Brittany & Alex - Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

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!

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Vendors

Photography - Dan Crosley Photo

Flowers - Cheshire Nursery

Catering - Bourassa Catering

Dress - BHLDN Anthropologie Bridal Line

DJ - After Hours DJ

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

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!

Britt & Kyle - Wedding // Super 8

Last winter, I got to shoot another very special wedding to me, my own sister! I actually shot both Super 8 and digital (Alarming I know!) during the wedding which took place on the beaches of Key West, Florida! You can see their wedding film below!

Packing light as I had just come from a trip to Argentina, I arrived with my wife and just a small backpack. But given that it’s on a beach, tons of clothing isn’t really necessary. This was a small, intimate ceremony with just close family and friends on the beach and officiated by our dad. Given the casual nature of the wedding, it was easy and fun to roam around with my sister and her future husband and capture the day.

I shot the Super 8 wedding film and the digital photos as a gift to my wonderful and sometimes feisty sister. I love her and was happy to help in any way I could to make her wedding day special. Enjoy the film and the rare occasion for me to post digital photos here!

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

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.

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.

MODE EN COULEUR - Fashion Show // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

A few months ago I had the opportunity to help out with a local fashion incubator based out of the Brooklyn Library called BKLYN Fashion Academy. It's part of BKLYN Incubator which offers a ton of services for locals like podcasting, robotics, and photography. They had an upcoming fashion show for their program and wanted it captured in a unique way.  Film and fashion are having a moment and I thought it would be a great fit.

The inspiration for the show was "the history and fashion of Les Sapeurs, a Congolese subculture dedicated to the cult of style and being walking works of art." Looking at images and stories of Les Sapeurs is truly some incredible stuff and stories of personal triumph over poverty.

I shot BTS backstage as the designers finalized their garments and shot some snippets of the models on the runway. I captured the night on a variety of formats including Super 8, instant film and 35mm. It was an extremely bright and fun show to shoot and backstage was madness as one expects with a fashion show.

But overall, the designers, models or organizers were fantastic and put on a brilliant show. Met some really great passionate people and that's always inspiring to be around.