Polaroid Type 55: Sunday morning at Mt. Herman Baptist Church
Friend of the blog Jeff Singer let me know about New 55. Bob Crowley in Massachusetts is working on a brand new 4×5 film that resembles Polaroid Type 55. May even be an improvement based on his explanation of what they are working on. This is very exciting news. I wish these guys the best of luck and when they are ready would like to support or help them in any way I can.
Portrait of Michael Winokur by James Lesko, second sheet of film and we're off to a good start.
My friend James and I spent Saturday in my studio shooting some of the last Polaroid 8×10 film in the world. James brought over his beautiful Linhof 8×10 view camera – what a stunning example of mechanical engineering. We experimented with some black and white Polaroid 804 and a processor I had found on eBay. Neither of us had ever used this film before. All I can say is I wish I were shooting 8×10 Polaroid by the box back when it was still being made. It’s a slow methodical process but one with exactly the magic that people talk about when they romanticize photography.
James inserting the Polaroid film holder into his Lindhof Master Kardan.
The film was almost 10 years old. The processor in unknown condition. We could just have easily found out that neither worked. It could have been a hugely expensive pile of garbage. It was not garbage, it was amazing. All these years later it still made pictures that have that Polaroid goodness.
Shooting and processing 8×10 Polaroid requires - according the the instructions - 33 steps. From inserting the negative in the holder to placing the positive in the processor and timing the development to finally peeling the print from the negative. We shot 8 pictures in about 5 hours. We could have been faster but we didn’t want to waste any film. Oh, we did waste film. The first sheet got flared and then we mis-processed a sheet – that’s an expensive mistake about on par with shattering a bottle of fine wine.
The very first sheet we exposed, showing light leaks form improper handling.
Let us not give all the credit for this look to Polaroid. The Linhof camera fitted with a Heliar 360mm lens is special all by itself. One of the reasons this camera is exceptional for portraiture is that huge 8×10 image area. Technology companies have done wonders with small sensor digital cameras. But there is no changing the physics that govern light and optics. The bigger the imager (in this case 8×10) the longer the focal length of the lens which creates a “normal” field of view. The longer the focal length the greater the compression and shallower the depth of field.
Back to the Polaroid. The science side of photography is all about controlling variables. E.g. processing time and temperature effect film speed and contrast which in turn effect exposure. Many of these variables are well documented. In the case of 10 year-old film, the temperature vs. processing time side of the equation is a mystery. We started at the recommended 45 seconds and quickly doubled that to 90. With a decent supply of film that was all manufactured and stored under the same conditions we could determine the “right” processing time. Since that’s not possible we tried some variations around 90 seconds then accepted that as optimal.
This incredible day of making pictures purely for the sake of experimenting with the medium reminds me how much I loved working with Polaroid films, especially Type 55. It of course also reminds me how betrayed photographers feel by Polaroid for taking away integral film. There are fine-art photographers whose entire style was based on Polaroid’s films, if I’m annoyed by loosing this film I’m sure they are devastated.
The ghostly Polaroid negative just after being peeled away from the positive print.
There has never been more interest in photography and never have we seen more people building small companies devoted to photography enthusiasts. Somehow the MBA’s at Polaroid thought it would be better to hire Lady Gaga then to make even small amounts of the film that made them a worldwide brand. All we can hope for is the impossible. Impossible project that is. Maybe in years to come there will be more of this film. But there are very few 8×10 cameras, so it’s kind of hard to imagine. There are however tons of 4×5 cameras, I am told that 4×5 integral film like type 55 will never be made again. Polaroid destroyed the equipment. Fuji still makes a 4×5 instant film, it’s very good but it’s not the fine-art media that Polaroid’s films were.
Digital photograph of the ground glass
Michael Winokur photograph by James Lesko
James seen on the ground glass of his Master Kardan
Reverend Williams, Ms. Williams and Sister Josephine - Mt. Herman Baptist Church May 2010
This is the very beginning, on Sunday we started up a new long-term project. Its a moment of unrealized possibilities mixed with all the harsh reality of making the right decisions in order to get where we are going. The project is about San Francisco’s African American churches. When we lived on Lyon street our neighbors were Mt. Herman Baptist church. Kind and interesting people who commute into San Francisco every week to attend the church they’ve been running for 34 years. Iana and I are fascinated by the idea that this community has left San Francisco but the city still their spiritual home. We decided back then that there would be some kind of portrait project we could do about the churches in the Western Addition – NOPA to the hipsters. I see this as a portrait project and also a historic record. Like everything it took us some time to get started but now we are on track and I hope we’ll be making some major progress over the next few months.
Sister Shirley - Mt. Herman Baptist Church May 2010
The current plan is to do the studio on location portraits I’ve done successfully before, this time using both Type 55 black and white positive / negative film and digital (insurance). I have a very small cache of Polaroid Type 55. It’s hard to use it up because there will be no more but it can’t sit much longer either, so this is the project and i’m going to use the 8 boxes of film I have and see where it takes me. If anyone is holding onto some Type 55 they would like to sell or donate to this project, we’d be quite appreciative. In addition to the studio-style portraits I’ll also be photographing church services to set the environment for of the portraits. I expect I’ll get more churching this year then in my previous 39.
Brother Dennis - Mt. Herman Baptist Church May 2010
I don’t usually talk about a project from the beginning, a habit of not wanting to get scooped from my journalism days, but I’m taking a chance here and making this a somewhat public process. I plan to post a few pictures after each shoot and then edits as we get to that stage. Here are the first 4 type 55′s from Mt. Herman Baptist and a snapshot of the film drying in our bath. Also, if you have connections to SF churches that would be helpful to this project I’d love to hear from you.
Brother Dennis - Mt. Herman Baptist Church May 9, 2010
-Michael
So, the magnetic white-board is about to be cleared off and once again the process of shooting and editing and shooting and editing and editing begins again.
Type 55 drying in the bath.
Sad news in the photography world this week. Photographer, innovator and inventor Peter Gowland passed away after suffering a broken hip earlier in the month.
I have been talking on this site for a long time about my exploration with the Gowlandflex, the ingenious 4×5 reflex camera Gowland designed and built. As well as being an inventor, Peter was an innovator in Glamour photography. In 2006 Double Exposure’s Lynne Eodice wrote about Peter and Alice:
For many years, Peter Gowland’s name has been synonymous with glamour photography. The son of an actor, Peter was born in Hollywood and became involved with the movie industry at an early age. After he decided that he preferred doing still photography to acting, he went on to photograph some of the biggest stars in Hollywood, interiors of beautiful Los Angeles homes, and numerous swimsuit models. As a photographer, he has over 1000 magazine covers, photographs in prestigious publications (including Playboy centerfolds) and 25 books to his credit.
Peter with his magazine covers
I’m sorry I never had a chance to meet Peter in person. Though he is gone there are about 800 Gowland cameras out in the world, some with the top photographers in the world (Annie Liebovitz, Yousuif Karsh, Phillipe Halsman, Dennis Manarchy, John Huet, Arthur Grace, David Raccuglia, Arthur Elgort, and Mark Laita). I think Peter and Alice would be happy to know that we are still using his cameras to make great images. If you’re shooting with a Gowlandflex, please send me links to your work. I think it would be a great tribute to him to create a gallery of images showing Gowland’s effect on photography.
Fuji 160 VC Color Negative 4x5 shot with Gowlandflex
Here is a quick recap for those who just tuned in. I started this blog when I bought my Gowlandflex camera. That’s why it was called “BigAssCamera”. The goal was to use the Gowland camera to shoot portraits on Type 55. My timing couldn’t have been worse. Polaroid pulled the plug on Type 55 right about the time I took delivery on the new camera. I have 8 boxes of 55 I’m saving for something very special. Meanwhile I’ve been looking at alternatives to get where I had intended to go with that film stock. Working with my partner in crime, the talented retoucher Chrysta Giffen, we experimented on some outtakes from the ongoing Freckles Portrait Project. Here are the results of our exploration.
Digital capture combined with scans of Type 55 and other film stocks
Fuji 160VC plus some loving from CGRetouching
I’m on the lookout for a pair of 8″ Petzval portrait lenses. If you know of a source for these please send me a message. These lenses were made starting in 1840. They are characterized by extremely sharp center of focus with a quick falloff to a swirly bokeh. My plan is to try to adapt them to fit on the Gowlandflex, so if you have any experience with this also please let me know.
-Michael
My parents were here in SF visiting over Thanksgiving so I used some of my precious and aging supply of Type 55 to make some portraits of them. Being that they are my parents they are willing but not necessarily agreeable portrait subjects.
This was a happy Gowlandflex accident. My finger slipped while cocking the shutter. I was going to dump this but instead made a second exposure and processed it out. I caught my dad smiling and looking tough on one piece of film. He always wants to look super serious in photos.
I don’t think my dad will like this picture but hopefully he won’t be too mad that I posted it. I love shooting this close with the Gowlandflex. It’s a challenge because the parallax adjustment on the camera can’t compensate at this distance, so the composition is always a guess. Seeing how well the Rodenstock 150mm lens performs this close you know it’s worth fussing a bit with the camera to make it work.
While I’m talking about my parents I should give them a little blog shout out. They are fantastic artists you can see their work here and here.
This last photo is also with the Gowlandflex but it’s on Fuji 160s not Type 55. You can see why so many people loved the Type 55. It’s just as sharp as you can imagine but with an incredible soft tonality and the Polaroid x-factor that is hard to match.
I’m still having lots of fun taking the Fuji Instax camera to parties. Of course I could take a digital camera and that would be lots easier but digital is so 2008.
The Louis Vutton windows on Union Square with blogosphere star Miki Johnson.
Grab shot walking down the street on our way to Michael Garlington’s opening at Gallery 291.
The Fujiroids burn out when you put to much light through the lens. This photo with the sun in the background looks like a UFO is landing in San Francisco. Of course we all know UFOs landed in S.F. years ago, otherwise how could you explain our Board of Supervisors.
Our local APA chapter just had a great event on editing. On the panel were Wired contributing photographer Joe Pugliese and Wired Photography Editor Anna Alexander talking about the editorial assignment process and Norman Maslov Agent Internationale and Sue Tallon talking about portfolio editing. In the interest of full disclosure I am on the board of APA-SF.
If you weren’t there you missed a great discussion about all things editing. I have one juicy tidbit to share – especially for my Gowlandflex, Type 55 followers. After all, that big, beautiful, beast of a camera was the reason I started this blog. Here goes: Wired, the magazine of the digerati, prefers film. Yep you heard it here. They not only are okay with photographers shooting film on assignment but prefer and encourage it. Joe Pugliese, Todd Hido, Dan Winters – all shoot film for Wired. So dust off your 4×5 holders and unplug yourself for a minute. Film isn’t dead.
Meanwhile you can read about and see photos from a Dan Winters shoot with Brad Pitt – on 4×5 – for Wired here on WTJ.
If you are lucky enough to be in San Francisco on September 23 2009, APA is hosting a lecture by Dan Winters about his new book Periodical Photographs, Aperture press 2009 at AAU. Details coming soon on the APAsf.com website.
A few months ago we had the time and opportunity to visit our cousin Andrey in
It’s hard as an American not to have wildly inaccurate preconceptions about progress change in
The result of all the new building (they’ve had the best architects in the world working overtime) and the rapid cultural and economic development is a duality between new and old that seems present in every aspect of life. This uneasy and very rapid mix of the new into a very old place manifests itself physically in the streets and buildings, culturally in the art, politics and clothes and psychologically in the outlook of young and older generations
Heading to
The other critical element for this shoot was the ‘fixer’ Lin Jing. We really got lucky finding her. She was amazing. Her tireless energy and willingness to approach strangers on our behalf really made the shoot work. I ended up finding her through my old college friend Kay Chin Tay in
Well the work is finally online here: winokurphotography.com I hope you will take a look. One last step for us, sending prints to everyone we photographed. As always a BIG big up to my crew on this project: Iana Simeonov, Lin Jing and Chrysta Geffin.
-Michael
