Reflections On Denholm’s

Mannequin In The Old Denholm’s Department store Building, Downtown Worcester.

I shot this last weekend while downtown on a photowalk. The reflections in the window really caught my eye. Denholm’s is a long gone department store that has been closed since 1973. The building is massive, and there are some small, subtle touches of its original greatness that still remain. Now mostly office space, it has remaining display windows that are still decorated by a gentleman, Christopher Sawyer, who I think works in the fashion industry, wrote a history of Denholm’s, and is the son of a woman who worked there. He has a wonderful blog at http://denholms.blogspot.com/  I saw him speak last year at the Worcester Public Library, where he kicked off his book. This has that vintage “Mad Men” feel. Which, of course, I LOVE! Oh, shot with the Polaroid 450. Don Draper heaven.

“That’s quite the picture-making machine!”

The above tag line is a quote from a homeless lady yesterday, as I walked around downtown Worcester with my Model 450 Land Camera. After looking at these shots, I do have to agree. Photowalks can turn up subjects that one may easily overlook by whizzing by in the car, while potentially overlooking potentially great content. This is instant photography, but once again, it forces the photographer to slow down, and take it all in.

These are from a very creative wall mural on a tunnel near Union Station. The more I use Fuji FP100C, the more I fall in love with the colors, the sharpness. It does seem to like a good amount of light for the color to “pop”. It was a typical late winter New England day, where you never get anything resembling good, warm daylight. That blue-gray harsh light that frustrates photographers up here to no end. But you simply have to make due, and pick your battles. I think I won these-

Was painted to scale, so as to make the painter’s feet look like they are actually at ground level.

On the other side of the tunnel was this beautiful image. The colors show off FP100C’s color pallet beauty.

Finding Nemo

A recent poster on this blog, commenting on an entry, said they had to laugh when I said this area has miserable weather. Trust me, it does. It really does.

Here’s a few prints of instant photographic proof. Once again, Polaroid 450, Fuji FP-3000B, and the cloud filter. I took these yesterday morning, after a 30 inch blizzard:

The blogger’s Volvo, buried in drifts.

This is what I woke up to.

Believe it or not, plowing ran non stop all night.

Looking out towards the main road.

I was able to achieve these vintage looks a few years ago in snow, with the 3000B film and the cloud filter. Love the look. Hoping it doesn’t take another blizzard to achieve it again.

Nemo

A few Polaroids from this brutal nor’easter blizzard, dubbed by the media as “Nemo”. It dumped over 2 feet of snow in my town. Cars are now banned from the roads, and rightfully so- this storm is dangerous. Taken with the Polaroid 450. The little tree was photographed with my second to last pack of Fuji FP100B. The others with Fuji FP3000B, a tripod, and the Polaroid #191 Cable Release. There is beauty, some, in snow…

One notch towards lighten.

Front steps

Mini tree, with the Polaroid Cloud Filter, and FP100B

The other end of the street.

Route 13

Thankfully had my Model 450 with me this weekend, while driving down Route 13 in Milford, NH. Caught these shots while driving through the “Milford Oval”. The # 193 Cold Clip was used in development of both. This wooden Indian stands in front of the Tasty Tobacco Shop-

One notch set towards Darken.

And this is a diner, across the street-

Same exposure setting, which likely accounts for the cool vignetting against the bright blue sky.

Two Flavors Of Coca Cola

While driving today on Route 13 South in Milford, NH, I spotted this old Coca Cola trailer that is being used as a makeshift sign for a farm. The back features this iconic Coke branding. As I am reading a book about the last years of Walker Evans’ life, and his amazing SX-70 photography, this inspired me to take that camera out, as well as the 450, and capture the same image, for different tones. At the time these shots were taken, it was 34 degrees out, so I did use cold clips for both. The Impossible PX-70 Color Protection film inexplicably defaulted to the “divot/snowflake” look of the earlier Impossible films. Maybe my rollers are once again in need of cleaning? Or, maybe it was just the cold. But the distressed look really works for the subject. While the 450 once again yielded spot-on exposure and tones. Happy I had both cameras with me, as this really was fun to shoot the same subject with both.

The Last Years of Walker Evans: A First-Hand Account by Jerry L. Thompson, available on Amazon, is truly inspiring, a great read. Evans arguably was the greatest SX-70 photographer of all time, certainly the most influential.

SX-70 exposure control set one notch towards darken. Showing off the warm colors and tones of PX-70 Color Protection.

Model 450, one notch towards darken. The Fuji FP100C colors are how I remember the scene as looking.

Electronic Flash With A Polaroid Pack Camera

I’ve always wanted one of the later Colorpack cameras, from maybe the 300 or the 400 series. Also, I’ve really wanted one with the parallax corrected, one windowed Zeiss-Ikon rangefinder. The idea of using one window to frame and compose, and focus, has always intrigued. Yes, this would likely entail additional investments in portrait kits (the standard pack camera close up and portrait kits use a different “goggle” configuration). And, if getting into a 400 series body, a new flash system to learn.

I bought this 450 through ShopGoodwill.com, a winning auction bid.

The Polaroid Model 450 Automatic Land Camera

This is the first model outside of the 100-200 series I’ve used. Turns out that most of the 100-200 series cameras are prone to a leaky capacitor, which can result in “dark print syndrome”. While producing a beautiful image, they can indeed, without a little experimentation with the Lighten/Darken adjustment, underexpose. While I’ve only made a few images with this 450, it seems to meter and expose spot on. The 450 is a tank, maybe one of the most refined of the original Colorpacks, short of the 180-195 series.

It worked out, even with shipping and handling, to be a fraction of the cost of what they are selling on eBay. It arrived in beautiful condition, and complete with the proprietary Model 490 Focused Flash, and a fresh supply of General Electric Hi-Power Magicubes- the only ones that are compatible. Of course, there is a finite amount of these cubes out there, as they haven’t been manufactured in years. The flash has integrated louvers that open and close based on your rangefinder focusing. So, for proper flash exposure, sharp focusing is indeed key. The shutter is set to a fixed speed by the camera once you plug the flash in.

Polaroid 490 Focused Flash is compatable with Land Cameras 420 through 450.

There are viable, modern, electronic alternatives. A great one is offered by The Film Photography Project in their online store. Known as FPP #490 Electronic Flash Holder w/ Electronic Flash, it utilizes a modified 490 bracket housing, retrofitted with a 50M Ultiblitz electronic strobe, complete with a PC cord. And, it works like a charm. One caveat- this flash likes good batteries. After getting dark, underexposed images with economy bulk batteries, I noticed that the ready lamp was not even illuminating, An install of fresh Duracell alkalines solved the problem.

How do they compare? The FPP electronic flash, at comparable distance (4 feet in this Curious George test) yields a somewhat “cooler” exposure, and seems to do a better job at opening up the shadows, as seen here-

Curious George, with Polaroid 490 Focused Flash

Always very curious- here, with FPP#490 Electronic Flash. Improvement in shadow detail is noticeable.

Both nice exposures at 4 feet. The Polaroid 490 lets you lighten/darken right on the unit, as the built-in camera settings become overridden after attaching it, because of the louver system. I have yet to experiment with L/D settings on the 450 itself while using the FPP Electronic Flash. There are several electronic flash solutions available for Polaroid pack cameras. This truly is a nice one. But experiment, and always use good batteries.