Heather Polley Photography
This blog explores my fascination with art and music, and with juxtaposing them in unique ways.
My photos, photos by others, Baroque painting, Andy Goldsworthy, Japanese prints, the occasional silent film, opera and classical music, Sufjan Stevens, DM Stith, whatever I'm listening to right now. Disclaimer: I don't make any money from this. I post solely to bring attention to my favorite art and music. If you are an artist whose work has been featured on my blog, and you would like me either to correct information or remove the work in question, please contact me and I will remedy it ASAP.
My opening—a solo exhibit, if you will—is tonight at Collage Gallery, 1345 18th St. at Missouri St. on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, 6-9pm. I will be showing some of my new Polaroid pieces, as well as a few best-sellers.
S., by Heather Polley, taken with Polaroid Chocolate film and an Automatic 104 Land Camera.
I hardly ever shoot portraits, but S. (my oldest friend’s daughter) is so lovely, it was hard to go wrong. I was still getting used to the parallax while shooting closer with the camera.
Bottle Collection, by Heather Polley, taken with Impossible PX100 Silver Shade film (second generation), with a plastic Pronto SX-70 camera
Revisiting an outtake from at least a year ago.
I am very honored to be featured on The Impossible Project’s blog, as part of their “8 Exposures” series!
“It’s time for another foray into 8 Exposures territory. This entry revolves around California photographer Heather Polley
1) What kind of Polaroid camera(s) do you use?
I have several folding SX-70s, as well as a plastic box-type Pronto SX-70. For pack film, I shoot an Automatic 104 Land Camera. My dad is conveniently a vintage camera dealer. He recently gave me three Spectra cameras that are so new to me, I haven’t had a chance to shoot them yet.
2) Why do you like instant photography?
Instant film breathed new life into my work. I’ve always been an analog photographer, and I work a lot with alternative print processes because the element of chance brings a freshness and beauty that you don’t often see in digital work. I like happy accidents and imperfections. I shot with 35mm film for many years, but I have found that shooting instant film adds a new layer of complexity to my compositions….”
Read the rest of the article and see more photographs here.
Camera Collection is a rad short animation about famous cameras in history!
Antonio Vicentini animated, Billy Brown illustrated, and Ben Hantoot wrote the music.
Window Still Life With Feather and Apple, by Heather Polley
I’m not sure if any of you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, but just in case you do want to visit my Open Studio this weekend, here are the wheres and whens:
When: Friday, March 30, 6-10pm, and Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1, 12-5 both days. There will be a free shuttle service to take visitors around SOMA studios on Saturday afternoon.
Where: Arc Studios and Gallery, 1246 Folsom St. between 8th and 9th Sts., San Francisco. I will be in the Kearny St. Workshops office to the left just inside the door.
Here are the two new color pieces. In reality, they are a bit more blue.
It took longer than expected (doesn’t it always?), but the new work is hanging for the first time. The pieces center and right are made from the Chocolate Polaroid originals.
Two photographers traveled through Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor, a rural area of 12,000 residents.
With them, they brought Impossible Project film and Polaroid cameras.
Lens:
When the French photographers and adventurers Fabrice Nadjari and Cedric Houin arrived in the first village, they found that even photographs, which freeze time, worked differently.
The portraits they took with Polaroid cameras developed oddly, and degraded rapidly, because of the high altitude and harsh conditions. But this made them no less valuable to their subjects, many of whom had never seen a photograph. Some had never seen an outsider.
The local Afghans marveled at the fragile images and lined up to have their photos taken.
“There was something extremely precious in the way they were holding the image, in the way they wanted to get it as soon as it got out of the camera,” Mr. Nadjari said. “It was both the gift and the interaction.”
Photographers Share Polaroids in Afghanistan
via kateoplis
