Super 8 + Polaroids

February 10, 2025

So picking up the blog again this year to share some more work I’ve been doing. A lot to be honest! And it needs to be seen! Last summer, I shot a lovely little elopement in Chelsea, Manhattan with Charlotte and Paul who came down from Canada just for the occasion and I absolutely love their final elopement film!

I also shot a handful of Polaroids for them to memorialize the day with some tangible photos and they look amazing. This all was made even better because these two had style to match the retro analog mediums I was using. So chic! So mod! I was living for their vibe, and to top it off, we were in the iconic Hotel Chelsea.

Charlotte+Paul Elopement Polaroids + NCV - 01.jpg

Charlotte+Paul Elopement Polaroids + NCV - 03.jpg

After getting ready in the room, we headed to the rooftop for a few photos and a glass of wine, then off to Madison Square Park for their small elopement, which is impossible in NYC because the whole city is your audience and so many people stopped to watch. It was all very cute and their elopement was very sweet.

Super 8 and Polaroids are so great for elopements since it’s a more casual and fun way to remember the day as it felt like. A bit of a dream… but a great dream!

Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) at the Cult Gaia opening on 8x10 Polaroid film

NYFW - Cult Gaia Store Opening // 8x10 Polaroids

January 31, 2024

Last February, I was hired to shoot some large format 8x10 Polaroids at a store opening party for the fashion brand, Cult Gaia, in SoHo. The event was packed and had some notable guests including Emily Ratajkowski.

I was shooting for Brooklyn Film Camera and had my buddy Sam Dole assist me. Sam previously did some assisting for the 1923 shoot I also assisted on and is well-versed in all things large format. We set up outside the store right next to their red carpet and after a test shot we were ready for action.

@weworewhat

@wuzg00d

@yoventura

@sandrashehab

@katyatolstova

I ended up shooting over 50 8x10 Polaroids that evening. A lot of cool fits and some familiar faces of the NYC Fashion world but the highlight was definitely Emily Ratajkowski stopping by to get a couple portraits of her and the owner of the store, Jasmin Larian. Given the chilly temps outside, they came out absolutely stunning and everyone loved seeing their Polaroid.

Hoping to do more 8x10 work this year. It’s quite the process but the results are next level, especially in person.

Jasmin Larian (@jasminlarian), owner of Cult Gaia, at the store opening on 8x10 Polaroid

NYFW Inherent show BTS // Large Format + 35mm + Polaroids

October 20, 2023

I love shooting NYFW. It’s fun. It’s exhausting. The outfits are insane. You meet cool people. The energy is fantastic. So when my friend, Burke, asked me to shoot some BTS alongside him at the Inherent fashion show at NYFW back in February and said “bring whatever cameras you want”, I was in.

So with that much flexibility... I’ll share a bit about the cameras I ended up bringing for those interested…

I’m always up for a challenge, so I brought my Graflex Super D large format SLR camera with some BW film pushed to 1600 since I figured NYFW isn’t often captured on large format these days and now is the time to make it happen. Then I had my Canon AE-1P with the Lomography 85mm Petzval lens with CineStill 800T and as a silly last thing, I brought a Polaroid Passport 2-lens camera and some very expired Polaroid 669 peelapart film for some diptychs.

Unfortunately, I could only stay for the setup as I had plans that evening but it was great just capturing the models and the show BTS in those moments.

I posted most of on my instagram already but with NYFW having just happened again at the beginning of September, figured I’d get these up on the blog.

**Rosario Dawson on expired Polaroid 669 film**

NYFW SS2022 on Large Format Film // 4x5 + Polaroid

September 28, 2021

Been a little while since I’ve written here but that definitely doesn’t mean I haven’t been shooting. I’ve been burning through film like mad! I just happened to get back a newly modified antique (or vintage should I say) large format camera the week of New York Fashion Week so figured it was a good opportunity to test it out!

A little more background on the camera (or skip this for the cool photos!)... it is a late 1940s Graflex Super D 3x4 large format SLR camera. Not your average SLR as it’s about 10x as big and with film to match and you look down to focus it. A great guy and amazing photographer, Jonathan Canlas, who runs The FIND Lab in Utah gave it to me when I briefly stopped by his studio space last fall on a roadtrip and chatted all things film. He said it was just collecting dust on his shelf and he felt like I’d put it to good use and I’d wager he was right! Unfortunately, it uses a rare film size and is hard to find, so I sent it to Graham at Graflex Parts who specializes in repairing these in order to use more readily available 4x5 film and allows me to shoot my favorite Polaroid peel-apart film! Anyways, onto the photos! Be sure to click them for the full screen viewing!

So met up with my guy, Naeem, who is a fellow film shooter and hit Spring Studios in SoHo which generally serves as the hub for New York Fashion Week and is always a good spot for street style photos as people come and go to the runway shows. The large format camera definitely attracted quite a lot of looks from the people attending the shows as well as the other photographers shooting. If you’re curious to see some of the BTS of me shooting, there’s a story highlight on my instagram of NYFW that shows me using it, peeling some Polaroids and developing the negatives in my “darkroom” aka bathroom. Jostling for people’s attention and to tell them this would take a minute wasn’t always easy but the results speak for themselves. I only took one shot of each person so had to make it count! No digital burst mode on this thing. The shots above are a few of my favorite portraits.

But as far as outfits go… lots of patterns throughout the weekend which personally I’m a huge fan of.

And the guys were bringing the vibes as well.

Definitely a highlight was unexpectedly seeing Rosario Dawson and getting a couple shots of her in a stunning, patterned dress from Studio 189 and shot my first Polaroid of NYFW with her. Luckily it came out fantastic!

Also spotted my friend and model, Sarah Jane Nader, and her sister, Brooks Nader, and snagged a couple portraits as they ran in and out of the building.

And of course, shot some Polaroids with the camera as well. All on expired Polaroid 669 film from around 2006. The peels always get crazy reactions which are hilarious but I love hearing the reactions each time. Rosario actually thanked the “Graflex” in her video.

Here’s a few other random shots from the weekend of various people I managed to stop for a portrait.

Ending with a couple portraits of Naeem and my wife, Halla, who both were servin for the NYFW weekend! And a portrait Naeem took of me looking disheveled holding the camera and my FW fit on his medium format Yashica 124G TLR camera.

Matty Marz - "Nu Eyes" // 16mm + MiniDV + Polaroids + 35mm

May 30, 2021

A long overdue blog post! I recently released a new music video in collaboration with Halla Creative for the musician, Matty Marz! And in the midst of a pandemic no less.

I first met Matty when I shot some portraits for him last December, my first indoor shoot since the beginning of the pandemic but was totally worth it. My wife Halla (of Halla Creative) and I were masked up and ready to shoot when Matty came over and we just went off on that shoot. Matty told us he was planning a music video for his upcoming single “Nu Eyes” and wanted us on the project to shoot it on film! So check out the full video below for all the punk-pop vibes you’ve been needing in your life this year!

This video was directed by Matty and assistant directed by Halla Creative and was a wild one because not only was it still a pandemic, but it would be shot in an empty gymnasium out on Long Island on 3 different formats. 16mm film. MiniDV tape and a modern digital camera. So we were spanning nearly 70 years of cinema filmmaking. And to top it off, a few Polaroids, expired and new with some 35mm tossed in there. And brought on my buddy, Jason Bullok, as digital camera op to help make this video shine.

The song was about leaving childhood baggage and having a glow-up so we figured that some school portrait-type Polaroids were in order because why not! And also shot some other 35mm stills throughout the shoot on including a few on some particularly rad rainbow film from BKIFI.

That’s it!

Director: Matty Marz

Assistant Director: Stephanie Haller of Halla Creative

DP: Nick Collingwood

Camera Operator: Jason Bullok

PA: Kyle Foxworth

HMU: Veli

Shot on Kodak Vision3 500T 16mm film

Processing by Kodak NYC

Bolex rental and 16mm scans provided by Mono No Aware

MiniDV camera provided by my mom

Nikon FM2 with Vision3 500T from Mono No Aware and rainbow film by BKIFI Film

That’s it!

Super 8mm and Polaroid work featured on

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