Box cameras

[Terri]

Here is one of my older Polaroid pieces. I had bought a couple of old box cameras for display use at art fairs, and thought they'd make fun subjects.

This was done with one of my last remaining packs of Time Zero film, the film with the emulsion that could be "manipulated." I let it develop fully and then used various burnishing tools to push the emulsion around and soften the lines. There were hard shadows from each camera and I pushed them into these indented shapes.

I liked the finished product, but the background was the gray cement of the driveway. I got the idea to scan the Polaroid print, convert it to B&W then print it out onto an inkjet paper that would accept photo oils. Then I was able to hand paint it.

I played a lot with that film.

 

[Enyaw]

Great job on showing off an older time.

...thanks for the memories. My mom had one of those. Weird old things but they took a picture. As a kid, she let me take a picture or two with it.

 

[Artyczar]

Brilliant color! I love that you used burnishing tools. Have you done etching by chance/printmaking? This is a great piece Terri. What is the size of it?

 

[Terri]

Great job on showing off an older time.

...thanks for the memories. My mom had one of those. Weird old things but they took a picture. As a kid, she let me take a picture or two with it.

It should not surprise you to learn that, in fact, those boxes are still in use by me. You can get 120 film into a couple of them.

The freak flag flies on a tall pole at my house!

 

[Terri]

Brilliant color! I love that you used burnishing tools. Have you done etching by chance/printmaking? This is a great piece Terri. What is the size of it?

A tiny bit of printmaking demo in an art appreciation class, but nothing on my own. I love it, though! No etchings. One of those processes that looks so beautiful and I haven't a clue about it.

I printed my scanned file of that Polaroid on 8.5x11 inject paper...image size is 5x7. So happy you like it!

 

[Artyczar]

The first etching plate I ever made I did from reading a book. I put the acid in a little tupperwear bin and just went with it. Now I think that was crazy. I had to do a lot of burnishing after that because I left it in there too long.

 

[ZenDruid]

I like that pic and the process you went through to get there. I found one of those at a junk shoppe and got it, just because...

 

[Terri]

Thanks, Zen! They speak to you, don't they?

 

[ZenDruid]

Thanks, Zen! They speak to you, don't they?

Indeed, besides my digitals, I have a small collection of film cameras. I periodically have GAS attacks (Gear Acquisition Syndrome)

 

[Terri]

Oh yes! I'm very familiar with GAS! The photo forum I admin at has occasional fierce small battles between digital/film users, each side dug in. But one thing EVERYONE agrees on is that GAS is a wonderful syndrome to have. It's the great equalizer.