On the use of polaroids to create a quasi-Impressionist style to photography

A friend of mine gave me an SX-70, the friend was Henry Jones, from Bethlehem. One day, he gave me this SX-70 camera, it's a Polaroid camera that kind of spits out a film from the front. It takes about a 2 _ x 2 _ picture. The film is called Time Zero film and it has a plastic coating on the front and back. The emulsion is trapped between the front and the back. I read somewhere that you can move this emulsion around with a sharpened stick or some pointed object, as long as it didn't rip the plastic, and you can move it around. I was able to secure some out-dated film and I started to manipulate this and move it around. I thought it had possibilities and later on, I was able to purchase a good film. Through manipulating this emulsion, I have transformed a realistic image almost to an impressionistic type of a painting-type of a photograph. Most people think that I have copied old photographs when I show them to them and I said, "No, these aren't copies of paintings, these are actual photographs," and I explain how I manipulate. Sometimes I will start moving the emulsion around, right after the exposure. Other times, I'll wait maybe a half a day or a day and I get different effects each day. I send them to Bill Johnson, who is the editor of Camera Techniques.

DESCRIPTION:

Oral History: Harvan reveals interesting techniques with the use of a Polaroid camera

CONTRIBUTOR: 

DATE ADDED: 2010-07-30 16:06:28

COLLECTION: Polaroids, 1996

ITEM TYPE: Oral History

CITATION: "On the use of polaroids to create a quasi-Impressionist style to photography," in Miner's Son, Miners' Photographer:, Item #444, https://chnm.gmu.edu/harvan/items/show/444 (accessed February 1, 2022).

About the Original Item

Publisher
Creator
Source
Interview with Harvan
Subject
Polaroids
Format
audio
Associated Files