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I've been so busy since I got back from New York City that I haven't shared my favorite shots from the trip! I'm actually heading to Florida tomorrow for a super-fast trip, so here's one in the meantime--my favorite photo, I think, from New York this time. I took it on the Lower East Side, wandering around in the late morning on a very cold day, with my Grandmother's 1960's Polaroid 104 camera around my neck. What's great about walking around with a giant vintage Polaroid camera is that random strangers will stop to talk with you because they are enchanted by the device. It's such a wonderful conversation piece!
Broome Street (2010)
Camera: Polaroid 104
Film: Polaroid Sepia 100
Developed inside my coat on a below-freezing day!
I love the tones and light and shadows in this photo, as well as the timelessness of this street corner in one of Lower Manhattan's most interesting neighborhoods. There's a print of this one in my Etsy shop. Stay tuned for more from the Big Apple!
Although I haven't explored one lately, cemeteries are some of my favorite photographic subjects. I've visited several beautiful cemeteries over the years, but there is one in particular that really stands out to me. It is Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas. This graveyard is rich in historical significance; however, what really appeals to me about Concordia is the amazingly vernacular sensibility of the place. Many--perhaps most--of the graves are handmade, usually by the families of the deceased, rather than by memorial professions. It is a cemetery of the poor as well as some of the most famous people in El Paso's storied past, and this really shows in the grave markers. It is a cemetery dropped into a brutal landscape--a punishing desert rich with snakes, scorpions, prairie dogs, birds of prey, squirrels, lizards, fire ants, and other creatures. It also has a history of crime; my husband (an El Pasoan) has always warned me about Concordia's violence, not only in the night, but sometimes in the day as well. Most of all, though, if you're shooting in Concordia, you need to beware of the sun. Even on a day that doesn't seem too hot outside the walls of the cemetery, inside Concordia you can succumb to heat exhaustion--or worse--very quickly.
I first shot a lot of photos in the cemetery back in 2005 when I had just got my first SLR, a digital Olympus e-300 (which I still have; it's a great starter camera). You can see those photos here and here. This is my favorite grave at the cemetery, and my favorite photo from that summer of taking photos in Concordia:
Guadalupe of Concordia (2005)
However, this past August I was able to go back to Concordia to take some photos with some Polaroid cameras. I am excited about these images, because they seem to evoke the haunting pain and beauty of this brutal place.
The Concordia Polaroids (2009)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Artistic TZ
view larger here
Concordia, Beautiful (2009)
Camera: Polaroid 104
Film: Polaroid UV/ID (expired)
The Chocolate Graveyard (2009)
Camera: Holgaroid
Film: Polaroid Choco80
Concordia is a place of desecration and crime, but also of love and honor. It's my favorite cemetery I've ever visited; I can't imagine a place that so perfectly mingles loss and sadness with beauty and hope. If you are ever in El Paso, you should visit Concordia Cemetery.
Anyone who has a casual acquaintance with my photography knows that I love to take pictures of signs, particularly of the retro neon variety. One of my favorite signs I've ever seen is the classic Circus Liquor Sign in North Hollywood. This was the sign under which Alicia Silverstone's "Cher" character was mugged in the film Clueless, and it's one of the best examples of mid-century neon I've ever seen. I was lucky enough to shoot some photos of it in August, and these two are my favorites.
Probably my last-ever Time-Zero photograph:
Circus Liquor (2009)
Camera: Polaroid SX-70
Film: Polaroid Time-Zero (expired)
North Hollywood's Circus Liquor (2009)
Camera: Polaroid 104
Film: Polaroid UV/ID (expired)
Signed prints available in my Etsy shop!
In 2005, my mother gave me my grandmother's old Polaroid 104 camera. She had found it when they were moving things out of my grandparents' home (after they both passed away), and wondered if I could use it. It was in great condition, with the exception of the battery contacts. They were dead due to having been stored with a battery in them. All of this time, I have wanted to shoot the camera, but never got around to having it fixed.
Well, the other day, my dear friend fixed it for me, replacing the old battery set up with a new one! The camera works! I initiated it yesterday, in honor of World Toy Camera Day! Although the Polaroid 104 wasn't considered a "toy" when it was sold between 1965 and 1967, it does have a plastic lens, making it a super-fun plasticcam worthy of "toycam" status in my book!
This is one of my favorite photos from yesterday's first day using this awesome camera, which comes complete with my grandmother's name in DYMOTAPE on it! I'm so excited to keep this special family camera in action!
Antenae (2008)
Camera: Polaroid 104
Film: Polaroid UV-ID
Location: Denton, Texas, USA
