Super 8

November 4, 2017

Another chance to collaborate with the Super 8 project called "50 Feet of Song" came my way and I was thrilled to jump in. The concept of the project is to film folk musicians performing a song in one take on one roll of Super 8 film, which is 50 feet of film in length. My previous session with Kirby Brown came out really well and I was hoping to do more. To be honest, it's a bit of a thrill to shoot an entire roll of Super 8 in one pull of the trigger and the results are a truly unique experience of capturing live music.

The project was featured on Kodak's podcast, The Kodakery, as well as in Kodak's new print quarterly magazine, Kodachrome, named after their much beloved yet dead reversal film. You may also recognize the name from Paul Simon's legendary song.

Anyways, I shot this session in Harlem with the fantastic folk band, Birdtalker, who I've been following for a while. Check out the full session below and be sure to not only listen to more of their music but check out more sessions on 50 Feet of Song.

Labor Day Getaway // Super 8 + Polaroids + 35mm

October 6, 2017

It's arrived! Fall is upon us and Labor Day in a lot of ways always feels like the close to summer. Either one last hurrah at the beach like I did this year, or a start to fall weather which is perfect for being outdoors and hiking. Last year had a little weekend getaway with my then-fiancée to Lake Placid, NY for a chill weekend. Documented the weekend in this little Super 8 film below.

Canon 814XL-S | Agfachrome 200D

So I captured our travels with my newly acquired Super 8 camera, the Canon 814XL-S, which is a bit of a beast but it has a great lens on there. Also had my Canon AE-1P and a Polaroid Spectra camera (actually a Minolta Instant Pro). Being inspired by Jonathan Canlas photography, I experimented with shooting Ektar 100 pushed two stops. Got some interesting results for sure. Need to try it next time in less contrasty environments.

Anyways! We went on some hikes, cooked up some bacon, and just had fun in the outdoors. We stayed in this hilariously small but quaint shack that looked like it hadn't been touched since the 70s and we loved it.

While exploring the nearby area, we stumbled upon Chapel Pond, which apparently allows you to swim in so we couldn't resist. Both hopped into the very chilly waters for a few minutes before heading on. We managed to find a fantastic lookout during our hike at Indian Head and Fish Hawk Cliffs BUT there were these unbelievably annoying flies that seriously would NOT stop biting us. It was unreal! We could hardly enjoy the amazing views because those suckers hurt. So we abandoned that spot and made the long trek back down to our car.

When we left we couldn't help but stop for a quick hike to this one lake that had a huge jumping off rock and it was pretty awesome. About 15-20 feet high and straight into the cold waters of the lake. Worth it. Changed our clothes in the car and headed back to dear old NYC. A relaxing weekend to say the least.

CAAMP, the band // Super 8 + Polaroids

September 19, 2017

Last year had the chance to hang out with the guys of CAAMP, a killer folk band, and shoot some Super 8 and Polaroids while they were in town.

CAAMP - "See The World" Tour Promo

Had a good time just hanging out around NYC, on fire escapes and exploring the city. Some of the footage was shot during their fantastic show at Rockwood Music Hall in the Lower East Side. The guys have a really fun, high energy performance that was great to capture on film and the results looked awesome.

CAAMP - "Hey Joe" Tour Promo

We ended up using the footage to create two promo videos for their current fall tour. Looking forward to when they pass through NYC again this week.

Jazz Age Lawn Party 2017 // Super 8 + Polaroids

August 27, 2017

Definitely one of the most fun events to shoot on anything analog is the amazing Jazz Age Lawn Party every summer on Governor's Island in NYC. Once again, I was helping out the amazing crew at the Penumbra Tintype Studio by documenting on Super 8 their hard work shooting tintypes of guests and shooting Polaroids of the VIP guests.

Although as some people may point out, Super 8 didn't really surface until many decades after the 20's, it's still a very fitting format to shoot and especially seeing the final result projected is something special. So I shot using my favorite camera, the Nizo 801 Macro and I also opted to shoot some Impossible Project film and some Instax Wide in my custom Polaroid 110B from the 1950s.

With the instant film I opted for just portraits as for this event, the costumes and outfits are second to none! Some people are wearing genuine 1920s outfits they've scoured the planet for so they are quite a treat to shoot. And these days, Impossible Project's black & white film is really lovely. Sadly can't be shooting peelapart Fujifilm FP-3000B like I used to with it being $60/pack now!

Nonetheless, I shot a bit of the Penumbra crew in action shooting 4x5 and 5x7 tintypes and even managed to get one of myself at the end of the weekend. I'm not the most photogenic person, often being told I have a sad face... BUT the tintype master, Jolene, managed to get a solid portrait of me. It's really stunning. I returned the favor by shooting portraits of some of the Penumbra crew.

In the back of the event in the VIP section was analog guru Geoffrey Berliner with Curtis Wilcocks shooting peelapart Polaroids with Fujifilm FP-100C and his incredible Graflex Super D. He may correct me on that... The portraits have a wildly shallow depth of field and ultimately have a dream-like quality to them. In the main area was everything from vintage clothing shops, dancing, live jazz bands and even a mobile barbershop doing hot shaves! Michael Arenella is always at the front, directing the band and singing along with some special guests and the Dreamland Follies always have a few choreographed dances throughout the day in some marvelous vintage-styled outfits.

With a quick break to grab some food and drinks with my wife and a few friends who stopped by the event, it was quite the weekend. Not as hot as last August so that was a welcome reprieve. Perhaps one day I'll be behind the large format camera making tintypes... just have to learn how to first!

Maggie & Alex Wedding // Super 8 + Polaroids

August 20, 2017

Flying home is always nice but when it's for a close friend's wedding, it's even better. My wife has been friend's with Maggie since childhood so we were pretty thrilled to be at this wedding and personally I'm always excited to be invited to shoot such a special day for a friend on film.

The setting for their beautiful wedding was at the Forest Park World's Fair Pavilion overlooking a large area of the park, a stellar view and great setup for a wedding. The day started at the Chase Park Plaza where both the bride and groom were getting prepared. I was shooting Super 8 throughout the day and of course, brought along my Polaroid 110B to shoot some Instax Wide film.

Once the bride was ready, she hopped in a vintage-styled trolly car with the bridesmaids and headed to the ceremony. No first looks here! Except... the bride did share a lovely moment with her dad for a father-daughter first look before we left the hotel. It was so sweet! When we arrived, the guests and the groom were all ready for her entrance! You can see the entire wedding film below and be sure to listen to their very cute vows.

After the kiss, a surprise bag-piper showed up as is tradition in the family. It was amazing to say the least. Then the entire wedding party hopped on board the trolly and made their way around St. Louis for some scenic spots to take photos.

The reception was a total blast and plenty of dancing and good times were had. All in all, a fantastic wedding and so much fun to capture a little vignette of their day on Super 8.

Super 8mm and Polaroid work featured on

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