Polaroid + Instax Challenge 2015/12

It's the very last month of the challenge!! I'm pretty stoked I was able to stick it out all year - you can see all the past months here. I definitely took some terrible photos and I think a learnt a lot especially about the limitations of the medium :) I think half the fun was the lack of perfection and of course getting a photo instantly, well almost instantly with the polaroid!

I tried to take a photo of our Christmas tree (with all the lights off) though perhaps a tad too close. I kind of knew I was too close but had high hopes of the lights pulling off something magical :p

And my Instax photo below

Technically not one photo, but hey, it's Christmas! I think these turned out awesome and mega props to Gremlin for being a (somewhat!) willing sport :)

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Polaroid + Instax Challenge 2015/11

I'm going to echo the entire internet and say "I can't believe we're almost in December" and that I'm sharing my second last challenge photos!!

This month, it was getting down to the wire and feeling a little confused as to what photos to take, I thought I'd make life simple and show off two recent acquisitions. The polaroid photos is, well me, but more importantly my new glasses I got whilst thrifting. I also like this photo because I look bad ass in it, which is really far from my personality but I'm going to roll with that one. That zebra border, from the skins edition film is my favourite border so far, I also like how you don't know which border will be next, making it a random, fun surprise.

I also bought Gremlin a new collar from Rocky and Julio, they are having a huge sale at the moment too, if cat/dog accessories float your boat.

Things I learned this month

* I put my polaroid (636 close-up) onto the brighter setting, which on my camera is just a little slider on the front that you move to the right. I think this photo turned out one of the best in terms of being properly exposed, which I believe is mostly thanks to the flash.  Last time I moved that damn slider (on a different polaroid camera with no flash) it was blur to the max - you can see that image here.  Still contemplating that frog tongue though which may solve all my exposure dramas!

* I also moved the slider to the "close up setting" which seems to just move a piece of plastic in front of the lens. A lot of people said don't even bother as it will just make your photo blurry but my Polaroids are always blurry so I thought it wouldn't hurt. As you can see, not the most crisp photo but from my experience that's what you get anyway with Polaroids. Next time I probably won't bother moving that slider *shrugs* though I'm pretty indifferent on that one. The best advice is to avoid polaroid selfies if you're all about focus and instead get someone else to take the photo for you :P

* Instax on the other hand is all about that crispness which I love but it was a good reminder this month to be careful about backgrounds and to keep the camera at least 60cm away from your subject (the minumum focus distance). I took this photo of Gremlin on his favourite chair which is covered in cat hair and crud and genuinely not a super pretty backdrop and because I was too close to gremlin, I managed to make the chair in focus which was a semi/big/huge fail. I think had I'd taken it on the polaroid it really wouldn't of matter but the Instax is definitely more revealing and thus something to be mindful of.

Next month you know I'm going to go Christmas on you guys!

This post is part of the Polaroid Challenge 2015, you can see my past photos here and read more about getting involved here by the lovely peeps at The Cat you and Us

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Polaroid + Instax Challenge 2015 /10

Woozers what a month this was, can I just say hands down I LOVE MY INstax! In an strange outcome that I wasn't expecting, it actually made me a little sad for old school polaroid whose film feels a step down from what fuji is doing with instax. Credit definitely has to be given to The impossible film guys, for purchasing the last polaroid factory in the World and giving back life to Polaroid film (Well the square 600 stuff anyway). The impossible project still has a little way to go before they perfect the original polaroid film formula - here's hoping they do, because I really love that square format and using old school polaroid cameras :)

So this month is the first one in the 2015 challenge that I've had both a polaroid and instax to share (super fun!).  When I snapped my first Instax photo, I raced over to Ben and proclaimed a variety of weird things like, "look how crisp and colourful and bright it is!". Looking at my first ever Instax pic reminded me of how I remembered polaroid photos being, you know, back in the good old days :p Just to clarify too, the photo above wasn't my very first photo, it was taken by Ben on a night out together - cocktails anyone!  My first photo I actually took in September so I thought I better not cheat and post it for October! (I share it at some stage though!)

The photo on the right is obviously The impossible film polaroid and on a whole that film really seems to struggle with warm tones, lack of detail and bright colour. I would of previously thought the camera had some fault to play but this is my third polaroid camera with the film so I feel pretty justifying in saying the faults lie with the film itself.

Will I continue to shot with my 600 Polaroid Camera? I still have a few frames left of my awesome skin borders (which I love btw!) and then a box of black and white to get through, Actually I'm super pumped for b&w - it may keep me on the polaroid train but my prediction is, Instax will sweep in for good - gulp! Bold words for sure but so far Instax is ticking all those happy fee boxes!

 This post is part of the Polaroid Challenge 2015, you can see my past photos here and read more about getting involved here by the lovely peeps at The Cat you and Us

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