Monday, December 22, 2008

Ashley, Polaroid transfer

Its hard to imagine how much the process of photography has changed in the 21 years Ashley has been around. The image featured hear is from a transparency (yes, slide film) that was transferred to an 8x10 sheet of Polaroid instant film (no longer being manufactured) to heavy weight water color paper. The process involved shooting a Polaroid of the mounted transparency using a special copy stand and immediately pressing the dyes onto a presoaked sheet of receiving paper (in this case, heavy weight water color paper). 8x10 Polaroid film was VERY expensive, so I only had one shot at this transfer. The emulsion almost always pealed off with a ragged edge as seen in the lower left corner. (This was part of the appeal of the process)
(4x5 transfers were more popular as they were much less expensive to produce)

Digital photography now provides similar looking images through special actions, but this was more fun as each image was an adventure and no two transfers were alike.

The image was made as Ashley (no more than a year old) was taking a nap on the sofa with her "Bun-Bun" It's one of my favorites of Ashley captured 20 years ago.
BTW, she still enjoys her naps!

Image copyright: Robert Harris Photography

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