troy bradford instant photos: dallas

Showing posts with label dallas. Show all posts

golden boy of instant film...

The "golden boy" of instant film while on a Polawalk in Downtown Dallas. Surprised at how well the PX680 film turned out, since the weather was fairly warm. Most of the time I forget to take portraits during the Polawalks, but this time I was intent on leaving with a few...

avoiding the conventional...

An image that I took of a mural that I see all the time in downtown Dallas near Fair Park. I have taken several photos, but this scan of the Fuji FP-3000B negative is one of my favorite. I really like the rough texture of the image from the scan. It gives the image a surreal feel that you do not get with the sharp, flawless positive...

bailey - double take...

Got the opportunity to take a couple of 8x10 portraits of Baily while he was in Texas helping out Tyler with a wedding. Took the photos in Dallas in an area where I couldn't use the processor. I was afraid of a divot ruining one of the photos, so I took two. The first one was taken with the new Impossible film and the second one was taken with an October 2012 batch. Luckily both of them turned out better than I could have ever expected. If I had the choice of only one instant camera, I would trade in all my others to keep my 8x10. I am so hooked on this film...

the dallas aquarium...

An instant lab photo of last week's excursion to the Dallas Aquarium...

lucky's cafe - brunch and photos...

Brunch at Lucky's Cafe today...

A photo of Sherri afterwards..

Matt...

Met Matt at Oak Lawn Coffee last week. I already posted an instagram photo of this Polaroid, but since the photo turned out so good, I wanted to get the scan on my blog. I was with Sadi so I normally wouldn't ask people to take their photograph because I am more comfortable asking that question when I am alone. You just never know when you are going to get a yes or no and I can't survive the constant reenactment at home if I get a no. Matt and I had already talked about my Leica and I showed him my Polaroid cameras, so I felt like I was pretty safe in asking. Definitely glad I stepped out and followed my instinct. I took two photos so that I could leave one copy with him...

roaming...

Photo of Pyper taken while we were roaming the streets of the West Village in Dallas. This photo was before pizza. I think she was getting hungry...

adding a little color...

A couple of great images of my beautiful girls tonight before we had dinner at Grimaldi's in the West Village in Dallas...

close to an icee...

Not exactly ICEE, but more like IC. A small part of another Deep Ellum mural...

christian and elaine...

In addition to the 8x10 camera/film from my ealier post, I also got to show off some of the capabilities of packfilm cameras and Fuji FP-3000B film to Christian and Elaine. Had such a great time meeting up with them and getting the chance to shoot in the Makeshift Photo studio and then sit around the table to eat & talk at the All Good Cafe in Deep Ellum. Meeting and getting to know all the people is what this is all about. The photos are just the icing on the cake...

christian and me...

Was able to meet up with Christian and Elaine today in Deep Ellum to get a chance to shoot an Impossible 8x10 of him and let him shoot one of me. This was his first chance to get to shoot the 8x10 camera and all things considered, I think he did a great job. If anything, I think we didn't compensate correctly for the bellow extension and it underexposed the image slightly. Most of all today was about meeting up and having time to sit around and talk. In that sense, today was a total success. It was a great time to get to know a little more about Christian and Elaine. Had seen both of them at several previous polawalks, but never had time to really talk with them. Plus it gave me an opportunity to give away another packfilm camera and some film to reduce my hoarder status...

the one and only Simon Ponder...

Was excited to hear that Simon was coming to Dallas to go on a Polawalk in Deep Ellum. I have followed his brillance on Twitter for some time (plus he is a fellow Texas Tech alumni), but this was our first time to meet in person. I would have to say that sharing the 8x10 process and fascination of Impossible 8x10 film with fellow photographers is becoming one of my favorite things to do...

complimentary...

Lots of images from the weekend in front of this mural. None seem to represent the blacks and pastels more than the expired Polaroid 669 film. I dread the day when I have no more. It is coming up sooner than later... Was glad to be able to shoot this image of Frank on this film. A bit repetitious, because his black and white 8x10 photo and Leica image were also taken in front of this mural. The lighting in this area of the alley was absolutely perfect. Made it hard to resist taking so many photos here. Looking at this image I think I have decided that Frank has the look for this film. He makes the film look good and the film definitely compliments him...

breaking down barriers...

Saw this gentleman sitting outside the Old Red Museum in downtown Dallas. He was enjoying the afternoon while reading a book. I find it fascinating how you can approach someone with a Polaroid camera and they almost always say yes to a photo. Something about the camera breaks down the barriers that exist in our lives...

Polawalk TX - 8X10 Portraits...

Last weekend a group of instant film fanatics from all around the metroplex, the state, the US and abroad converged on Texas for our 2nd annual Texas State Fair Polawalk (ie. #PolawalkTX). Even with all the visitors, we didn't get a large Texas-sized heap of good weather. The weekend was plagued with clouds, rain, heat and humidity. Unfortunately the main event on Saturday ended up being a sunny, bright 90 degree humid day. This was absolutely brutal on the visitors (and even the native Texans). As a follow-up to this event, we spent the next day resting at a local studio in Deep Ellum (many thanks to Makeshift Photography) and just photographing each other. I had planned on spending the entire weekend using my 8x10 Toyo View Camera and Impossible 8x10 instant film at all the different locations. Due to the unpredictable Texas weather, I had to compress the entire four days of 8x10 shooting into one. Justin Goode also broke out his 8x10 Burke and James Grover to take a few photos, including the ones of Toby and Cameron below. Toby Hancock wanted to be photographed by both Justin and myself. His goal is to become the most photographed person on 8x10 instant film. He is well on his way after the Texas trip (I think he has been photographed by four people now)...

Speaking of 8x10 photography, it must be said that 8x10 photographs taken with a view camera are nothing short of amazing. The entire process takes you back to a day when photography, as the sole means of capturing a portrait, was very rudimentary. When you are behind the camera the reality of seeing a reflection of the focused image projected onto the ground glass is absolutely surreal. As all of the people below can attest, "the 8x10 process" takes patience from both the photographer and the subject. My main goal with 8x10 photographs is to slow down and spend enough time with the subject to produce an image that makes them smile when they see it. I think all of these image met that goal.

A well-deserved thanks to The Impossible Project for bringing the idea of instant film back to life and for supporting all of us instant film fanatics in more ways than we can ever mention. For me personally, without the encouragement & support from the staff at the online US Impossible Office (specifically Anne and Patrick), I would have never gone this far with instant photography.

Now to the photos...

Toby
*by Troy Bradford