FP-100C

Polaroid Automatic 100, Fuji FP-100C film

Two of our dearest family friends are regular volunteers at DreamPower Horsemanship in Gilroy, CA.  They invited us to the “Ponies, Pumpkins & Parents” event that occurred yesterday.

DreamPower is a non-profit organization which provides therapeutic horsemanship lessons, clinics, and camps for children, teens and adults.  Their staff includes seasoned horse handlers and licensed counseling professionals who help people facing challenges (medical, behavioral, etc.) by practicing animal care or simply how to ride on horseback.

We had a great time as a family, with my Dear Sweet Wife and I learning about parenting tips while our two boys played with horses, ponies, goats, chickens and ducks.

Their favorite activity had them playing out horse and rider, taking turns holding or wearing (!) the bridle.  While they thought it was a game, it was actually an exercise to practice responding to when others don’t behave the way you expect them to.

And as we hoped the visit made for some good photo opportunities.  Above is a shot I took on my Polaroid 100 of the horse “Pete” who is under the excellent care of our friend.

I also took some shots with my F6 and Rollei B 35 (which need to be developed), and my wife with her Fuji Instax Mini and D300.  Yes, we can be a little “over formatted” at times…

Polaroid Automatic 100, Fuji FP-100C film

I attended another car show last Friday which was a perfect opportunity to test my new cameras.  I took a few shots on my new F6, but I am not yet ready to develop that roll.

My shots from my “new” Polaroid Automatic 100 instant camera came out great and are of course ready for viewing.

I knew the above Mercedes 300SL Gullwing was a valuable car, but I just checked online and in excellent shape it is worth over $500,000 US!

In other news, Santa Fe Photographic Workshops has updated their web site and it seems easier to find workshops by topic or instructor.  I recommend anything taught by Eddie Soloway, especially if you want to work on your natural vision.

Also, Nikon School is coming to San Jose in early November, though they are of course 100% digital now.  I took their class once several years back when it was still film oriented and it was excellent for technical tips and references.

I am going to attend the San Jose Photo Fair this Saturday.  This is my first time so I am hoping they have some finds and/or deals.

Polaroid 320, Fuji FP-100C

I finally got the last of my Fuji FP-100C pack of prints from Southern California scanned in.  These include a few more shots from the water park as well as from Legoland (my young sons’ favorite amusement park.) It was only my second pack of film that I ran through my Polaroid 320 camera and so far it is my favorite.

To back up a bit, I tried my first pack ever back in April.  It was some expired Polaroid 100 Sepia pack film (ISO 1500) purchased from Impossible which was a little tough to work with in terms of exposure latitude.  It had a classic B&W look to it but preferred strong light with low contrast.  One or two low-light shots were almost completely washed out and one or two shots with varied lighting levels resulted in clearly over- or under-exposed elements.

This Fuji FP-100C (ISO 100) color pack film definately required strong lighting, but seemed to be much more flexible in terms of contrast levels.  All my shots were in either in direct sunlight or at worst light shade, but every single one came out looking good.  Its color is beautiful and seems both vivid and even tempered.  Its look is very distinct and even when scanned is clearly not from 35mm film or digital capture.

I did start a third pack of Fuji FP-3000B (ISO 3200), however all three shots I tried were complete failures.  I thought this high speed B&W film would allow for shooting indoors but I was wrong. I had major problems with backlighting and even moderate side-lighting from windows.  I didn’t bother scanning these in at all, and will try the rest of the pack outdoors later…

So far my 320/pack film lessons learned are:

• Use strong, direct and even daylight whenever possible.
• Adjust for parallax even when subjects are 5 feet away.  (See my ninth shot which appeared fully centered in the rangefinder.  The right mariachi musician is only half in the print.)
• Do NOT keep the developed prints face-to-face, their emulsions will start to stick to each other and feathering or ripping will occur! (See my tenth shot for some clear feathering on the wall and upper-left transport, in other shots I touched it up a bit in Photoshop.)