Polaroid devotees bring back film - thestar.com

Polaroid devotees bring back film - thestar.com

Shared via AddThis

Halleluyah!! There is hope after all. Our prodigal film has returned. Everyone's favorite films, the SX-70/600 film system is being produced once more. Now if they would produce Type 55 and 669 film as well, I'd be in heaven.

Polaroid Lovers Try to Revive Its Instant Film

There just might be hope after all! In a small town just across the border from Germany in the Netherlands, a small group of Dutch scientists and one irrepressible Austrian salesman have dedicated themselves to the task of reinventing one of the great inventions of the 20th century — Polaroid’s instant film. Florian Kaps a biology PHD. has leased the former Polaroid factory from the Dutch owner and has raised almost 3 million dollars so far in capital since June of 2008 when it shut down. Toted as "The Impossible Project" a former business manager, several employees and Dutch scientists must research the chemical processes and chemicals themselves, since the last of the intellectual property and property was sold this month and the buyer refuses to make comment. When the plant shut down they made pleas to Polaroid and managed to save a few pieces of machinery that was destined for a Dutch landfill. Mr Kaps is optimistic despite hurtles and plans to start production and is convinced that there is still a market for that old fashioned look.

Check out this article on the New York Times website.

Also check out what people say about what Polaroid means to them.

Look3 & Yourspace

I had to take a deviation from my series of blogs about historical places and interviews. As you know I live in Charlottesville and this weekend June 11-13th is the Festival of the Photograph. The festival grew out of the vision of Nick Nichols and Jessica Nagle. This the third year of the festival and it is three days of Peace, Love and Photography. There are guest talks, workshops, classes, slide shows, exhibits, camaraderie and love. This all started when Nick Nichols invited photographers over to his house to share photos and ideas. And that has grown into one of the best photo festivals around. Part of the festival is the ability for budding photographers to show off work in a slide show presentation that runs the entire festival, just the same way as Nick had visitors to present work. The theme for this year is "fortune". I have a photo up there of a actually used gold pan from the Alaskan Gold Rush in 1898.
Guest curators include
David Griffin, Director of Photography, National Geographic
Scott Thode, Deputy Picture Editor, Fortune Magazine
Yolanda Cuomo, Principal, Yolanda Cuomo Design
Check out the online slide show and by all means check out the festival website.
http://www.look3.org/
http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/look3/gallery/G0000k6XXJXVErcY?&

America The Beautiful

Over the next series of posts I will be writing about my senior project in photo school.  Since I studied history for a good 2 and 1/2 years of my college days I thought it would be interesting to merge the two disciplines together.  I love history and not just the stuff you read about in textbooks, but the real local, down-home history, the history of the common people that helped shape the culture and tempo of America.  Since the time of the revolution my family has shaped the history of Southwest Virginia.  They were not lawyers, doctors, or politicians, but simple farmers trying to survive and yet because of their strong values, personality and ardent patriotism became one of the prominent families of the area.  Each series of photos posted, is of a historical site with significant value to the area and also a connection to my family in that they owned, lived and the site or visited frequently for one reason or another.  Occasionally, the posts might also include audio clips of interviews from people reminiscing about memories of a bygone era, or ambient noise to give a sense of place.  

Alaska Cruising

Journal from my Alaska Cruise on Princess Cruise lines. As of now, I am still trying to get a magazine to publish an article and photos. Cruise leave out of either Seattle or out of Vancouver. I highly recommend flying to Vancouver a few days before leaving and seeing China Town, Stanley Island and the Aquarium is a definite must. Suggested guide books that I picked up before my trip are found at Amazon, Fodor's Compass American Guides; Alaska: Inside Passage and the yearly produce guide Frommer's Alaska.

Alaska is one of the top cruise destinations in the world. The scenery is breathtaking. It is certainly a majestic place. It is a land of superlatives; a land of contrasts. Small towns amongst 17 of North America’s highest snowcapped mountain peaks. Alaska contains 1/2 the world’s towering glaciers, 580,000 square miles of land mass with a varied array of climate zones from temperate rain forests, fjords to arctic zones, and 33,000 miles of wilderness coastline all of which have been fished and hunted for thousands of years by the native peoples, including the Tlingit tribe that inhabited the Inside Passage. Within the last several hundred years as the white man come they have become transient intruders having only explored about 1/20th of the territory. Visit the towns and you’ll find people who retain the spirit of frontier independence that brought them here. Add Alaska’s colorful history and heritage, with its European influences, its spirit of discovery, and its rich Native cultures, and you have a destination that is utterly and endlessly fascinating.

Ketchikan

As we pull into the first port of Ketchikan I think of John Muir as he explored this land in his trip of discovery, which he wrote about in, "Travels in Alaska", 1915. As Muir traveled, this land was untouched by the hand of modern man. Those who explored risked harming a delicate ecosystem. Being a tropical rain forest it rained every day of our trip. It did not deter from the experience one bit. I could hardly believe this small little town set at the base of a towering snow-capped peak. Ketchikan is called the Salmon capital of the world. Outside the town is where the largest concentration of the Tlingit Indians settled. The Saxman Indian village, just outside the town had become a refuge for them as they were forced from their traditional lands not far from there. The village has since become a cultural heritage center for tourists. A short hike through the woods brings us to a native clan house where the Indians practice their native arts and dance. The dancing seems very simple but reflects centuries of history. Today these people wear American clothes but their native cloaks are colorfully beaded and knitted with stories and images of large animals indicating to which of the clans they belong. These are a people who are so closely linked to the land that their very existence depends on the very survival of the land itself. Their link is so strong they name their clans after animals of the land. Everything they do revolves around their land from their totem artwork depicting stories of man versus beast to their native dances paying homage to their ancestors. The village is the largest concentration of totem poles in Alaska. Some towering upwards of 30 feet tall, all surprisingly intricately carved for the use of such primitive tools, each taking nearly 6 months to complete. Nearby, a barn houses workers lecturing and demonstrating the process of an ancient art. With primitive tools, it’s such an incredible feat accomplished by a culture that has lived so simply, for so many years, with no worries of the modern life except the concern of keeping their way of life. After my excursion to the village I had one of the most tremendous salmon feasts I think I’ve ever had. Cooked on a campfire flame grill with native spruce woods and drizzled with the most delectable glaze. I can only describe it as a brown sugar, maple syrup concoction. It reminds me of the monkey bread my mother would make on Christmas morning. Anxious to set out and experience a little about how life might be like in these port towns a hundred years ago, I hurried back to downtown Ketchikan. I push my way through, trying my best to blend into as a traveling photojournalist, avoiding people in parkas with Alaska logos and sweatshirts and caps with embroidered bear and moose. Each port city in the Inside Passage of Alaska is overly commercial these days; with an average of 4 or 5 cruise ships and 20,000 tourists each and every day between the months of May and Sept. Old building facades that once held so much history and the pioneers of Alaska, now give way to shops to cater to tourists looking to experience the age if the Gold Rush and the rugged wilderness from the comfort of their cruise ship. These towns struggle to hold onto their history but successfully do so because of the change of economy, from gold and services for prospectors, to tourism. Creek Street saloons and Dolly’s House in the brothel district had been providing services well into the 20th century. Thelma Dolly Copeland moved to Ketchikan, changed her name to Dolly Arthur, and set up her establishment at 24 Creek Street in 1919. She lived in the same house until her death in 1975. For well over a hundred years the boardwalk over a salmon-spawning creek had been a main stream of income for the town as well as the abundance of salmon that return to this spawning ground every year. Simple houses decorated as elegant manor houses to attract men of all professions. Miners, fishermen, loggers and townspeople flocked to the boardwalk to drink and visit the bordellos. Dolly’s House still stands as a museum and has much memorabilia of black and white photographs and much of the rooms stay the same as they were left. The bordellos eventually closed in the late 1950’s, but the boardwalk continues to thrive and have been transformed into souvenir shops for the tourists.

Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay is certainly a rugged place. As you enter the bay it appears as any open ocean scenery. Further in, the shoreline towers jaggedly above the ocean. At 30 degree temperatures and 20 knot winds it’s a perfect climate for humpback whales and stellar sea lions, but too inhospitable for humans. Sea lions use the glaciers as breeding grounds until late Aug, mid September. During that time small encampments of biological researchers endure heavy winds, freezing temperatures and 65 miles or more from the nearest supplies, all in the name of science to protect these wonderful creatures. Out of a couple of dozen glaciers that make the bay, we visit one of the most magnificent of them all. Marjorie glacier is 250 ft high, above water, a mile wide and runs for many miles into the Alaskan range. I still can’t get over the shear contrast of size and scale. It towers above our cruise ship it’s so massive. As the captain approaches within about a hundred feet he turns the ship both port and starboard for the best view as if the ship were a car on a showroom floor. For 30 minutes, spectators flock to side railings to catch a glimpse hoping to see ice calve from the glacier and plummet to the water. It was so quiet you could hear the glacier crack and rumble under its own weight. Some glaciers move upwards of 5 ft a day. It’s hard to imagine that the 62-mile bay was once covered by ice no fewer than two hundreds years ago. The glaciers are indeed incredible. At Marjorie there’s more the beauty than just the glacier. In the distance towering peaks loom 12,000 ft above the ocean surface. Both ominous and beautiful it’s no wonder that modern explorers climb these alpine mountains and that the native peoples revered and worshipped beneath these gods that reach to the heavens.

Juneau
Juneau has been a mining town since around 1898. Out of the 4 mines within the area the A & J mine was estimated during the early 1900’s to be one of the largest mines to be found anywhere in North America. Shut down in the mid 1950’s, the economy of Juneau had shifted from mining to tourism and operational costs started to outweigh profitability of continued mining. Politics also became a factor, imposing environmental restrictions that most mining companies could not meet due to the nature of the business. In the early days if you had a strong back and a shovel and could find a vein of gold, it was yours for the taking. Containing over a half a billion dollars still underground, the town has tried to reopen several of the mines. They have tried for 10 years, but cannot obtain the proper permits, because of governmental red tape and environmental concerns.

When tourists come to Alaska they want to see glaciers and bears. One of the most popular destinations and most accessible to see both is Mendenhalll glacier [near Juneau]. Tour buses run by the dozens a day from the docks to the visitor’s center. The parks service has built a portico perfect for tourists to gather and take pictures of the glacier. All around us, bear are topping off their bellies with the many fish that fill the rivers that surround the lake in front of the glacier. Most spend about 5 minutes taking snapshots of their travel companions standing in front and then take the elevator to the geologic exhibit. I find it hilarious that anytime a bear shows its head nearby, people flock to check it out as if it were a movie star. Sure I’ll admit that I took my obligatory paparazzi shots, but I much rather decided to enjoy the experience of watching such an animal. To get away from the crowds I took a little less tourist-traveled path down by the lake to get an unobstructed view. In the distance, I see helicopters air lifting those fortunate enough to pay the hefty price to walk around on a moving, living piece of ice. It must be a dramatically different experience to see it up close. On the way back to the bus in the pouring rain a bear came out of the bushes and stop on the trail about 30 foot in front of me. I just froze, my heart beating in my chest. There was nothing I could do. Bears can reach speeds of 20 miles per hour, far greater than the average humans 5. If I ran, he would certainly chase me down. He briefly sniffed in my direction, knew that I was no threat and after what seemed like forever he moseyed off on toward the river. Finally back on the bus, after some careful walking passed the bear was we headed out to a good ‘ol fashioned salmon bake.

Skagway
Skagway is the gateway to the Yukon territories and the Canadian gold. A sleepy little town of about 700 nestled between two very large mountains. It is the last stop for many of the gold miners and prospectors in 1898, before making the journey up one of two paths, the White Pass, a narrow 3-foot-wide rocky path that wandered 40 miles up a treacherous and cold mountain, and the Chilkook Trail a shorter, but much more dangerous trail where many people and animals lost their lives. The Canadian Mounties fearing famine and disease required that all prospectors take a year worth of supplies, which meant at least a metric ton of gear. After that it was a long journey by boat further up into the Yukon Territory. Today you can take the White Pass railroad along a narrow gorge to the very top of the pass. With huge mountains on both sides and a hundred of feet down to the bottom, you get a real first hand sense of the harsh cruel weather that most would have to endure. During the entire train ride, it poured driving rain, in the upper thirties, with fog so thick I couldn’t see the other side of the gorge. From time to time, the fog broke and you could look down into the gorge and see the gold miners pass. I imagined what it would be like to travel that small path carrying 100 pounds at a time trying to pass each other, let alone to deal with the possibly horrible weather. One small town outside of Skagway called Liarstown made up wild stories using their own press that people could get rich by grabbing handfuls of gold nuggets out of the Canadian streams and be back in Skagway in 12 days. Liarstown was basically a tent city, 2 miles long and the last flat place before making the journey up the mountain, with all the services that one could need including supplies needed for mining. The reality was that with a ton of gear and having to travel on foot many miles, carrying at most 100 pounds at a time, the journey could take six months or more. Out of those that did make the incredible journey fewer than 2% struck it rich. A few ran large corporate operations with tons of machinery and had many employees to help mine large veins of gold. The ones that did make wealth weren’t necessarily prospectors. The town of Skagway offered many services to those wishing to strike it rich. One man from Sweden brought pack mules to rent to gold miners. Others provided entertainment of all kinds. One such entertainment spot is the Red Onion Saloon. Libations and dancing girls downstairs, while girls tended to the personal needs of men upstairs. The establishment is still in existence after a little more than a century with a saloon downstairs and now a museum to the “ladies of the night” upstairs. With many of the rooms still the way they were, elegant dresses, beautiful bed linens and refinements of many kinds, these ladies provided the classiest of services. The bar had doll mock-ups of each lady. Men looking for companionship would come in to the saloon and ask for their favorite lady at which time the bar keep would lay the chosen doll down to tell others she was occupied. After the transaction was complete the lady would drop the money down a copper pipe that lead to the bar and the bartender would stand the doll up to let others know she was back open for business.

For more photos from the Alaska trip check out my website.

Southwood Photographic Workshop, Charlottesville, VA

In the fall of 2008, The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative Gallery partnered with The Charlottesville Boys and Girls Club and the Albemarle County Schools to host an on-going youth photo workshop in the Latino Community of Southwood. This workshop gives students the opportunity to learn digital photography skill while working on a variety of personal projects. Approximately 10 volunteers consisting of local photographers and county officials dedicated 8 Saturdays working with youth, grades 5th through 9th. Many corporations such as Crutchfield Electronics and the Piedmont Housing Alliance generously donated cameras and supplies to the project. I had the priveledge of working with these incredible kids and look forward to continue working with them on future workshops in the neighborhood.

The above pic is a screen capture from The Bridge Progressive Arts flickr website.

James Madison's Montpelier

I recently visited James Madison's Montpelier just in November.  It wasn't open but they had just completed renovations of Madison's home and was, after 5 years and $18 million dollars the house was officially complete on September 17, 2008.  For more information about the renovation project check out this website.  I didn't take any pictures of the home, but instead concentrated on the gardens themselves, including a panoramic photo.  The panoramic photo was fairly easy to do since it was overcast and the exposure was consistent for each of the 4 pics.  I then used Photoshop CS to stitch the photos together.   

Check out Trip Advisor for more information on traveling to Montepelier.  There is also information on accommodations, other attractions and points of interest in nearby cities.