Super 8 + Polaroids

April 21, 2023

With a little bit of a wedding backlog, this one is from before the world went crazy. It’s Tori and Eric’s Hudson Valley wedding on Super 8 and Polaroids! They had a lovely little ceremony upstate in the Hudson Valley literally overlooking the Hudson River. It was stunning! Take a look below!

I also was shooting a bit of instant film that day and got some truly wonderful moments on the custom Instax camera I was using. The black and white instant film really just fits so well with weddings. So classic and chic!

I’ve got a bunch of weddings to post and really want the world to see them so promise to start posting in the blog more often!

Congrats to Tori and Eric and hope they’re doing well!

Leather Curtains & Trenchcoats with Caity & Rachel // Super 8 + Polaroids

September 19, 2020

Back in February juuuuust before the pandemic really locked down NYC, a few friends and I got together to hang out and shoot a bit. I was showing my buddy. Jordan, who shoots more Polaroids than even me, how to use a large format 4x5 camera with Polaroid film. Caity was a friend of his who modeled and was kind enough to hang out in front of the camera for some of the night.

I shot several Polaroids of Caity on my smaller Polaroid 110B camera as well as one on the large format camera with Supersense’s ONE INSTANT film (the orange one above), a reincarnation of a dead Polaroid film format. She was serving the retro looks in the trench coat with those glasses and the film just matched those vibes perfectly.

Also, as I do, I brought along a Super 8 camera with a bit of expired film in there to shoot. Near the end of the night as we were switching up outfits, she found a leather curtain of sorts and fashioned it into a makeshift outfit. Why not? And with that, I shot a bit of the Super 8 and threw together a quick edit with the footage for fun.

His friend, Rachel, was modeling that night as well and I got some pretty stellar shots of her on the various Polaroid cameras we had around to test.

Looking forward to being back in NYC and in the studio again soon! 2020 can’t stop me!

And for the film nerds reading… the specifics of the cameras used:

Large Format - Cambo 4x5 View Camera with Polaroid 405 back (Polaroid 669 expired ~01, Supersense ONE INSTANT film, Ilford FP4)
Super 8 - Canon 514XL (Kodak Vision2 500T expired - Dev/Scan by MetroPost)
Polaroid - Polaroid 110B modified (Polaroid 669 expired ~08)

An Italian August in Sperlonga // Super 8 + 120 + 35mm + Polaroids

August 18, 2020

It’s hard to remember now but there used to be a time that one could travel and it was rather lovely. Last year around this time I had the chance to travel with some friends to their family’s vacation home in Sperlonga, Italy and I couldn’t pass that up! It was a brief but relaxing trip just hanging out in this small beach town halfway between Rome and Naples. A bit different than American beach towns and I am for it!

I did, of course, have to bring some cameras and, if ya know me at all, it wasn’t just one. I did manage to fit them into a small shoulder sling though so it wasn’t too bad. A small Super 8 camera with Ektachrome, a friend’s TLR medium format camera, a little 35mm compact and my favorite Polaroid camera with some expired film.

(Click any images for full size)

Had some fun with the Super 8 throughout the week and mainly just chose to shoot little Italian scenes and then the occasional wild boat ride. I hand processed the film at Mono No Aware in Brooklyn, a great little non-profit I help with sometimes. Also shooting medium format while traveling was different. Given the slow pace and fewer exposures, the photos weren’t quick snapshots but I think the results were worth it.

We didn’t do much, which was a change of pace for Stephanie and I but we quickly adapted and enjoyed it. Italian life is totally foreign (for lack of a more fitting term) to us Americans. The streets were empty before 10am (which now makes the photos give off erie COVID era vibes) and an early afternoon coffee break was the norm. Not much of a coffee drinker myself but didn’t mind the pace of life. Nightlife even for kids continued pretty late in the streets which explained the deserted mornings.

Our friend’s family home was quite vertical and narrow but so quaint and had an incredible rooftop view of the town, especially at sunset. Many evenings were spent drinking wine and have some fresh mozzarella there. I miss it!

We rented a small motor boat a couple of the days for some brief excursions to small coves and even a little island for lunch and wine. Just getting off of the land and looking back at the cute little town was amazing. Things may have gotten a bit rowdy on the boat as we sped around. Not going to lie. And we did run out of gas at one point on the water which was a bit awkward but we survived. We also made a brief stop in Naples to see the city of Pompeii which was pretty amazing and of course for some fantastic pizza and a speeding ticket as well. What can ya do!

These days, such a trip seems like such a fairy tale, and even then it was. Looking forward to more goofy and relaxing travels with friends in the future when we all can travel again! Until then, still lifes with my plants will have to do. I’ll leave ya with a portrait of Stephanie and I on the TLR courtesy of my friend, Alex.

And for the film nerds reading… the specifics of my little film travel kit are

Medium format - Mamiya C330 (Lomography CN100. Lomography F2 400, Kodak Ektachrome 100 expired, Fuji Pro400H)
35mm - Olympus Infinity Stylus (Kodak ProImage 100, Kodak Ektar 100, Kodak Tri-X)
Super 8 - Canon 514XL (Kodak Ektachrome 7285 expired)
Polaroid - Polaroid 110B modified (Polaroid 669 expired, Polaroid 689 expired)

Demi Ramos - Polaroid 59 expired 4x5 film- 01.jpg

"How to Wear a Jean Jacket" with Demi Ramos // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

May 30, 2020

Before the pandemic really locked down NYC, I was shooting portraits as a creative outlet and mixing various cameras and formats. I chatted with Demi who was playing a concert with another musician I’d worked with and we met up for a quick shoot back in February.

I shot just a bit of expired Super 8 film that day and edited it down into a little fashion film featuring a taste of Demi’s personality while rocking a vintage jean jacket of mine.

Also shot some large format, Polaroids and 35mm and played around with putting together a wardrobe of sorts, which led to this retro set. I didn’t get a chance to get most of this film processed before the quarantine so I finally figured out how to process it at home myself and loved the results!

When all this dust settles in NYC, I’ll definitely hit up one of her shows because I know Demi goes hard!

Demi 35mm contact sheet fujifilm - 10.jpg

Brittany & Alex - Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

February 12, 2019

A wedding on a lake house in Connecticut where the bride and groom are entering the cocktail hour on a motorboat? And I’m there to capture it all on Super 8? Count me in. Plus, Brittany and Alex were such a fun and chill couple and their family and friends were a blast. And to top it off, their photographer, Dan Crosley, would be photographing the whole thing on film as well. A 100% film wedding! So rad! Take a peek at their Super 8mm wedding film below as well as some of the instant photos I took.

As much as I love New York City, any New Yorker will admit to wanting to get out of the city for a break and soak in some nature. So getting to capture a wedding at a family lake house with the ceremony taking place right on the water was absolutely amazing. Right after their ceremony on the waterfront, the couple hopped on a bona fide yellow school bus and jetted over to the other side of the lake for some portraits.

This all leading up to some friends in a motorboat arriving to pick them up at sunset and shuttling them across the lake to the all of the wedding guests eagerly waiting for them to arrive. It was pretty fantastic. Then the fun just kept going with their dancing-filled reception and some hysterical toasts. What an evening and so happy for them as they start life together!