Meet the new boss

Originally uploaded by Hilary (curioush)

I bought this guy last weekend off of Craigslist. Earlier in the week I bought the Polaroid SX-70 off of Craigslist that I used to take this photo of the Canon.

This all started with this photo of my grandpa feeding my dad.

A few weeks ago I was back-and-forthing with my friend Darren on Facebook and he asked about this photo and what a great look it had and we got into a photography discussion and it reminded me that I really want to learn to develop film before the opportunity passes me by.

I sort of came to photography from the wrong direction. Or the right direction. My direction. Anyway, I started with a digital camera and then began to shoot a little film in a Holga and then picked up Polaroids and have a few other film cameras but I've never really learned the fundamentals of photography. Someday I'd like to have a little darkroom but first I need to learn how to develop film.

I see that there are classes in film development at the community college. So I needed to get a camera that would be worth shooting with. I've always liked the looks of this Canon, the AE-1. It's just so handsome.

I've been vaguely poking around eBay and elsewhere for a while, thinking maybe I'd pick one up someday. Conversations with Darren and the community college course schedule arriving in my mailbox just about collided with me getting a tax refund in the mail. Most of that is more than spoken for, but I took a little bit and bought this camera and the SX-70 last week. I got terrific deals on both and I am so so happy about that.

I've been cracking open photography books and magazines, which is a change because my heart's not been in the learning and reading for a little while here and I'm feeling reinvigorated and excited about photography in a way that I've been missing for a bit.

Polaroids

Originally uploaded by Hilary (curioush)

I took this in my kitchen the other day. With a Polaroid SX-70. A wonderful camera. I only picked one up a while after Polaroid discontinued its film, unfortunately.

You can use (the fairly common) 600 film in it, but it takes a bit of adjustment, and it still lacks the qualities of the original film. And now that Polaroid has discontinued all film production, 600 is becoming harder to find.

Good news for Polaroid may be on the horizon. There are reports that integral* film may come back into production, if The Impossible Project comes to fruition. Yay!



* e.g., 600, SX-70. The kind that the camera spits out in one piece. The "shake it like a Polaroid picture" kind. Pack film -- the two-part kind used in Holgaroids and for Polaroid transfers and emulsion lifts -- is still a goner. For now, at least.