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.

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)

Jessica & Jeremy Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

June 20, 2018

Jessica and Jeremy are a special one for me... mainly because they are related to me! Jessica is my sister-in-law and now Jeremy will be my brother-in-law. I was a guest at this wedding but as any photographer knows, it's hard to resist taking some photos and Jessica had actually reached out beforehand asking if I didn't mind taking a few. Uh... Yes!

This was a bit of a trip for me since this is only the second time I've ever been to the west coast! Last time I was out there was when I got engaged!

But anyways! The wedding took place in Camarillo about an hour north of LA, where they have been living, on a beautiful avocado/blueberry farm called Gerry Ranch. I must say farm weddings on the west coast are just about everything a film photographer could ask for. Great light. Great landscape. Obviously fantastic weather! I'm in.

Even so, I tried to not be that obnoxious guest with the big camera poking my way into the shots and had a great time shooting alongside Brittany of BKM Photography. She quickly fell in love with the Polaroids and Super 8 and was even shooting a bit of film herself. I was going around with my lovely Polaroid 110B with Instax Wide and expired Polaroid 689 film, my Polaroid SLR680 with Polaroid Originals color film and then Super 8 on my small Nizo 156 Macro and some glorious Fuji Provia shipped from Japan by Retro8. I don't travel light when it comes to cameras...

This time it's a mini wedding film as I was a seated guest doing my best to behave. Also it's actually an excerpt out of the 2 rolls of Super 8 I shot during the road trip my wife and I did while in the LA area. One day I'll get that up on the blog! You can see Jess's mini film below!

Overall, a really fun wedding with family and I was more than thrilled to capture a few moments of it on film.

Super 8mm and Polaroid work featured on

Instagram