It is a colour film that doesn't suffer the same foibles as the new film from The Impossible Project. But it expired in October 2008.
So there was no guarantee it would even work.
When I loaded the cartridge, I heard a click and whir as the camera sprang into life and ejected the darkslide.
As the battery is contained within the film cartridge I didn't know if I had a working camera until that point.
After hearing the whir I knew I had what appeared to be a working camera, but I had a heavy cold and the weather outside was dreadful.
Regardless of the weather outside and how I felt, I needed to pop out to the shop to get bread and milk, so used the opportunity to get a quick shot of a tree top through the freezing fog.
Genuine Polaroid film may not be as susceptible to light and temperature as the new Impossible films, but it still doesn't like to develop in the cold. So I grabbed a quick shot round the corner from my house, then came straight back into the warmth.
All I could see was the top of a tree through the freezing fog. But this was just a test to see if the camera worked rather than trying to get an amazing shot.
What did I learn from this test?
For a start, my camera does actually work! This was an old expired colour film, but due to the nature of the test photograph I couldn't tell how much colour I'm actually getting.
I also realised I'm seeing more in the viewfinder than is appearing in the print. With this test I could see the top of all the branches in the viewfinder, but it looks like these are going into the white border at the top of the print. I'm going to need to consider this when composing future shots.
In the first post I talked about the recent history of Polaroid and the reasons behind this project.
The second post looked at which new (old) camera I decided to purchase, and where to buy them from.
But there is no point in buying a film camera without considering the film itself.
Polaroid Spectra film was also called 1200 or Image film in some markets. Early Spectra cameras (like mine) have a counter that when a film cartridge is entered counts down from 10 to zero. Later film cartridges contained 12 films instead of 10, with newer cameras having a different counter.
I can use the cartridges with 12 shots, but I'll only be able to take 10 and 2 will be wasted. This is assuming you can find the film.
Film manufacture ended back in 2008 and the final expiry date on these films was October 2009. You can still find these films for sale on Ebay, but you don't know how well they have been stored and if they will still work. It is a lottery and the films aren't cheap - starting at about £15.
Due to the fact that the original Polaroid color dyes are not available any more and that there is no chance to reproduce them, the Impossible Project had to start from the very scratch. The Impossible team had one year to completely reinvent a new photographic instant system. Impossible? Almost. But after thousands of experiments and after a million of small steps and a lot of blood, sweat and tears (not to forget the support of many excellent partners) we managed to develop a new Impossible film system.
During the last three years they have been refining the recipe. But even they say their films are experimental, can be tempremental and sensitive to light and temperature.
The only difference between the silver shade monochrome films are that one has the traditional white border around the photograph, while the other has an interesting black border instead.
We will cover the issues with PZ 600 & PZ 680 film in a subsequent post. However I should point out now that these film cartridges only hold 8 exposures and if you order from The Impossible Project website they cost £17.50 plus postage.
The video below, shows how to load the film cartridge into a Spectra camera and take a photograph.
It may already be February, but I've been organising a new project for 2012.
During the last couple of years I've been concentrating on portraiture, and improving my gear. But now it is time for a change of direction.
Starting at the beginning of 2012 I want to start a project using obsolete technology which used to be cutting edge, but has been left behind in the digital age.
I've looked into Polaroid cameras, what and where to buy, the old and new films, and of course the results.
Yesterday I spoke about why I had become interested in Polaroid instant photography, and a little about how this obsolete format was being revived by The Impossible Project.
The only time I've used a Polaroid instant camera in the past was during a teambuilding exercise while I was still working for Accenture, which was a 600 camera (I don't remember exactly which model).
After looking at the various different options I decided to go with the slightly larger prints created with film for Image/Spectra cameras. The model I was interested in has a self timer, tripod point, an electronic flash, exposure compensation and (most interestingly) is also able to create multiple exposures.
As was mentioned yesterday, even though no new cameras are being manufactured it is believed there are over 300,000,000 working examples spread out across the world. You can often find them in charity shops, car boot sales, or online from Etsy or Ebay.
The only problem is knowing whether you have a good working model.
I tried a couple of times to buy a camera from reputable sellers on Ebay, but I kept getting outbid at the end of the auction (probably from people using sniper programs).
If you watched the video on the last post, you will have seen that The Impossible Project factory have repaired/refurbished some old cameras.
When I logged onto their website last week and made my purchase, there were a few Spectra and 600 cameras available.
At the time of writing this post they still have twenty-six 600 cameras at £113, but there are now only two Spectra cameras at a very reasonable £68.
I ordered my camera on Wednesday 1st February. It arrived in the United Kingdom on the following day and it was delivered to me Friday morning. I'm amazed they got the camera to me in less than three days. Very impressive.
The Impossible Project website did say these cameras show some signs of their former use, but are carefully refurbished, tested and in excellent working condition. My example has scuffs all over the body, and the hand strap is very worn. But apart from this cosmetic damage everything appears to be in good order. I've also noticed this camera is fitted with an Impossible Project frog tongue (more about this in a later post).
I've been rather depressed during the last couple of month. First my mother sadly passed away, then I was diagnosed with diabetes. My father has been ill, and is currently recovering in the intensive care ward of the hospital.
I was recently reading about André Kertész. When his wife diedhe consoled himself by taking up a Polaroid instant camera. He mastered the camera and produced great images that both honoured his wife and lifted him out of depression.
Sadly Polaroid no longer make instant cameras or film, but I've been interested in news articles I've read about The Impossible Project.
In October 2008 The Impossible Project saved the last Polaroid production plant for integral instant film in Enschede (NL) and started to invent and produce totally new instant film materials for traditional Polaroid cameras. In 2010 Impossible saved analog instant photography from extinction by releasing various, brand new and unique instant films.
Therewith Impossible prevents more than 300.000.000 perfectly functioning Polaroid cameras from becoming obsolete, changes the world of photography and keeps variety, tangibility and analogue creativity and possibilites alive.
Please Note: You can switch on subtitles for the above video clip.
Hello! I am Manchester portrait and commercial photographer, Kevin Pack - welcome to my site!You can follow me through the links to the social networks on the right.You can find out more about me 
