Lomography Magazine: Purple Places with Nick Collingwood

One thing I truly love about film is the endless possibilities to capture images in a unique way. Whether it’s different cameras, lenses or the film itself, everything makes a difference. So when I grabbed a roll of Lomography’s crazy LomoChrome Purple film, I wanted to shoot something different with it. My friends at Lomography NYC noticed some of my shots and wanted to do a little interview with me for Lomography Magazine about my experience with the film! So check it out!

We’ve all taken so many travel photos around the world but often times, they can begin to look very similar to everyone else’s photos. So I used this film to change up my view a bit while travelling and really loved the results!

Technically I shot half the roll with an Olympus XA in Lisbon around March (then my camera died…) and so I saved it and shot the rest of the roll in May when I went to the west coast and visited Joshua Tree and Palm Springs and used my Olympus Infinity Stylus . Check out the full interview and more photos on Lomography Magazine!

And many thanks to the Lomography NYC crew for creating an awesome film community here in NYC. Love those people.

Fall Finger Lakes Getaway // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

As is tradition, my wife and her best friend planned a weekend getaway to somewhere in the Northeast to celebrate their birthdays. Been going strong about 4-5 years now and is always somewhere new. So packed my backpack with my Super 8, a Polaroid camera and a 35mm camera (and some clothes) and we set out to the Finger Lakes region in Upstate NY for the weekend. You can see the Super 8 I shot below!

First of all, this AirBnB the 10 of us stayed in was unreal! This beautiful Victorian-esque house that looked like it was from a magazine. Would be a great spot for a photoshoot or small wedding. Not to mention the Airstream in the backyard fully decked out for taking on the road! Oh and a super rad abandoned barn as well.

I brought along some expired Kodak Ektachrome for my Super 8 camera which came out wonderfully and I’m so excited that Ektachrome has now returned to production from Kodak. Projecting color Super 8 film is such a awesome experience. Once I was back in NYC, I hand processed the film with the help of Steve Cossman of MONO NO AWARE at the Gowanus Community Darkroom. Really an incredible feeling to process and then immediately see the color reversal images I shot on the lightbox.

Also brought my Polaroid 110B with some expired Polaroid 669 film which always has amazing blue hues and expired Fujifilm FP-3000B. Fit in my custom CB-70 back for the 110B so I could shoot some Polaroid Originals B&W film. And tucked in my little Olympus XA and some Fuji Pro400H to top it all off. A good spread of film types and formats to play around with. The 669 I used for some landscape and portraits which I was really happy with. It’s such a unique and interesting film to use. It’s got a bit of a reputation for aging like a fine wine. Then the 3000B and Polaroid Originals film I used for some interiors of our awesome place. Pretty faded but it all worked! Below are the prints and the negatives of the FP-3000B film.

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While we were there, we had to hit up a farm with a corn maze and eat some cider donuts and hot cider of course. Pet a llama. The usual stuff. Then hung out at our funky home and before heading home, stopped by a little town right off one of the lakes. Upstate NY is definitely a gorgeous area in the fall! Just shot some more Super 8 and film last weekend at this year’s trip and I’m excited to process it!

Jessica & Jeremy Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

Jessica and Jeremy are a special one for me... mainly because they are related to me! Jessica is my sister-in-law and now Jeremy will be my brother-in-law. I was a guest at this wedding but as any photographer knows, it's hard to resist taking some photos and Jessica had actually reached out beforehand asking if I didn't mind taking a few. Uh... Yes!

This was a bit of a trip for me since this is only the second time I've ever been to the west coast! Last time I was out there was when I got engaged!

But anyways! The wedding took place in Camarillo about an hour north of LA, where they have been living, on a beautiful avocado/blueberry farm called Gerry Ranch. I must say farm weddings on the west coast are just about everything a film photographer could ask for. Great light. Great landscape. Obviously fantastic weather! I'm in.

Even so, I tried to not be that obnoxious guest with the big camera poking my way into the shots and had a great time shooting alongside Brittany of BKM Photography. She quickly fell in love with the Polaroids and Super 8 and was even shooting a bit of film herself. I was going around with my lovely Polaroid 110B with Instax Wide and expired Polaroid 689 film, my Polaroid SLR680 with Polaroid Originals color film and then Super 8 on my small Nizo 156 Macro and some glorious Fuji Provia shipped from Japan by Retro8. I don't travel light when it comes to cameras...

This time it's a mini wedding film as I was a seated guest doing my best to behave. Also it's actually an excerpt out of the 2 rolls of Super 8 I shot during the road trip my wife and I did while in the LA area. One day I'll get that up on the blog! You can see Jess's mini film below!

Overall, a really fun wedding with family and I was more than thrilled to capture a few moments of it on film.

Exploring Chicago // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

Last August, I had the opportunity to film a wedding outside of Chicago (check it out here!) and always eager to travel, my wife and I decided to make a weekend trip out of it. I grabbed some very expired and grainy black and white Super 8 film I got from someone I met at the Jazz Age Lawn Party and of course, had my Polaroid Spectra with me as well as my newly purchased Olympus XA 35mm camera (loaded with Fuji Pro 400H and Ilford XP2). You can see the Super 8 and plenty of Polaroids/35mm below!

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Having not been to Chicago since I was on a school field trip back in high school, I was excited to check it out. I do love living in NYC quite a bit but am always curious how other major cities stack up. My visit to LA a couple years ago didn't thrill me to be honest so the idea of a more metropolitan style city that is more chill than NYC is intriguing.

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We stayed in the Ukrainian Village above a quite lively bar but we loved it. A cool space and cool neighborhood. Chicago is DEFINITELY less dense than NYC and it was very apparent. Not bad, just took some getting used to. Less people. Less buildings. Still a big city.

 Also got to see a breathtaking MURAKAMI exhibit which was a highlight. Such intricate work and he's done so many incredible collaborations.

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Also went up north of Chicago to explore the Baha’i temple which is the main one in the North America I believe. A truly gorgeous temple and the grounds were very serene as well.

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Overall, good times in Chicago and loving how this extremely grainy, expired Tri-X turned out.

P.S. Had a couple of funny film experiences in Chicago:

First, was walking through Wicker Park area and saw this pickup truck slow down and just yell “YO NICK…….. I FOLLOW YOUR SHIT!! ….SUPER 8!!” and then sped off. To say the least, I was dumbfounded at the interaction. Amazing that someone recognized me walking down the street and shouted to me. The world is a weird place sometimes. I did later find out WHO it was via instagram and met them at the BFC Film Meetup a month later. Crazy!

Also we splurged a bit and bought tickets to see Hamilton since NYC tickets are 3x the price and sold out for close to a decade. Well during the intermission, a guy walks up to me and says “Hey. You didn’t happen to be out in the Ukrainian Village earlier were you?” To which I replied, a bit stunned,“Yes probably” and he said “Ya I saw you shooting with that Super 8 camera and thought to myself ‘Wow! I haven’t seen that in ages!’” We both had a little chat about how he used to shoot film before intermission concluded. Love how film can bring people young and old together.

As another small film thing, got to check out Central Camera Co. which has been around for over a century! So rad!

Labor Day Getaway // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

It's arrived! Fall is upon us and Labor Day in a lot of ways always feels like the close to summer. Either one last hurrah at the beach like I did this year, or a start to fall weather which is perfect for being outdoors and hiking. Last year had a little weekend getaway with my then-fiancée to Lake Placid, NY for a chill weekend. Documented the weekend in this little Super 8 film below.

Canon 814XL-S | Agfachrome 200D

So I captured our travels with my newly acquired Super 8 camera, the Canon 814XL-S, which is a bit of a beast but it has a great lens on there. Also had my Canon AE-1P and a Polaroid Spectra camera (actually a Minolta Instant Pro). Being inspired by Jonathan Canlas photography, I experimented with shooting Ektar 100 pushed two stops. Got some interesting results for sure. Need to try it next time in less contrasty environments.

Anyways! We went on some hikes, cooked up some bacon, and just had fun in the outdoors. We stayed in this hilariously small but quaint shack that looked like it hadn't been touched since the 70s and we loved it.

While exploring the nearby area, we stumbled upon Chapel Pond, which apparently allows you to swim in so we couldn't resist. Both hopped into the very chilly waters for a few minutes before heading on. We managed to find a fantastic lookout during our hike at Indian Head and Fish Hawk Cliffs BUT there were these unbelievably annoying flies that seriously would NOT stop biting us. It was unreal! We could hardly enjoy the amazing views because those suckers hurt. So we abandoned that spot and made the long trek back down to our car.

When we left we couldn't help but stop for a quick hike to this one lake that had a huge jumping off rock and it was pretty awesome. About 15-20 feet high and straight into the cold waters of the lake. Worth it. Changed our clothes in the car and headed back to dear old NYC. A relaxing weekend to say the least.