Boardwalk Empire

We recently took a brief trip to Ocean City, NJ, which is only about a 2-hour drive from where we live.  While strolling along the boardwalk, I took some photos of a few iconic boardwalk scenes with my simple point-and-click camera.  Given my lack of photography expertise and my low end equipment, I rely heavily on Photoshop to achieve a more refined final image.  Below are the post-Photoshop images.

 















I also did an alternate version of the Ferris Wheel and merry-go-round.

Here are the before and afters, and if you would like, I can provide tutorials on how I achieved these effects.

Something New-ish

For Christmas, Vincent surprised me with an old Polaroid Land Camera I had been eyeing at a local Mid-Century Modern store.  Normally we don’t get each other gifts, but for some reason he decided to break with tradition and buy me the camera.  It’s something I wanted but probably would never have purchased for myself, so I was very excited when I opened the present.

Since Polaroid no longer manufactures the film for these old cameras, the only place to purchase film is through The Impossible Project.  After receiving my new-to-me Polaroid camera, I immediately went online and ordered a 3-pack of PX 70 Color Shade film. There’s a really helpful tutorial on The Impossible Project website about how to protect the photos from light (below) because the first few seconds of exposure could ruin the image.

SHADE YOUR COLOR SHADE from Impossible Project on Vimeo.

So far I have only used the technique involving taping the black card to the camera, but I want to try ejecting the photos directly into the empty film box as well.  I keep getting blank patches on some of the pictures and I’m guessing that it has to do with being exposed to light.

Below are some of the photos I have taken with my Polaroid Land Camera.

Once I improve my technique, I want to take a series of photos of local buildings and arrange them in one large frame (like the photoshopped version below).  If this works out well, I’d like to try other similar series, but first I need to be able to take non-splotchy photos.

Are there any Polaroid photographers out there with advice?!  I’ll be updating you all on my Polaroid adventures as well.  Happy picture-taking!