News and Notes

Seeing Double: Two Kinds of Double-Exposures with Polaroid Cameras

05/18/2012 11:07:00

Ever since I got my Polaroid Spectra, I've been experimenting diligently with various "guerrilla" techniques for making and altering instant photos. One of those techniques, the double exposure, is particularly wonderful for adventurous people who want to make equally adventurous images. The exciting truth is that these methods allow you to set up a double-exposure--combining subjects and textures and lighting conditions using your imagination & experience--without completely controlling the results! If you like the sound of that, read on!

Boris the Spectra

The basic method of creating double exposures using a Spectra series camera is demonstrated in this excellent video produced by The Impossible Project. I used that as a basic jumping off point, but I found that I could get some nice results by using IP's SilverShade PZ600 film, not the ColorShade the guys are using in the video.

As always with Impossible Project films, you will want to be extremely conscientious about protecting the picture from light RIGHT after it emerges from your camera! The Spectra ejects its photos face-up, which means the potential for overexposure is built-in. There are many ways of working with this issue, and Impossible Project outlines several on its website and in videos. For these next pictures, I just postponed ejecting each photo until I was in a dark, windowless room. I then placed the images face-down to develop, as recommended.

This picture was almost a complete mistake, as I accidentally started the timer process for the second exposure before I was ready--I hadn't even picked out my second subject. Not knowing what else to do, I just held Boris above my head, pointed at the sky, as the timer beeped ominously (like a targeting alert on a ship under fire)! I was surprised and pleased by the result, especially the funny complementary diagonals created by the wiring ducts on the wall and the edges of the buildings that frame the sky.

Here's a nice approach to portraiture using double exposure. Here I used my familiarity with my subject to determine some elements of the picture, enlisting a well-used "prop" to serve as a kind of secondary portrait. My first exposure was the bicycle, and the second the actual person. If I do this one over, I might see what happens if I do it in reverse order. The "ghostly" figure is not usually what people want in a portrait, even if it does look cool.

Here I am using the classic "hold camera at arm's length and stare into the lens" method of self-portraiture. It usually works astonishingly well for me, and in this case it seems moderately successful. The interesting thing here is that the two exposures do not use the same spatial orientation, so the overlapping picture planes create a visual tension within the image. Keep that idea in mind as you look at the next three doubles...

Jesse: Big Swinger

I also recently purchased a vintage Polaroid that uses only black and white "packfilm"--the kind you peel apart after it develops, to reveal your photo and a negative image (rich with additional possibilities for picture-making, in our digitally enhanced age). It's a "Big Swinger" model, first manufactured in 1968, so the camera and I are about the same age--and that's vintage, baby. Anyway, its compatible film is still being made by Fuji, and that makes it a very accessible tool for the classic instant-photo enthusiast. Here's a bad digital photo of a very good Jesse:

Packfilm instant cameras work very differently from the more recent (and iconic) styles of instant cameras--the ones that spit out the photo. The Big Swinger is one of the models of Polaroid that require the photographer's own muscle power to start the development process and to get the picture out of the camera. The operation is so basic that it can feel almost anticlimactic. But that very simplicity of operation makes room for so much versatility in picture-making! The pull-out pictures make the Swinger family (and its relatives) damn near perfect for double-exposures. All you have to do is not pull out the picture after the first exposure!

This image is the first one in which I experimented with photographing parts of my body in the second exposure. I was intrigued here with how readable the hand was in relation to the fallen slats of the first exposure. It looks like some giant grasping to pick up the boards--and it was not intentional! A great example of the interaction between different scales or spatial relationships.

This is the definitive "competing picture planes" image. What the heck is going on here? Giants practicing hapkido on antique furniture? These pictures invite viewer participation through the narrative impulse. We want to make up stories to explain or illuminate what we see.

This is the most bizarre self-portrait I've ever made. I'm emerging from the wall, behind a stylized solar disk created by the brightly-lit chair seat and back. The two exposures use different orientations as well as different planar locations, creating a fascinating and disorienting setting for this highly symbolic portrait. What is my relationship to my environment? What is yours?

Polaroid Spectra shots using Impossible Project films

05/16/2012 09:42:00

Shot indoors using Impossible Project PZ 680 SilverShade

Indoors; PZ 680 SilverShade Black Frame

Outdoors in bright sun; PZ 680 ColorShade

Big Bang: New Studio Visit

04/10/2012 17:08:00

It's been a long time since I posted about what's happening in the studio. I've lost interest somewhat in traditional oil painting, though I'm confident there will come a time when the paint imperative takes hold once more. I've got a stash of new canvases on standby, for when I catch the flash of motivation for the painting project I'm toying with in my head.

Instead of painting, lately I've returned to photography (the discipline I've pursued for as many years as I've devoted to poetry). In this post I want to share some of what that looks like lately. These days, my photographic practice has been going far beyond documentation, editing and printing.

Studio floor. I wanted to remember where something landed when it was thrown on the floor. (Obscure--but how many studio floor pictures do you ever see?)

Wall of work! Here are some photo transfers on fabric alongside a selection of Impossibles taken with my Spectra.

The Impossibles are going to get a separate post as I continue to play with the new camera.

This is a closer view of some of the work.

Here are some of the smaller pieces. One image includes collaged elements.

A pair of second-generation "ghost transfers" including some collaged elements.

For now, I am being somewhat cagey about my process for these, especially the transfers with collage. That's partly because I'm still working it out. But also, to explain all of this and give step-by-step instructions is going to take up a great deal of space. It is possible that I may add some demos to my video page, and/or make up downloadable PDF pamphlets to explain the process. But I make no promises!

My Treat

04/09/2012 12:32:00

Last week I bought myself a treat to celebrate my participation in the "Visual Poetics" exhibition this month at Addison Center for the Arts.

I went to see the wonderful people at A&A Studios and bought a used Polaroid Spectra camera, as seen here. I actually bought their advertised Spectra Starter Kit, because it came with a three-pack of all three Impossible Project™ films created for use in the Spectra.

In the days before digital photography (and way before cameraphones, much less smartphones and pads) the exciting Polaroid camera family made available vast new ranges of possibility for impatient photographers. Okay, patient photogs, as well as casual/family photogs, also loved (and still love) Polaroids.

But the advent of easily accessible, tiny and cheap digital cameras made the snap-shooter and the party-shutterbug toss away their cumbersome and retro-unchic instant cameras. The film was pricey, and you couldn't delete embarrassing shots, or mistakes. Additionally, the Polaroid company stopped making film and cameras, so for a while there, those who still loved and practiced the niche art of instant photography either hoarded and coddled their outdated film, or simply went without.

Then there was The Impossible Project. I'll let them tell you about themselves. They rescued and reformulated instant photography for many thousands of people (like me) worldwide, and have also helped to introduce instant photography to young people who may never have even held a film camera before.

So I'm excited. I love the black and white images I have gotten from my Spectra so far, and while I'm less enthusiastic about the color ones, I am very excited about one particular thing the Spectra can do: multiple exposures.

Huzzah!

EmergencyINDEX is out!

04/06/2012 14:23:00

Lots to say today! My contrib copies of EmergencyINDEX have arrived. It is a very exciting volume. Anyone interested in performance (and the stretchiness of that term) will be fascinated by this wonderful annual. The 2011 edition is the first in the run, so be an early adopter and get yoursNOW!

Navigating Confusion: Silicon vs. Silicone

04/06/2012 09:29:00

Despite all my best intentions, sometimes I get snagged by linguistic pet peeves. It makes me backslide into Stereotypical English Teacher™ mode, which is not a place I like to go. Nonetheless, I am forced to confront this demon and force it out through the power of instruction. Today's lesson: correctly choosing between the words silicon and silicone.

Here is a picture of a pair of dueling oven mitts made of that highly heat-resistant form of rubber known as SILICONE.It should be obvious from the picture that the dispute between these mitts results from the frog's incorrect attribution of the material of their manufacture. No wonder the dog snapped. Don't let this happen to you! Take this lesson to heart!

Now this, to the left, is a computer chip made out of SILICON.You wouldn't want to take your green bean casserole out of the oven with this--silicon is a conductive material, unlike silicone. And if the chips in my laptop were made of silicone, I would be completely unable to offer this highly informative and relevant-to-the-21st-century guide to the correct choice between two confusing words.

[There, I feel much better. I hope you do too.]

See some great visual poetry--including mine--this month at Addison Center for the Arts!

04/03/2012 09:50:00

I'd like to announce a great exhibition of visual poetry opening on Monday, April 9 at the Addison Center for the Arts. The show includes amazing work by many visual poets from the Chicago region and beyond, and is curated by Francesco Levato. I provided ten pieces from my series "Natural History," though I don't know if all will be in the show. All the info is here, along with a nice image of one of my pieces, as a sample of what will be shown! The gallery's info page is nice too as a source of info about visual poetry, its types and techniques.

If you're in the area, you can view the exhibit from April 9-May 5. There will be an artists' reception later this month, though its date is still being set. I'll get back to you on that...but until then, please pass this along to anyone who would be interested in the show!

http://www.addisoncenterforthearts.com/2012/visual-poetics/

EmergencyINDEX and its release party

02/27/2012 11:33:00

Emergency INDEX is a great new annual focusing on documentation of performance. It's put out by the wonderful Ugly Duckling Presse, and I'm looking forward to its release. I can't make the release party at the Kitchen (as announced here). But those of you in the NYC area should try to make it. It looks great!

Oh yeah, I'm in this INDEX twice: as part of the Human Micropoem, and for the "Restrictive Andragogies and Ex-Citation" performance with Nicholas Alexander Hayes, in the Red Rover series. But in case that's not enough for ya, there are 241 other performances documented in the 500+ pages of this volume.

Go get 'em!

A Review of 10 Word Problems!

02/17/2012 11:17:00

A review of my latest chapbook, 10 Word Problems, is up here! This was a great surprise. Many thanks to Patrick Trotti and JMMW magazine--and thanks to my editor Dale Wisely for letting me know!

Now available: e-ratio number 15

02/13/2012 10:43:00

Issue 15 of e-ratiois now up, featuring five of my prose poems and multiple outstanding works by dozens of other poets! I'm especially excited by the Susan Bee interview also featured in this issue. Check it out!