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

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.

CAAMP, the band // Super 8 + Polaroids

Last year had the chance to hang out with the guys of CAAMP, a killer folk band, and shoot some Super 8 and Polaroids while they were in town.

CAAMP - "See The World" Tour Promo

Had a good time just hanging out around NYC, on fire escapes and exploring the city. Some of the footage was shot during their fantastic show at Rockwood Music Hall in the Lower East Side. The guys have a really fun, high energy performance that was great to capture on film and the results looked awesome. 

CAAMP - "Hey Joe" Tour Promo

We ended up using the footage to create two promo videos for their current fall tour. Looking forward to when they pass through NYC again this week.

Maggie & Alex Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

Flying home is always nice but when it's for a close friend's wedding, it's even better. My wife has been friend's with Maggie since childhood so we were pretty thrilled to be at this wedding and personally I'm always excited to be invited to shoot such a special day for a friend on film.

The setting for their beautiful wedding was at the Forest Park World's Fair Pavilion overlooking a large area of the park, a stellar view and great setup for a wedding. The day started at the Chase Park Plaza where both the bride and groom were getting prepared. I was shooting Super 8 throughout the day and of course, brought along my Polaroid 110B to shoot some Instax Wide film.

Once the bride was ready, she hopped in a vintage-styled trolly car with the bridesmaids and headed to the ceremony. No first looks here! Except... the bride did share a lovely moment with her dad for a father-daughter first look before we left the hotel. It was so sweet! When we arrived, the guests and the groom were all ready for her entrance! You can see the entire wedding film below and be sure to listen to their very cute vows.

After the kiss, a surprise bag-piper showed up as is tradition in the family. It was amazing to say the least. Then the entire wedding party hopped on board the trolly and made their way around St. Louis for some scenic spots to take photos.

The reception was a total blast and plenty of dancing and good times were had. All in all, a fantastic wedding and so much fun to capture a little vignette of their day on Super 8.

Jazz Age Lawn Party 2016 // Super 8 + 8mm + Polaroids

Michael Arenella's Jazz Age Lawn Party is truly one of the most fun events around to shoot. The costumes are brilliant, the dancers are bunch of fun, and capturing it all on vintage cameras couldn't be a more perfect match.

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Last year I had the pleasure of shooting for the Penumbra Foundation and the Penumbra Tintype Studio which had a booth at the event, shooting portraits on bona fide tintypes. I was brought on to both document their process as well as the event overall, using black and white Super 8 film (Tri-X for those who care). Aside from bringing a Super 8 camera, my trusty Nizo 801 Macro, I also brought along my Polaroid SLR680 and my Polaroid Land Camera 250 to try and capture the weekend in many different ways. A special appearance was my newly acquired Keystone 8mm camera, courtesy of my now-wife's grandfather. I'm sure it hasn't had a roll of film run through it in 40 years so that was pretty exciting to test out. A myriad of cameras all together. The film below is a mixture of the Super 8 as well as the Regular 8mm. I'm sure you'll be able to tell the difference with the Super 8 being much sharper although I think that's also due to Fomapan being a rather muddy film for 8mm.

Nizo 801M & Keystone K35 8mm | Kodak Tri-X & Fomapan R100

It was quite a weekend. Possibly one of the hottest of the summer and spending it outside all day was a doozy. With that said, I still had a lot of fun grinning and bearing it with the Penumbra crew and was utterly fascinated by their amazing tintypes being created in mere minutes; the "original Polaroid" as they called it. Other than observing the tintypes shot by Jolene and Olivia and the Fujiroids being shot on a Graflex Super D by Geoffrey Berliner of the Penumbra Foundation, I strolled around and took footage of different guests, the performers on stage, as well as the amazing choreographed dances by Gregory Moore & The Dreamland Follies.

I also managed to get a nice headshot from Geoffrey which is probably one of the few times I'll ever look nice in a photo. I also took the negative and salvaged it and scanned it on my own and it really is a beautiful negative. Love doing that. Also Dean Chooch Landry was shooting some 4x5s for Penumbra on his own century old Graflex Super and snagged a couple of portraits of me. Pretty fantastic stuff!

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Last year when I went, it was just for fun and I casually shot some Super 8 and some black and white Fujifilm FP-3000B on my Land Camera which is an incredibly rare film now due to being discontinued. This year since I was shooting mainly the Penumbra crew on Super 8, I decided to make an effort to take more portraits when shooting my Polaroids. I'm glad that I did because it was fun chatting with the different dolled-up guests and ultimately it landed me a spot in a group show featuring film photography and motion picture film from the Jazz Age Lawn Party at the Gowanus Darkroom, "Portraits from the New Jazz Age" . The show itself was really cool and it was great getting to see other film photographer's work displayed let alone, show some of my own work. Looking forward to the next Jazz Age Lawn Party!

Katie & Ben Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

Katie and Ben's New York wedding was such a fun wedding to film and it nearly got rained out! I was arriving to the venue midday when I got caught in an absolute downpour and got a bit soaked to be honest. Luckily for everyone, the rain completely stopped just minutes later and the skies cleared up just in time for the festivities! It was a gift from the heavens for Katie & Ben for sure!

Shooting Super 8 got plenty of looks and is always quite the conversation starter. The bride opted to challenge the weather and have her first look outside and it was totally worth the risk! It was amazing outside and we even got to step into Gramercy Park itself which is pretty rare. A lucky break for the couple and it's a private park the nearby residents technically own. Worth it! A great wedding all around so I hope you enjoy Katie and Ben's wedding film!

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This wedding at the Gramercy Park Hotel looked amazing as the venue has a lot of fun, eccentric accents that really make it unique. Plus the terrace on the roof is really a fantastic spot for a wedding and the team there along with the florist did a great job. So much sun, flowers and greenery in that room! It felt almost like a greenhouse. And this all doesn't even include the blast the wedding party had on a yacht the night before for the rehearsal dinner! A yacht on the Hudson! That's the best pre-wedding party I've ever seen.

I shot both Super 8 as well as Instax Wide throughout the day into the reception alongside Jonathan Scott, their main photographer. Shooting Polaroids during the reception was quite the hit with the wedding guests. Being able to hand them their photo mere seconds after taking it was a lot of fun. Honestly, some people didn't even think instant film still existed! I even got pulled into a few Polaroid selfies with some wedding guests! All around a wonderful wedding to shoot!