Farewell my love…
February 19, 2008 | Filed Under Holga, Polaroid | Leave a Comment
I heard the bad news Friday evening as Sarah and I were hanging out with the local news playing in the background. The two words “Polaroid” and “going out of business” immediately captured all of my attention. Being the local Greenville news, the story was very brief and few details were given.
I did some research courtesy of the Boston Globe and found out that the two factories responsible for producing instant film were shutting down and that they will only produce enough film to last through the rest of the year according to their predictions.
I will be a little transparent here and admit that tears welled up in my eyes and I was heartbroken as I begin to process the info. I know it’s ridiculous to get so emotional about something like this, but oh well…I got caught up in the moment.
I am not one of “those photographers” that despises digital photography and believes that film is the only “true form of photography.” I do, however, love shooting film, especially Polaroid, for fun and my own artistic enjoyment. Shooting instant film gives me a sense of nostalgia and also gets my creative juices flowing. There is something thrilling about shooting a Polaroid and getting a pure photo with a vintage feel instantly (or 90 seconds, tops). Most photographs of my parents are Polaroids, and it is amazing that a Polaroid I shoot today looks just like a shot of my mother at age 7 standing in front of a late 50′s Chevrolet.
I’m not real sure why I felt compelled to post on this topic. I suppose I wanted to be the bearer of bad news, but also I wanted to urge you to grab your Polaroid camera or dust off that Polaroid Back and start living again. I plan to shoot more Polaroids and savor the final moments of instant film bliss.
Here are some of my favs from the past few years thanks to my Holgaroid…
Photo Lesson from Her Majesty
February 14, 2008 | Filed Under Annie Liebovitz, Jason Wallis, The Queen, behind the scenes | 2 Comments
I saw this video about a month ago, but rediscovered it yesterday when my friend Jason Wallis posted it on his blog. I really like watching behind the scenes videos, particularly of photo shoots. This video of world renown photographer Annie Liebovitz takes the cake. It is always interesting to see how other photographers handle difficult situations. This video teaches me many things, two of the biggest being:
1: You can never be too prepared; flying by the seat of your pants is not a good idea
(especially when photographing The Queen)
2: No matter how prepared you are, sometimes you have to just make a gut decision on the
spot, and then proceed to fly by the seat of your pants and hope for the best
In short, Confidence & Preparation are huge.
Enjoy!
Mr. Hall-Computer Lab Teacher
February 12, 2008 | Filed Under class, teaching | Leave a Comment
So I have a second career…kind of.
Every now and then I substitute teach at Southside Christian School, which is conveniently located 5 minutes (by foot), 30 seconds (by car) from our house. I enjoy the change of scenery and I like hanging out with the students. I think they like me as well, probably because I’m not old and/or mean. I don’t think I’m cut out for full-time teaching, however it is my wife’s dream job; she loves being around high school students.
I would however love to teach photography, whether it be a few classes here and there or on a consistent schedule. I am thinking about teaching some basic photography skills/light measurement classes. I took some classes like this several years back, and I loved it. The stuff I learned was very basic, but it did wonders to my photos and changed the way I look through the lens. I would love to pass this knowledge on. I think it would benefit moms and dads wishing to take better pictures of their kids and also be beneficial for aspiring amateur/pro photographers.
My initial thoughts are to do maybe a four week class; 1 night a week for around 2 hours. I really need a place to hold the classes, though. So if you are in the Greenville, SC area and you know of a good place to hold the classes or if you are interested in taking part in something like this, please let me know.
I’ll post more about this down the road as the idea is developed a little more and things hopefully come together. Now I have to put on my teaching outfit and go educate our future (or at least monitor them for a few hours until the real teacher returns).