Super 8 + Polaroids + 120

March 21, 2020

Last fall, had some time to finally check out NYFW a bit and capture it on film. Definitely a small handful of photographers out there during fashion week shooting film and even smaller shooting Super 8 and Polaroids so figured it’d be something a bit outside of the standard. Even managed to get backstage at the Kid Super show to shoot some Super 8!

Spring Street Studios in SoHo is the main location for many of the fashion shows since it split up it’s single location shows that used to be held in Lincoln Center. This makes for a variety of strange and interesting locations like the COACH show I went to on the highline and the Kid Super fashion show inside an under construction building in Williamsburg.

Like my friend and fashion street style photographer, Dan Bassini, I didn’t have an invite to any of the shows (until a last minute favor from a friend for the Kid Super show) so I primarily strolled around the areas where the shows were to grab some portraits. I primarily shot with my Polaroid 110B which definitely drew a lot of surprised looks as well as a Mamiya C330 medium format camera, also a looker. Without autofocus and all manual, it required some waving of the cameras and polite requests to get portraits but in the end, was worth it. The Super 8 I shot outside of Spring was a casual but fun avenue to get “moving portraits” of the models.

The COACH show at the highline was truly a mass of big names and people attending and the crowd showed. Anna Wintor and a variety of other larger names outside of my knowledge passed through the crowd to attend the show.

With Kid Super, an NYC friend happened to be producing the show and managed to get me backstage of the show featuring the hip-hop artist, Action Bronson, to shoot some Super 8 and 35mm BTS. Was a dope show featuring garments made entirely out of recycled fabrics. It was a weekend highlight. Shot some quick 35mm shots during and after the show of the people and outfits at that show and there were some real standouts.

Was just at it again this year, with a few custom Instax cameras and 35mm cameras so hopefully posting those soon!

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

October 31, 2018

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.

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!

Jazz Age Lawn Party 2018 // Super 8 + Polaroids + 120

August 17, 2018

Michael Arenella's Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor's Island in NYC every summer is such a fantastic time. People dressed to the nine's in 1920's outfits (some authentic!), great jazz, old cameras... it's a great combo. So getting to help out the Penumbra Foundation shoot tintypes at the event and capture it all on Super 8, Polaroids and 120 is a swell time for sure. Take a gander at the Super 8 I shot below!

This was the 4th year I've attended the event and the third time helping the Penumbra Foundation's Tintype Studio out at the event. (You can see my previous Super 8 and film photos for 2017, 2016 & 2015) Penumbra shoots actual tintypes on location at the event using 4x5 or 5x7 cameras and people can walk out of the event with a tintype in hand. People are always quite surprised that the format is still around similar to their reaction to me shooting Polaroids and Super 8. Some of the Penumbra crew like to call tintypes the 19th century "Polaroid" as it takes merely a few minutes for the finished photo to be seen.

The last few years, I've helped them out and documented both the event and their booth on Super 8 using a Nizo 801 Macro camera and some Kodak Tri-X film. Never one to travel light on cameras, I also like to bring along other cameras since portrait worthy people are plentiful so I brought my Polaroid 110B with my Instax Wide back and peelapart back with some expired Polaroid 664 film which had mixed results. Also brought my Polaroid 680SLR and then a Mamiya 7 I borrowed from a friend for the weekend to try out since I've never really shot 120 film. Needless to say from the results below but that camera is sharp! Combined with some expired Tri-X and some Fujifilm Pro 400H film in there, it really shined.

Jazz Age 120 portait - Mamiya 7 (Kodak Tri-X).jpg

This year I opted to process the Super 8 film I shot myself with some help from Steve Cossman of Mono No Aware (which is a great cinema arts non-profit based in NYC which teaches tons of workshops on filmmaking on actual film). I used an old Russian processing tank called a Lomo tank which is similar to Patterson tanks for still photography. I was nervous but the processing went great and you can see from the results above the Super 8 came out well. Eager to process more film now!

I'll be missing out on the festivities this weekend but I'm sure I'll be back in 2019! Many thanks to the Penumbra Foundation for the opportunity! And I'll leave you with a few shots of my Penumbra buds for the weekend.

Jessica & Jeremy Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

June 20, 2018

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

April 12, 2018

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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

Super 8mm and Polaroid work featured on

Instagram