Harry Caul
Well-known
I mentioned elsewhere in one of the Polaroid-related threads (can't remember if it was here or in large format) that I recently took a road trip to New Orleans and brought my 195. Well, I finally got them scanned and I'd love to here your thoughts. This was mainly just a fun travel series -- so don't be too hard on me 🙂 Between my friend and I, we shot about 5 packs -- a mix of color (Fuji PF100C) and B&W (FP3000B). We got some great keepers, better than 50% hit rate. And being an amateur who almost never prints, the instant gratification and tangible results can't be beat! I want to start taking more trips so I have an excuse to use my 195 more... it was tons of fun.
Starting our drive down. A took a similar shot with my Oly OMD and I could focus on the mirror and get the driver's eyes mostly in focus as well. However, the DOF is so shallow on the 195 (w/100 ISO film) that nothing but the mirror was in focus here. And parallax issues precluded me from lining up the eyes properly. Ooops.
A reflection of our ride. It was taken from the back seat nearly hanging out the window -- the strong wind being probably the first of many abuses to my bellows during the trip.
A pic of my buddy during pit stop in MS.
A shot he took of me.
Dead sea turtle washed up on the beach near Bay St. Louis.
Another one of my buddy while we were traversing back roads looking for gators.
Despite my friend being a professional photographer, he has always shot D/SLRs and he missed a few times with the rangefinder -- in his defense the 195 can be a fickle mistress! With this shot he peeled it, got pissed at himself for missing the focus, and then just slapped the neg back on top of it in disgust. It sat in the car all day like that before I peeled it again later. I actually love how it turned out. Happy accident.
Kicking back with some cold ones with my driving buddies after another long day on the road. I think this was taken on Decatur St.
Taken the next morning on a photo excursion -- my friend was still intent on seeing gators. This shot of the burnt out car was taken in the 9th Ward amongst a bunch of ultra-modern/solar powered Brad Pitt houses during a pit stop on our way out to the swamps. It was crazy, 7 years on and most of the area was still just a bunch of cement slab foundations overgrown with weeds. In this particular area probably only 1 in 20 houses had been rebuilt since Katrina.
Finally made it out to the swamps in national park to the north-east of the city. Trying to take wild life photos with a Polaroid is really not recommended ever, what with the wide (~35mm lens). However, it is especially not recommended in the swamps where the interesting critters are gators and snakes! This is a shot of a water moccasin sunning himself on some reeds. To get it I had to precariously hang half off the pier over the water, arms outstretched. In retrospect -- WTF was I thinking?!? 😱
I'm not much of a street shooter -- too modest to snap without approval. However, having a Polaroid with the possibility of instant results is an interesting experience. With this shot I started a 1-for-1 series with strangers. I asked if I could take their picture, and in return I would take a second for them to keep. This was a fisherman who was using his net to find grass shrimp at the base of the reeds near shore. He would collect them for bait before going out on his boat.
And then in the middle of the swamp we saw the damnedest thing -- a photo shoot with a couple of models. I was a little reluctant to approach. However, I was using the 195 to document my trip, right? And how could I not take this shot? I introduced myself, apologized for interrupting, asked if I take a quick picture, and then took a second one for them to keep. On the way back to the car my friend commented that the photographer was using a DSLR with kit lens, no reflectors, no flash, no assistant and shooting in full sun at noon. He was assuming the models would be asking why his shots didn't look as good as the Polaroid 🙂
Starting our drive down. A took a similar shot with my Oly OMD and I could focus on the mirror and get the driver's eyes mostly in focus as well. However, the DOF is so shallow on the 195 (w/100 ISO film) that nothing but the mirror was in focus here. And parallax issues precluded me from lining up the eyes properly. Ooops.
A reflection of our ride. It was taken from the back seat nearly hanging out the window -- the strong wind being probably the first of many abuses to my bellows during the trip.
A pic of my buddy during pit stop in MS.
A shot he took of me.
Dead sea turtle washed up on the beach near Bay St. Louis.
Another one of my buddy while we were traversing back roads looking for gators.
Despite my friend being a professional photographer, he has always shot D/SLRs and he missed a few times with the rangefinder -- in his defense the 195 can be a fickle mistress! With this shot he peeled it, got pissed at himself for missing the focus, and then just slapped the neg back on top of it in disgust. It sat in the car all day like that before I peeled it again later. I actually love how it turned out. Happy accident.
Kicking back with some cold ones with my driving buddies after another long day on the road. I think this was taken on Decatur St.
Taken the next morning on a photo excursion -- my friend was still intent on seeing gators. This shot of the burnt out car was taken in the 9th Ward amongst a bunch of ultra-modern/solar powered Brad Pitt houses during a pit stop on our way out to the swamps. It was crazy, 7 years on and most of the area was still just a bunch of cement slab foundations overgrown with weeds. In this particular area probably only 1 in 20 houses had been rebuilt since Katrina.
Finally made it out to the swamps in national park to the north-east of the city. Trying to take wild life photos with a Polaroid is really not recommended ever, what with the wide (~35mm lens). However, it is especially not recommended in the swamps where the interesting critters are gators and snakes! This is a shot of a water moccasin sunning himself on some reeds. To get it I had to precariously hang half off the pier over the water, arms outstretched. In retrospect -- WTF was I thinking?!? 😱
I'm not much of a street shooter -- too modest to snap without approval. However, having a Polaroid with the possibility of instant results is an interesting experience. With this shot I started a 1-for-1 series with strangers. I asked if I could take their picture, and in return I would take a second for them to keep. This was a fisherman who was using his net to find grass shrimp at the base of the reeds near shore. He would collect them for bait before going out on his boat.
And then in the middle of the swamp we saw the damnedest thing -- a photo shoot with a couple of models. I was a little reluctant to approach. However, I was using the 195 to document my trip, right? And how could I not take this shot? I introduced myself, apologized for interrupting, asked if I take a quick picture, and then took a second one for them to keep. On the way back to the car my friend commented that the photographer was using a DSLR with kit lens, no reflectors, no flash, no assistant and shooting in full sun at noon. He was assuming the models would be asking why his shots didn't look as good as the Polaroid 🙂
