It’s been a long time coming, after many days spent watching vlogs on Youtube of other photographers photographing people and places with an “ancient” medium, called film. I haven’t shot with film since my college days and even then I was not very good at it nor really understood it since my attention had to be spent the majority of time in my need-to-pass to graduate, Printmaking class.
I’ve been photographing with digital for so long that I never once stopped to think to slow down while shooting. Instead, like many people with a digital camera, it’s the spray and prey mentality to an extent. I needed more meaning, a connection of min and body to the camera, kind of like when you’re driving a car or motorcycle and it’s all manual, just you and the vehicle. That’s where medium format came in, the Mamiya RB67 Pro SD. I wanted something with more details in the negatives than that of a negative on 35mm camera. I fell in love with this 1990s camera, built to last and mechanically should last for more decades to come. So my journey begins and I reached out to an actress to see if she would be interested in shooting with me and she politely obliged.
I have yet to develop the 120 rolls I shot (image of the actress in yellow) since I barely was able to get my hands on the Cinestill C-41 Liquid Chemicals and the Lab Box. I shot the discontinued Fujifilm 400h at box speed and I can only pray that I got the exposure right.
You might be asking yourself, “Why are those polaroids part of this blog post?” Well, to put it quite frankly, I shot them on the Mamiya RB67 PRO SD as well. Whether it was fate or not, I’d like to think it was meant to be, I was able to get my hands on the “Coyote Camera Work Filmback” for the RB67. These were made in Mexico by a team but unfortunately, it looks like they aren’t in business anymore. I was lucky enough grab one off Ebay for half of what it was initially selling for at the time they came out in 2019. There are other versions that will have a similar set-up that uses a custom made SQ6 back and are made in China, but those look like they are going for astronomical prices in my opinion. The quality of the instax square shots look really good since you have full control over the settings and it’s just not a point and shoot camera. But keep in mind, these instax squares polaroids love light, so make sure the scene is lit well. I’ll update this post once I develop the rolls I have and scan them myself. Until then, I bid ya’all a good-bye.