in search of light ... and water ...

This week's theme for 52 Photos Project is water. I have wanted to practice using my SX-70 camera in preparation for a family trip to Italy later this summer. As The Impossible Project film requires oodles of light, my poor camera has been packed away during this Spring of gloom and doom. So on a rare day of sunshine, I excitedly pulled her out and shot the only water nearby ... my kitchen faucet.


What I love - and what drives me crazy - about this film is its unpredictability. You have to shield it when it comes out of the camera and let it develop upside down. It can be very unstable, turning magenta in places where there is a lot of white; eventually it will turn blue. Many of my shots have an insipid baby blue cast to them.

There are lots of discussions on how to work around these problems. You can try peeling the image within ten minutes of shooting it (talk about frantic antics! and I always get chemical goo all over me); you can tape the back with electrical tape (black goo problem); storing the picture upright can slow the blue blobs down somewhat; and now there are drying bags you can store your finished polaroids in that is supposed to help.

The latest talk has been around heating the images while they developed. I foolishly put some shots in a warm oven and got bubbly pictures! But this day being warm and sunny, I shot the pictures into a box and then placed that outside on a step where the sun would heat it. I am really pleased with the results which show better color saturation. Italy should be nice and sunny, so fingers crossed I get some decent shots. (And I have those drying bags just in case.)




Any additional tips for this film would be welcome! It definitely transforms the experience of taking pictures into an adventure. And I am an official card-carrying Pioneer of Impossible film. Perfect for this prairie gal and her cowgirl. ♥