16mm + Polaroids + 110

September 25, 2018

I obviously shoot a ton of Super 8 film as anyone who's ever visited my website or Instagram can see. So it was a real treat to find out last spring that while I was at a Mono No Aware fundraiser, that I won the raffle for a Mono No Aware workshop where a group of people would take a van loaded with cameras, film and snacks upstate to Hudson, NY and Kaaterskill Falls to shoot some 16mm! My first time!

Our first destination was the Olana State Historic Site along the Hudson River, home of Frederic Edwin Church, who was a landscape painter from the Hudson River School. There we had a brief chat with our guide and filmmaker, Fern Silva, and Steve Cossman (founder of Mono No Aware) about the history of the area both in painting as well as 16mm film. Peter Hutton was a filmmaker that shot many serene landscapes of the Hudson Valley and American cities on 16mm film and lived in the area until his passing in 2016. And so, inspired by those who came before us, we set out to create our own portraits of the landscape. We left the historic set and went over to Kaaterskill Falls to start our hike.

We were provided Bolex H16 REX5 16mm cameras, courtesy of Mono No Aware, to use and some Kodak Vision3 50D color negative film. Given the bright sunny day and gorgeous springtime colors, it was a perfect match. I also brought along my Minolta Instant Pro, which is a Polaroid Spectra camera, and a Pentax Auto 110, which I found fitting as it's a 110 camera which is actually just 16mm film cut down for still cameras. Unfortunately, that camera has some winding issues aaaand I may have dropped it at one point on the hike so the photos are cropped a little funny. But so it goes...

We hiked around with our fairly heavy Bolex's, chatted a bunch, saw some waterfalls and very cool landscapes and ate delicious food Steve had prepared. Overall, a great way to spend a day. I just received a “K-3” Krasnogorsk-3 16mm camera and I'm now very eager to shoot more of the format. I already shot a some test rolls and a little music video with it a few weeks ago. And just shot another music video this weekend! So lots to look forward to including Kodak re-releasing Ektachrome in 16mm!

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!

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

October 6, 2017

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.