Happy Birthday Dr Edwin Land

Maison Bleue, Edinburgh,
SX70 Polaroid Painting

(This image was taken soon after I started using this technnique.)

As I was about to sit down and write a post this morning I happened to glance through my emails first – and promptly abandoned my previous subject. Today is Dr Edwin Land’s birthday ( Thank you, Impossible folks, for the reminder.) He is the inventor behind all things Polaroid, but most importantly in my book, created the SX70 camera and the film it used.

If I were to compile a top ten list of people who have influenced my creative life then he would have to be on it. From the day I discovered what could be achieved with his materials I was hooked. The person I have to thank for this introduction is a Hungarian photographer, Turi Geza who was working in Edinburgh at the time. Around 2002 He had an exhibition of his photographs,referred to as from a Polaroid Land camera. At the time I had no idea what the “Land” referred to and was rather mystified. As soon as I got home I set about finding out what I needed to try my hand at the technique.

An SX70 camera and TimeZero film was the answer. Ebay came up with the former , and in those days the film was still readily available in high street camema shops. There followed a steep learning curve, with lots of images falling by the wayside – but soon there were more hits than misses.

Why was this combination of film and camera so special ? The camera itself was such a lovely object to work with , transforming itself with a slight tug from a rectangular block into a recognisable camera. The magic of the film was that for a short period – perhaps an hour or so – the film emulsion remained fluid and could be manipulated. So the resulting images were not from computer manipulation , but rather created on the actual image.

This is a little video I made a few years ago showing how it works.

From that time until the film went out of production (sob ) this was my principal medium. Of course I bought up as much of the film as I could ( and I still have a tiny bit left – but probably it will not function properly after all this time.) but I hit a huge block. What had previously been quite a carefree process became rather gloomy. In an effort to move past this obstacle I launched into my “12 City Project” which saw me travel to a different city every month for a year , using my remaining film. In the end it turned into a wonderful adventure. ( As I searched through my archive for a post that neatly summed up the whole idea behind this project, I realised I hadn’t written one – so keep a look out for that in the next few days if you’d like to know more.)

There are two consolations for me – one – I have a huge archive of images shot with the film and I continue to work with them to this day ( for example in my cushion collection) and secondly The Impossible Project have worked hard to create new films ( completely new formulations of film) so that those amazing SX70 cameras still have a future.

So Happy Birthday Dr Edwin Land and Thank You !

Other resources – The Impossible Project’s Blog today.

The image at the top of the post is of Maison Bleue restaurant on Edinburgh’s Victoria Street – highly recommended.

* If you’d like to keep up to date with behind the scenes snippets and subscriber offers I would invite you to subscribe to my studio newsletter here *

Unbirthday Etsy Sale

Usually I do a 50% off sale on my birthday. It’s the only time in the year that I do this. This year however I was off on my travels and then not in one place for too long so I’ve waited until I am in a fixed location for a wee while. Of course its not my birthday anymore, so, in true Alice in Wonderland style I’ve decided to make it an Unbirthday sale – and appropriately the coupon code is UNBIRTHDAY .

Things have been a little busy over here with visitors and other distractions , but some more images from my trip to the East will be coming shortly.

Polaroid Painting – Leiden

One of the good things about spending some time in Leiden ( and Amsterdam ) is that I am identifying some of the locations where I made Polaroid Paintings in the past. When I am “in the zone” and strolling about, shooting and then manipulating images I don’t always pay such close attention to things like actual location. Partly it is because only some of the images will actually become part of my portfolio. And partly it is because I am just so concentrated on the image making part of things. However, when I come to actually present the images it is quite useful to know this information. This is one of those recently identified images – one of a pair – in the Hooglandse Kerkgracht in Leiden.

Also today, my Hortensia/Hydrangea pendant is featured on a lovely blog this morning.  There are some gorgeous bushes in the gardens here that are also on my radar to photograph soon – this time with very pink flowers.

And , by popular request the first of the cufflinks to be added to the “wearable art”  section in my  Etsy shop. I did a few as a trial and some have already been snapped up before even getting listed, so I will definitely being doing some more.

Ringing the Changes

Drying in the Sun  – Polaroid Painting is available in my Etsy shop.

You might notice a few changes around here today. I’ve freshened up the header and switched templates too, in fact. This is something I’ve been meaning to get round to for a while but just always slipped to the bottom of the “to do” list. Now however, I’ve been participating in the “Blogging Your Way” e -course organised by Holly Becker from Decor8. ( Who you might remember , I met in Amsterdam at a Blogger’s Meet Up ). This has given me a bit of impetus to make some changes. I don’t feel that this header or format is what  I will settle on long term – I still feel a few changes brewing. But I just had to get going and at least get started with the new look.

As far as the course is concerned, I really only have good things to say about it. The material is very thoroughly researched and presented. And delivered in such a way that there is plenty of time to keep on top of the work. I was a little concerned when I discovered just how many people were doing the course, whether it would be possible to make many connections amongst so many. But Holly has a few tricks to make sure that it is easy enough to connect to people, especially those who might be nearby. I am already looking forward to meeting some of the Dutch bloggers in a couple of weeks time.

Creative Drought

“When we are in a period of creative drought , we must believe that we carry our own water, that we can gently tap the inner stream if we are kind with ourselves, and patient. The grace of creativity is a great underground river. It flows on , untouched by the events and the apparent droughts of our outer life. Like the great rivers that flow within the earth , it is there, waiting for us to acknowledge it and dip into it with humility. ”

Julia Cameron, The Sound of Paper.

Today’s AudioBoo is here
I’ve been doing these little mini podcasts for a while, mostly on weekdays. Short bursts of about 3 minutes long usually, just reflecting on something that I’ve been thinking about that morning. One of the biggest benefits to me is that they mark out a weekday from a weekend. And anyone working from home or a home studio will know how easy it is to blur the lines there.

 

Blue vintage car, Polaroid Painting – available in my Etsy shop.

Musing on art and play.

“Art is not something that we do outside of life. It IS our life, and has the power to engulf every activity. The more the spirit of art infuses you, the more you find the wonder of possibilities and opportunities for continual play in life. What you do becomes less important than your attitude. The more we look at life as the pursuit of excellence, the more it becomes play and the more that play becomes an extension of our art.”

Brooks Jensen “Letting Go of the Camera”

Door  in Florence – Polaroid Painting – available in my Etsy shop.

Birthday 50% Print Day – Only once a year !

So, I never ever do percentage discounts on my work, its just not my style. But once a year I break that rule and do a 50% day. For any prints purchased today from my Etsy shop enter the code HAPPYDAY and 50% of the price will be deducted automatically. ( This is the theory, if for some reason it doesn’t work I’ll sort it out.) This only applies to prints, but any size is included.

If you’d like an image in a size that isn’t listed I’ll do a custom listing for you.( And as I will be out and about all day, if you make the request today that is enough to qualify, even if the sale spills over onto the next day.)

I have been topping up my Etsy shop with a lot of new work, some images from the 12 City Project , for the first time and a lot of mini prints too. I hope you’ll find something there that you like.

My Creative Space – Thursday

My creative space this Thursday is one where the printer is in full swing printing more of  my Polaroid Paintings on to the wonderful heavy art papers. So far I’ve kept to my previous sizes of  5 inch square and 8 inch square , but once I have caught up with those sizes I will start to introduce some bigger prints. I’m really curious to see them , as the larger the image gets , the harder it is to imagine the original as a small Polaroid shot.

There is still work being done on the cushions, but today is definitely a day for printing.

You can find more Creative Spaces over here .

Usually my Studio Newsletter would go out today, but I’m having a little technical issue that I’m trying to resolve so chances are it won’t be out until tomorrow. If you’d like a copy you can sign up here – and grab a few printable downloads into the bargain.

Cushions make an appearance.

After a very long time of snoozing quietly in the corner, I had to rouse my sewing machine back into action. My textile samples have arrived and I have been busy sewing them up , mostly into cushions. At this stage it is still experimental, as far as them becoming a permanent part of my range or just something temporary. There are all  kinds of extra issues that start to pop up once you have a product like this – inventory and production times for example. After I stopped the Silk Studio I never again intended to be producing items myself. But it was just too tempting to see how the images would look on fabric – there is something quite magical about seeing designs translated onto fabric – so I was unable to resist.  And after all the silk painting I did in the past, there is also something rather nice about having the fabric printed. If I can find somewhere to have the cushions both printed and made up then the dream will be complete. ( If you have any suggestions I’d love to know. )

Travel Tuesday – Sibiu, Romania

Today’s Travel Tuesday is still in Romania. It’s amazing what you can find when you are tidying up a studio. These are some of the Polaroids I took in Romania on the type of film that can’t be manipulated. They still have a very recognisable Polaroid feel to them . I also found the equivalent ones from Budapest and Istanbul so they will come up in the next couple of weeks. At the moment I’m still reading the book I serendipitously picked up in Amsterdam – It does not appear to have been translated into English.  This is an English description of the book.

Studio Newsletter will be out later this week and I’m doing a giveaway exclusively for subscribers of one of my new giclee prints. If you’d like to be in with a chance you can subscribe here.