LOVE 12:12 MEN

Following on from the hugely successful 12:12 Project, which wrapped up with an exhibition at En Face in Paris this month. 12:12 Project founder and photographer, Penny Felts this time selects twelve men instant photographers to share their vision over twelve months. The 12:12 Project format invites each photographer to choose a theme each month that pushes and challenges their own creativity in new and exciting ways. Taking us over the twelve month creative journey are the instant film talents of Philippe Bourgoin, Peter McCabe, Bastian Kalous, Owen Patrick, Thomas Zamolo, Gabriele Cappello, Francisco Chavira, Susumu Kohda, Lukas Brinkmann, Alberto Polo Ianez, Miky Arsenjev and Penny Felts. The first months theme has been chosen, 'Escher-esque' is a homage to the Dutch graphic artist, M.C. Escher. Some wonderful work already submitted (a small selection below) and looking forward to further unique contributions in the coming months. Follow the 12:12 Men project on the dedicated facebook page. 12:12 Men is once again supported by The Impossible Project. 

12 Months, 12 Men with a vision. Beautiful instant photography.

Lukas Brinkmann

Bastian Kalous

Thomas Zamolo

Francisco Chavira

Philippe Bourgoin

LOVE 'ROID WEEK 2013

'Roid Week has just wrapped up for another year on Flickr and have I been blown away by the awesome talent on show this year! Personally 'Roid Week 2013 has been the strongest yet, with a rise in some very beautiful portraits of women and clever double exposures. The Impossible Project continue to shine with their latest film additions and there was some very creative compositions using older instant films, Fuji FP - 3000b, Polaroid Time-Zero to name a few. While I made a very small contribution this year, the fires of inspiration have been rekindled for my next adventures in instant film (more on that at a later date). So, the impossible task of featuring a personal selection from the week! Too many to choose from, but below are some of the wonderful images that instantly caught my eye and inspired me the greatest. See you next year!

Brandon C. Long

Bastiank80

Caballos Blancos

Bastiank80

Mairon Brossard Lanciaux

Nicholas Carn

Brandon C. Long

Amanda Mason

Sarah Seene

Ben Innocent

Toby Hancock

Heather Polley

Katherine White

Rob To

Leanne Surfleet

Andrew Bartram

LOVE THE 12.12 PROJECT

Ceci n'est pas un cadavre exquis (This is not an exquisite corpse) by Marion Lanciaux
[12.12 Project - April- Surrealism]

The Broken Tulip by Sarah Seené
[12.12 Project - April - Surrealism]

Sunny Side Up by Penny Felts
[12.12 Project - April - Surrealism]

Ashes to Ashes by Rhiannon Adam
[12.12 Project - April - Surrealism]

The Guest by Amanda Mason
[12.12 - April - Surrealism]

The 12.12 Project: 12 Polaroid Photographers. 12 themes. 12 months.

Sometimes when hooking up with a group of fellow creatives, it reignites my stifled creativity. This is what Tennessee based film photographer, Penny Felts set out to do with her inspiring The 12.12 Project. In response to pushing and challenging her own creativity into new ways as a photographer, she invited and selected 11 women photographers whose work she respected and admired to participate on her project. It was then The 12.12 Project was born merging the instant film talents of Penny Felts, Carmen De Vos, Amanda Mason, Kat White, Sarah Seené, Emilie Trouillet, Maritza de la Vega, Emilie Le Fellic, Marion Lanciaux, Rachel Baez, Agafia Polynchuk and Rhiannon Adam. Every month each photographer chooses a theme which challenges and pushes each artist out of their comfort zone, with a creative photographic response to powerful thought starters. With a planned worldwide exhibition tour and a published book following the completion of the project, I really look forward to see how this unique project unfolds. Follow the project on their website and facebook. The 12.12 Project is supported by The Impossible Project. 

::LOVE INCOGNITO - IMPOSSIBLE PARTNER STORE::

Welcoming news that Manchester's Incognito has been chosen as the first UK city to join big global cities such as Barcelona, Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hong Kong, San Francisco as an official Impossible Partner Store! Incognito will be offering the whole range of Impossible products including limited film editions, rare cameras, and hand selected accessories. They also have a wide range of other analogue and digital toy cameras, design led gifts, cards and a picture framing service. And if that hasn't whet your appetite enough, the Partner store will also act as a physical hub for the instant analogue community. Hosting workshops, artist talks, exhibitions and other events in the basement gallery showroom. Here's hoping that this is first of many Impossible Partner stores to open in the UK! Check out the Partner store's workshops and events for the next week on their facebook: Tuesday 19 June, 18:00 Impossible Project Beginners Workshop with Photographer Thomas Wright, Thursday 21 June, 18:00 Impossible Partner Store Launch Party and Saturday 23 June, 15:00 Instant Photogram Workshop. You can also follow them on tumblr and twitter for all the latest news.

::LOVE TIME ZERO - THE LAST YEAR OF POLAROID FILM::

Polaroid made the shock announcement of discontinuing instant film in 2008. It signaled the end of an era and more importantly - an unique art form. Polaroid artists around the world were in mourning, snapping up the last remaining supplies of instant film to feed their passion for that bit longer. Time Zero is a captivating documentary about the last year of Polaroid film. It chronicles the death - and rebirth - of instant film, sharing some intimate moments from several familiar Polaroid artists, former employees and the admirable reinvention efforts of The Impossible Project. The documentary is directed by Polaroid photographer Grant Hamilton who is renowned for his amazing abstract Polaroid work. Time Zero is premiering at the highly acclaimed 2012 Independent Film Festival in Boston (the birthplace of Polaroid) on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 12:30pm. For the documentary's web site click here, information about the movie can also be found on facebook and twitter. Check out the abstract Polaroid work of Grant Hamilton here. 

::LOVE MY POLAROID OF THE WEEK - EJ CAMP::

Debbie Harry by EJ Camp (2011)©

EJ Camp (born in San Francisco, CA and resides in New York City & Orient. Renowned celebrity and magazine cover photographer. 


EJ Camp has her amazing portrait series displayed in the Co-Op Food & Drink restaurant at New York's Rivington Hotel. Among the 40 iconic New Yorkers captured for the photo installation were Debbie Harry, Betsey Johnson, Michael Musto, Sex and the City costume designer Patricia Field. The portraits were shot in March of last year with PX 680 Beta film provided by The Impossible Project and plastered across one of the walls of the hotel's skylit dining room in 40-inch Polaroid prints. Click here for more of EJ Camp's work.

Co-Op Food & Drink restaurant, Rivington Hotel, New York  ©The Impossible Project

[LOVE] AMONGST THE DISAPPEARED BY ROB MUNDAY

The gorgeous new video Among the Disappeared for upcoming British band Fireworks Night, was directed and produced by Rob Mundy. Film footage was shot with a 16mm Fuji stock using an old wind-up Bolex camera along with still Polaroids using Impossible's PX 680 Color Shade film.

::LOVE 'GLOWING ENIGMAS' BY DAVID SYLVIAN & IMPOSSIBLE TOKYO::

Photographs ©David Sylvian

This morning, my face lit up at the exciting news of The Impossible Project exhibiting a unique series of Polaroids by the multi-talented musician & photographer, David Sylvian! The show entitled, Glowing Enigmas opens on April 20th, 2012 and was commissioned by Impossible Project Space Tokyo. David has worked briefly with Polaroids before in the form of rare 1984 publication, Perspectives - Polaroids 82-84. A beautiful collection of photographs based around Polaroid montages (A process mostly developed by British artist, David Hockney). David also exhibited his Polaroid montages at Hamiltons Gallery in London. Check out his website here.

[LOVE] IMPOSSIBLE iPHONE WALLPAPERS

Need a new iPhone wallpaper? Look no further than these dreamy images from The Impossible Project. The photos first appeared on Impossible's facebook page. Get them here.

[LOVE] MY POLAROID OF THE WEEK - MAURIZIO GALIMBERTI

©Maurizio Galimberti, BeatlesAvedon-RM
Readymade 2011

You can find this amazing piece as part of the Readymade 2011 series, along with other instant artworks on Maurizio Galimberti's website and facebook. Galimberti has also collaborated with The Impossible Project last year by designing the packaging for their PZ 600 Silver Shade UV+ film. This was marketed as The Galimberti Edition which was very limited and has since then completely sold out. But I have managed to track down two packs of the Spectra film on the Italian ebay.it site for €19.99 (£16.62) with the auction ending on Friday 10th Feb, 2012.

I ♥ David Sankey - The Queerest Old Quaker

The latest creative to use Impossible film is New York-based graphic designer and musician David Sankey. His latest album was released on the 15th of last month under the name of The Queerest Old Quaker. With the album's artwork, the front cover image was taken with Impossible's PX 70 Color Shade film and an SX-70 Model 2. David loved the warmth and quality of the film which was a perfect compliment to his folk-ish style of music. You can purchase The Queerest Old Quaker and have a listen for yourself to the album sampler link below.

[LOVE] KATJA SONNEWEND

Katja Sonnewend is a photographer based in Berlin, Germany. Originally from Poland, she has exhibited all over the world at various galleries and festivals. She has an interesting quirky edge to her artwork, and over the years has built up an impressive digital and Polaroid photography portfolio.

Her latest fashion editorial for Contributor Magazine was shot completely on Polaroid and Impossible film. A refreshing change to the usual digital and Photoshop process on today's mainstream fashion magazines.

Contributor Magazine covers fashion, film, art, culture and food. Together, talented contributors give their take on the latest in modern culture. Click here for the rest of Katji's fashion editorial.

To see more of her beautiful photography, please visit here.

I ♥ The Impossible Gold Frame Edition

Wow! The latest exceptional offering from Impossible is the strictly limited Gold Frame Edition! It frames the Impossible film materials with a quality multi-layer golden finish. The PX 600 Silver Shade UV+ and PX 680 Color Shade Gold Editions are both usable in all Polaroid 600 as well as SX-70 cameras with a ND Filter. A beautiful way to capture your special moments with a touch of class!

Turn your camera into an overflowing cornucopia full of golden frames here!

I ♥ Chloe Aftel - Lips Exhibition

The wonderful talented Chloe Aftel had her debut New York exhibition on Thursday 10th November at the Impossible Project NYC Space. Chloe also conducted a workshop with a live demo of the creative process.

Her beautiful collection entitled Lips was taken with an SX-70 camera and Impossible PX 70 PUSH film. Chloe's striking large format images capture various expressions in women's mouths with striking impact.