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(In his own words) I am a photographer living and working out of Madison Wisconsin, in the U.S. I started out in photography with one class in high school and a 35mm SLR. I knew nothing about metering light, reciprocity failure, or really any of the fundamentals of photography but I had a taste for strange looking images. I started hacking apart old roll-film cameras and gluing Polaroid backs to them, giving me some strange results as well as instant feedback about exposure times and everything else I didn’t know how to figure out. This began my love affair with Polaroid film. From that point I discovered emulsion lifts, transfers, paper negatives and SX-70 manipulation.
Flash forward five years.
One day I was scanning a Polaroid 667 negative which was still wet and I was to lazy to let it dry. In order not to get chemicals on my scanner, I placed the negative onto a pane of glass and scanned it through the glass. I promptly forgot about it and it sat in my scanner overnight. When I found it the next day, and peeled the negative from the glass, I noticed that the negative was really gooey with pigment… it wasn’t until the following day while I was driving home from work that it dawned on me. When I got home that night I tried to re-produce the results. When I saw the SX-70ish swirling of pigments I almost hit the floor (my jaw did!)
I am still learning, although I know more now than I did before (thanks to my patient, smart, beautiful wife). Still haven’t sold a single print or have had a gallery showing, still working a day-job, still flat broke most of the time, but still very much in love with photography.
Find: New articles Process step-by-step Working practices
Writer / Erik Wiklund
Polaroid instant peel-apart manipulation
Always be careful when handling chemicals. Read the health and safety instructions.
The Original Photograph
The original picture was shot on slide film, which I think is the best way to go as you have unlimited chances to try to get it right. The picture was then printed onto Polaroid Type 667 using a Daylab II Pro. I found that pictures with a broad range of tones seem to work best, and that overly dark images are harder to manipulate.
The Glass
It is important to start with clean glass, clean glass will help the Polaroid negative adhere better and help cut down on air bubbles which would destroy and degrade parts of the image. I use a thin pane of glass from an 8x10 picture frame, cleaned before each use with Windex.
The process
1Expose your photo either with a slide printer or directly with a camera, pull it and let it develop fully at room temperature (1 minute). Peel the photo from the negative taking care not to damage the negative. Remove the paper "frame" that was attached to the photo and discard it. Trim off the pull tab and the paper tab which has the excess developer on it so you are left with just the negative.
2Without letting it dry, or removing any of the developer chemicals from the surface of the negative, place it face down on the glass you have prepared. With a roller, press the negative to the glass taking care to squeeze out any air bubbles that form between the negative and the glass.
3These air bubbles left between the glass and the negative will cause degradation of the final image like the black spots seen in this picture [stairway].
4
The image should sit at room temperature undisturbed for at least two minutes before starting to manipulate. After two minutes manipulation is possible but for best results you should wait longer as the pigments in the negative will soften and become much easier to play with. Manipulating the negative too soon will cause the pigment swirls to be very sharp and of high contrast like in this image [car][man_walking] after more time passes (half an hour to 45 minutes) the manipulation will look softer and more painterly as seen in this image [daisies]. The dark areas of the negative (light areas of the finished photo) are the easiest to manipulate and will be able to be manipulated first, while the light areas (dark parts of the finished photo) require you to press harder on them with your manipulation tool to soften. Also if you wait longer (one to two hours) the light colored areas will naturally become softer.
5
The manipulation process can span for days, the longer you wait the softer and more free-flowing the pigments become [abstract]. Eventually after several days the negative will dry to the glass.
6When are happy with your photo, simply scan the negative through the pane of glass and invert the colors with an image editing program like Adobe Photoshop.
7
If you want color, you can print the photo on matte photo paper and watercolor over the top of it.
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