Untitled (Reata, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA May 2014) copyright 2014 Douglas Stockdale
When Jim McKinniss was showing me the Lomo Camera FX app on his Samsung, I was very intrigued by the Polaroid mode option. Included below is my original Polaroid from the 1980’s, as I have been interested in the Polaroid’s characteristic limited contrast and color ranges for some time.
So I downloaded the app this morning and then took a short walk (mainly due to the light smoke ash from various the San Diego fires that has drifted north). Upon returning back to the studio and downloading all of the images, I realized that the same simulated “light leak” that shows up within the left edge of each photograph is not working for me. Yes, there are old cameras that get light leaks with age and some photographers capitalize on it, but this is not my preference. It would be nice to have the “light leak” as an optional mode, but it is not.
One option is to print out the resulting image and trim the image to the original Polaroid image boundary of 3-1/8″ x 3-1/8″, place the image over an original Polaroid image to keep the characteristic Polaroid borders and rephotograph it. But that’s a lot of work. Another alternative is that for the really interesting images, to spend some time in Photoshop and re-clone the affected area. Chunky.
So although this is an interesting teaser, I will be looking for another Polaroid app for my Samsung. Any recommendations??
Cheers!
Untitled (Warren Michigan, 1980’s) copyright 2014 Douglas Stockdale
Singular Images 