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

Lexi Todd - "Madonna" // 16mm + 120 + Polaroids

October 29, 2019

Excited to share the single artwork and music video along with some press images for Lexi Todd’s newest single, “Madonna”. Lexi is a local Brooklyn musician who has a very soulful yet pop sound and I was beyond thrilled to work with her. Halla Creative did all of the concepting and design for both the single artwork as well as the music video.

The single was very much about being your own queen and ditching to the status quo, which is where the name “Madonna” came from with her genre-defining and defying music and performances. So with that in mind, Halla Creative and I set out to create a concept that would mesh both Lexi’s vintage-y, soulful sound with strong “queen”-type imagery. Stephanie Haller of Halla Creative also directed the music video.

The art for her single artwork, promo materials as well as the music video were shot on a variety of film formats including Polaroids, 16mm, 120 and 35mm. We also had shot some additional photos for press, socials, etc and were really in love with the results.

With the music video, we wanted the vibe to match the single artwork in the vintage vibe and powerful, straight-on posing. Shot on expired 16mm Kodak film with a Bolex H16, the look blended beautifully meshed with Lexi’s aesthetics. You can watch the music video below.

CREW

Music: Lexi Todd

Cinematographer: Nick Collingwood

Design/Director: Halla Creative (Stephanie Haller)

Styling: Tyler MacDonald

Processing & 2K Scans: Kodak Lab NYC

Key Grip/Gaffer: Jason Bullok

Camera Rental: MONO NO AWARE

H Collective - Hub Day NYC // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

March 15, 2019

Recently I stumbled upon a creative collaboration network of sorts called H Collective or The Hub. So I went to their Hub Day meetup last summer at Mona Liza Studios in Bushwick, Brooklyn with a half roll of expired Kodak Super 8 film, a Polaroid camera and some 35mm film in a point and shoot. Figured why not. Check the chopped up Super 8 film I shot at the event below.

Basically, they connect artists with brands; so photographers models, hair and make up artists and videography and lots of other creative types can meet and then connect to brands that want them to shoot. I wanted to check it out. See what was up and get some cool shots in the process.

Met some cool people and despite the on and off torrential downpour that day, managed to get some cool shots at the various shooting set ups they had through the warehouse/studio space. Was definitely a cool vibe.

Cameras I used:

Super 8 - Canon 814XL-S // 35mm - Olympus Stylus Infinity // Polaroid - Polaroid SLR680

Nick Christian MacDonald "Man on the Moon" // Super 8 + 16mm

February 15, 2019

Last year I was given an old Russian 16mm camera called the Krasnogorsk-3 (or K-3 if you don’t want to say that mouthful) from Steve Cossman of the Brooklyn cinema arts non-profit, Mono No Aware. And what better way to test a new camera than to create a music video with your folk-singing neighbor?

My neighbor and friend, Nick Christian MacDonald, is an Americana-Folk musician with a hint of Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. Check out his music on Spotify and catch him this Saturday at Pete’s Candy Store in Williamsburg! He’s a great dude and I figured it’d be fun to create some art together. So our wives did some quick concepting and ended up tossing Nick in a custom suit I got during my honeymoon in Vietnam which fit him like it was his and we shot in a little set inside my apartment and around our neighborhood in Brooklyn. The images are from a previous photoshoot with Nick.

The actual music video is a mixture of 16mm FomaPan 100R and some expired Kodak Tri-X Super 8 film I got from an old NYC photographer that I shot in my Canon 814XL-S. Steve of Mono No Aware helped me hand-process both rolls at the Gowanus Community Darkroom in Brooklyn and they came out great. Lots of texture and grain but I love that. It’s film!

So I mentioned that earlier last year, my wife and I did a photoshoot with Nick around our neighborhood on Polaroids and 35mm film. The cameras I used were my Polaroid 110B with modded CB-70 back, a Canon AE-1P and a Nikon S2. Nick’s a good lookin dude so it was easy enough to catch his good side.

Also I recently released a music video I shot with the K-3 and Pekky Savan so check that one out as well! Definitely going to be creating more music videos in the future!

Leaving you with some of my favorite stills from the raw scans from the 16mm and Super 8 rolls.

Crew

Music: Nick Christian MacDonald

Cinematographer: Nick Collingwood

Design/Direction: Halla Creative & Tyler MacDonald

Processing: Mono No Aware

2K Scans: Gamma Ray Digital

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.

That’s it!

CREW

Crew

Super 8mm and Polaroid work featured on

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