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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Polaroid Challange 2015 /9

Okay this was an awesome month because whilst at cash converters (an Aussie pawn shop) I bought an instax mini 8 for $35 bucks :) I was umming and ahhing if I really needed it (definitely didn't need it) but the pink colour managed to push my decision making into a very happy - YES! I am still waiting for film to arrive and a few other fun bits and bobs but in the meantime here is a polaroid photo of my new baby!

I like the iguana skin this month, although I'm sure there is a photo out there better suited to the boarder :p Next month I'll hopefully have an instax and a Polaroid to get to share with you guys!! Weeeeee!

Things I learned this month:

* I aimed to have the instax centred, so I can say if you have a polaroid 636 (and I imagine for a lot of other Polaroids out there) the view finder isn't matched to the shutter! That was a pretty - duh moment for me, picking up my camera now and seeing how obvious this is :p  In the future I'll try to make sure I compose my image slightly to the left!

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 Challenge 2015 /8

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So this was a fun/different month because I have a new polaroid and new film - Woohoo!! Whilst thrifting I came across another polaroid for cheap with a built in flash, something I have secretly been craving. Although my other camera has flash potential it required disposable bulbs (annoying!) Whilst this new camera is simply powered by the film itself :) Okay that was my justification for buying yet another Polaroid + doesn't it look cool :p

Now it wasn't all roses this month - I still had one photo left in my other camera. I read online you can do a switcheroo but something must of gone wrong when I tried because I got this lovely shot...

Oops! I ordered more film online, I actually ordered some black & white film and a pack of coloured film with the skins border. There are 8 photos per pack and each photo has a different skin frame. It's fun because I have no idea which photo is going to pop out next! I kind of like the random pairing of the snake skin with Gremlin :) I'm also going to say the impossible film does not get accurate colours and definitely has a blue tinge (yup, something to be aware of!).

I've got my black and white film sitting in the fridge but I'm wondering if I should load up my other camera with it so I can swap between colour and black & white for the remainder of the year? My only fear is then I'll have two packs loaded and sitting in cameras for months with the potential for both films to go bad and then I'll have to properly cry :p Any advice polaroid experts???

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 Challenge 2015/7

We're over the halfway mark with this challenge and I'm honestly not sure if I've learned a lot or very little :p If I haven't said already, my camera of choice, aka the one I felt was going to work the best out of my collection is an Amigo 610 - a very simple no bells and whistle Polaroid camera. I was thinking about how to improve my photo quality and I was looking at my camera and started to wonder if it was capable of more.  Some internet research later I found the slide bar on front was a "lighten/darker control" most likely to change shutter speed, but who knows what numbers. Since I wanted to take a photo of Gremlin for this month's challenge and he was lying on our front porch on a rather overcast day, I thought I'd try out the "Light" setting by moving the slider to the far right.

I honestly think this helped the photo so much in terms of exposure. I also made sure to quickly put the shot up against my shirt as the film exited the camera and then into a dark place for processing. I didn't time how long it took to fully develop but it was well over an hour - I even went to the shops in the meanwhile!

Now let's talk about this crazy blur!

Moving the slider to the right (the light side!) came with the cost of a slower shutter that I didn't compensate for. This could be avoided by holding the camera extra still or resting it upon something + asking your models to hold there pose or just shooting still things! I shall remember for next time!

I'm also going to put the very blue tones down to the film source and possibly also for being in my camera now for 7 months. I do keep my camera in a lunch cooler bag but I think film is always the best when stored correctly (even refrigerated) and not left in your camera. When this film's runs out, I think I'll go with a pack of the black and white to avoid the whole colour issue!

I'm kind of excited for next month now and to see if I can actually take a good photo - well what's a good photo anyway?

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 blog! 

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Polaroid Challenge 2015 /6

Oh my gosh it's been a month between posting but good news is next week, I've got my awesome Melbourne blog posts to share and there is a tonne of them - woohoo.  For now, I'm popping in to show this month's polaroid photo.  It's official, the impossible film stock (or at least the packet I bought) is definitely more on the blue, not exposing properly spectrum (which has seemed to have gotten worse in the last few months - maybe the film needs to be used within a month or so ?!?).   I still haven't given the frog tongue a go yet, which might help with the film exposure but I've come to accept the imperfections of the film as the norm :)

And yup I went super unoriginal for June with some blatant love :)

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 blog! 

See you guys next week!

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Polaroid Challenge 2015 /5

This month's (or May's - I'm a little behind!) polaroid actually resulted with a half formed photo - woohoo! Ben took it of me, outside on a relatively overcast day perhaps the reason it's a little muted?  I did read somewhere the new impossible Polaroid film has more of a blue tone which is a little sad because I was trying to highlight my new hair colour.  I swore for most of my life I would never be blonde but then the idea started to creep into my head, I really liked the idea of bad regrowth and dark eyebrows (no sarcasm, I swear).  For the past year or so I have resisted doing anything to my hair, super hard because I'm not the biggest fan of my original hair colour.  I read online if I coloured my hair I would have to strip back that colour before being able to strip my real hair colour - which sounded horrific.

I'm going to do a post all about the bleaching because I bleached my friend's Emaya's hair too and her hair is black black and it was all relatively easy.  I'm not sure how long the blonde will last I really want cute pastel hair but for now it's really fun to have a different hair colour :)

I've got soooo many photos to edit from my trip, I only took one roll of film despite waking up every morning and reminding myself to take more film! I failed there but I did take A LOT of photos and I can't wait to get them all edited and blog ready.  I'm always a bit slow and out of whack when I come back from a holiday so excuse the down time!

Also, if you don't know 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 blog!

Missed all you guys - it's good to be back :)

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Polaroid Challenge 2015 /4

It's time to share April's Polaroid challenge. Dani and Damaris the guys behind the year long monthly challenge, mentioned here about using your phone first to nail composition of the scene and avoid wasting any of that precious instant film. I totally ran with that idea and ended up changing my composition a million times before settling on THE ONE! (sorry Ben!). 

I also envisioned my shot to be taken at night using flash. I casually mentioned to Ben about my Amigo 610 Polaroid having auto flash, luckily he questioned me even after I had pointed out the "flash" spot on the camera and insisted I Google it and hey low and behold it definitely does not have auto flash or even a flash - oops! Anyway, quick fix, I grab my video light, Ben pushed the Polaroid button and we play the waiting game. After a solid 30 minutes and still a blank Polaroid I start googling developing times of the new Impossible Film and read that it can take up to an hour.   I happily went to bed with hopes of a beautiful photo in morning but unfortunately the next morning not much had changed :( I'm not sure the exact lesson learned here.  One theory is that despite knowing you're meant to shield your Polaroid from light after it ejects, I dd take a sneaky glance and perhaps the video light shone onto it whilst doing so (the first ten seconds are apparently the crucial ones). The only other thing is that the video light didn't cut the mustard, making it perhaps an outside only camera from now on.  I'm probably going to roll with the last theory although I will try and be more cautious about protecting the Polaroid when it ejects from the camera as well.

I feel like I haven't been on my Polaroid game but I also feel like I have learned things, or have learned what not to do, so that's a plus.  I should also say this month's theme was meant to be me wearing a party hat because it was my Birthday the other day - can you kind of make it out? lol, I keep thinking if I squint or stare at the photo long enough it will become amazing :P

If you want to play along yourself it's super easy and you can find the details here

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Polaroid Challenge 2015 /3

March seemed pretty obvious that I'd take a photo (or make Ben take a photo) of me with Zadie for my monthly Polaroid Challange - read all about the challenge here. I had a different view for composition but I like how Ben ended up taking the shot :) It makes me happy that we all view things a little differently.

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Polaroid Challenge 2015 /2

I'm happy to report I was able to track down some polaroid film just in time to make Feb's deadline! Yay!   The other day I noticed these sunflowers (although possibly the fake kind) growing up in the carpark of a cheap store. We've had a very wet February with lots of storms, rainfall and flooding.  As much as I love the rain I was definitely wishing for some sunshine, less mud and towels that didn't smell funky. So these sunflowers are my hope for some dryer weather and lots and lots of sun as we head into March :)

 If you too would like to take part in the monthly Instax Challenge (I'm slightly cheating by using my polaroid) you can read all about it here!

GOODBYE FEBRUARY and HELLO MARCH!

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Polaroid Challenge 2015 /1

It might be hard to tell but this photo was meant to be Lynsey, Jess and I about to fly down a home made slip and slide on Australia Day.  Can you please use your imaginations because it was my favourite Australia Day yet and took me days to recover from the awesome-ness :P
 

I had one shot left in my polaroid camera (for gosh knows how long) and had planned it perfectly to be my shot for January :) This poor unexposed piece of film waiting to be set free into the World and when it did, well to be honest the click went and no film appeared.  I opened my camera to find the guy above, waiting for me.  At the time I naively believed he just needed a few more seconds to expose but unfortunately that's as far as he went :P

I will redeem myself and buy some more film because I really want to play along with Instax Challenge 2015 as started by The Cat you and Us bloggers!  I am totally cheating because I don't have an Instax but I do randomly have three polaroid cameras that need to see the light of day!

If you want to play along yourself, all the details are here,  I know I'm posting this super late to join in from January but I won't tell anyone if you start in Feb :)

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