Kodak Instant Camera Fun!

I've been meaning to write about something VERY fun--shooting with a clunky Kodak instant camera from the early 1980s! A couple of years ago, my mother found a never-used Kodak Partytime II camera in the storeroom of her shop. Sometime circa 1983, someone had given it to her--but without any film (weird!) She never used it, so it was mint in the box when she discovered it. It even had a corroded battery sitting in styrofoam! So, she gave it to me, knowing I love instant photography, but there is no film in production that works with the camera. (For more on the history of Kodak instant photography, click here and here.) So, I was left with the notion that the camera would never be used.

However, my camera was rescued thanks to the amazing Kevin Pointer, who was so kind as to give me a pack of VERY expired Kodamatic film! (It's been out of production since the mid-1980s!) Finally, in September, I was able to shoot some of this film, and so far, I've gotten two images that I'm particularly excited about!


Laika, Labor Day 2009
I love the way a huge chunk of this image just died, but my whippet is still apparent!


The Greenhouse
This is the beautiful greenhouse at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens. I'm really excited about the light in this photo, however dark it may be.

One of the weirdest things about this film is watching it develop. It is very vivid at the moment of developing, but then it gets darker and darker. It's so interesting to me to see what happens with film as it expires! This stuff is remarkably stable for being expired about 25 years! If I get some more nice shots, I will share them with you!