5ftinf

Saturday…with an old Polaroid

Christmas Day 1980 my brother was given this very camera…it was an amazing present and although I had been given a mini sewing machine, I loved his camera; it seemed so grown up! I recently found some old photos he took over the following few months; the neighbours house, the cat, a blurred carpet etc…but the film was expensive and the novelty inevitably wore off…
I’ve felt a bit guilty over the last few years having it hanging in my bedroom, as I know it’s not really mine, ( even though he doesn’t want it )
Today I bought some SX-70 colour film and took the first photos with his camera in over 35 years.

The film is expensive, so I’m saving some for an outing tomorrow, but I wanted to see if I could possible capture the table

I’m allowing myself a really nostalgic project, and playing around with this old Polaroid reminded me of the early Instagram images I took only 5 years ago which were so reminiscent  of the first early photos we took in the 1980’s.

So I thought I’d share some of the early photos from the ’80’s as well as firstly some early blurred instagram photos ( an incidental play on ‘Earlybird’ there…that was the filter I always used when I first started posting ) and then finally some of today’s initial experiments…

( I think this was one of my first ever IG shots above, and I can’t remember whether I even posted it or not ) ( a first, blurred table composition )

( a scene above from what now seems like so long ago! )

And this is my brother’s first shot of the neighbours house on Christmas Day 1980…I was standing next to him as he took this…

my brother, me and my Dad in Bergen, Norway, Summer 1981 Oslo sculpture park; Vigeland… …and after a fishing trip on the fjord in EgersundI think this is my favourite one as it was probably my best childhood holiday ever, and my Dad even agreed to extend our holiday for an extra week! That’s him on the right, my brother at the back with a big fish and me at the front with a tiny one!

But today I set out to capture this…

and this…

First attempt taught me to frame more carefully and probably allow a bit more distance!! and as the light faded I learned that daylight obviously makes a massive difference which can’t be edited, and the same can be said for a steady hand… So, I think this one was probably the most successful result of the day!

I’ll be trying out more tomorrow, so stay tuned for more blurry experiments!

( you can look at the Steller Story of this post here )