Art & Adventure with PJ Ortiz Luis
The online portfolio of Pacifico "PJ" Ortiz Luis, a storyteller utilizing different mediums of art including film photography, dance, and performance poetry.
Last october, my Minolta Weathermatic broke on my way to the caves...I loved the camera so much, that I decided to get another one. I opted out of going for the more manual underwater SLRs mainly because some of my subjects are so fast that I can't take the time to adjust the settings to shoot them. Here are some photos from my most recent rolls:
If you haven't noticed...one of the common themes in my photos, regardless of which camera or film I am using, is my enjoyment of capturing strangers. I spent a day in LA meeting new people. I still keep in touch with some of the people that have taken part in my 100 Strangers project.
"A Stranger is a Friend I haven't Met Yet" -Will Rogers
This is from a roll of found film. I don't have the "proper" chemicals to develop this, not did I want to spend money on film that might not even have photos on them...so I developed it in the chemicals I am currently using, resulting in this cherry tint:
I went to an instagram meet-up yesterday....with film cameras. These are the resulting images. The first set of photos were taken with a Canon Canonflex RM, loaded with Fuji Velvia 50F. I self developed the roll the same night, and got the following results: [in reverse chronological order]
This next roll was shot on a roll of film I started in September 2012 on a different camera....I took the film out in a changing bag and then put it into a Minolta Weathermatic Dual 35. I currently don't have the chemicals to develop this myself...so I thought "hey I'm running errands near a Walgreens...might as well drop off my film for developing" I only needed the pictures developed, I have a really good scanner at home. But they were a little negligent with my film...as I was paying, they dropped the negatives onto the counter, then the lady comes back and says "Oh heres a sleeve". I HAD TO SLEEVE MY OWN PHOTOS! REALLLLY???? well here's the scratched and grundy results:
I forgot how I heard of it, but I found out about an app in the iOS app store called "Printic" and decided to give it a try. What it is, is an app that lets you create Polaroid-esque prints with your own photos. It's not a bad deal at $0.99 a print. [real polaroids go for ~$3+/print]
...but how does it stack up against an actual Polaroid photo? It definitely captures the look perfectly. The "feel"...notsomuch, as it is printed on regular photo paper, instead of the thick chemical-containing card stock that Polaroid film is made of. The photo on the left is from expired Polaroid Spectra film, which is wider than the average photo...and due to its age, the colors are a bit on the red-side.
The real question is....would I recommend this app to people? Yes...definitely. It's a good alternative for people who don't have access to a Polaroid camera, or want to spend alot of money on the high price of film for those cameras. The prints definitely look good, and I can see them looking great displayed on people's walls, scrapbooks, and picture frames.
