Polaroids at the Circus 2014

Not exactly your typical architectural subject but I love taking photographs of the colourful circus tents when they are in town. Not just any old photos though - its always polaroids for me. There is a wonderful feeling of nostalgia when you rip the film out of the camera and wait patiently for that moment of reveal. You pull the print away from the processing sheet and give birth to a new image. Is it a dud or a winner? In this age of unlimited digital copies there is something special about holding a "one off" print. Thankfully fuji are still producing FP-100C and FP-3000b films to go with my instant film camera.

Polaroids on a Sunday

This seems to be getting into a bit of a habit of mine. Sunday afternoon strolls with my trusty polaroid camera and a couple of boxes of Fuji. As it turned out I only had one and a half boxes as my shoot pulled up short when the last box jammed - such are the frustrations of analogue polaroid photography. Shame because the light was just getting into the zone for the 3000 iso black and white film. No client, no deadline so no big deal. Kind of street photography but I prefer the term "Psychogeography" - sounds a lot more important and arty.

Polaroids at the Circus

I've been lusting after the new Leica M rangefinder camera this weekend. Sometimes you just want to work simple and have some fun. I'm kicking myself that years back I sold off my two Leica M6's with amazing Leica glass out the front. At that time they just didn't cut it for the style of magazine and commercial work I was doing. Even film is something I'm now begging to miss a lot - "film is not dead it just smells funny" - ain't that the truth. So to scratch my itch I headed out today with my trusty Fuji FP-1 rangefinder Polaroid mothership with a couple of boxes of Fuji FP-3000b and FP-100c. There's a lot to be said about slowing down and considering before hitting the shutter which is something at times we forget with digital. The rangefinder system seems to bring you more in touch with the subject and I love the moment of truth when you peel back a fresh print. Still I love my 5D, iPhone, Lightroom etc etc but shooting a bit of film / polaroid every now and then seems to soothe the soul in a way that digital just doesn't match.Im hoping to build this into an exhibition of images shot around Townsville on Polaroid.

Polaroid black and white