Last year I was able to find a Polaroid 600SE Camera. This camera allows you to set all the manual settings like regular camera and shoots Peel Apart Pack Film made by Fuji. When I first purchased it, they were still making the FP-100C Color film for the camera but they now have stopped production of it. I got sad about not being able to get the film etc over time so I stocked up on what I could afford and have a Crisper in my fridge full of packs that hopefully will last me for the next couple of years.

I had lots of fun and good response from shooting with the color FP-100C, but also wanted to keep my Black and White style of shooting people going. Fuji made a Black & White version of this film (FP-3000B), but stopped making it in 2016, so the prices for all this film was crazy. They were going on Ebay for $100 dollars or more per pack (which is only 10 photos). I gave up on finding the film for now. I kept shooting the color stuff here and there, mostly photos of people I know and still kept shooting digital stuff.

On June 8th I checked out my friend Stephanie Stein's photography exhibit at The Purple Buffalo. I brought my little Polaroid Spectra Camera with some of the last Black & White shots I had for it. I took a photo of musical performer Don Crescendo, during one of his breaks and it turned out great. It gave me more ideas to find that forgotten Black & White film again.

I was able to find someone locally selling the Fuji FP-3000B film that was expired since 2015. I was told it was left in the fridge most the time so hopefully the chemicals were not dried out and the film was still usable. I got one pack for a more affordable price than Ebay and tested it out. It was amazing. The highlights and tones on it were great and it really let me capture what my brain was trying to portray. I started shooting artist friends in their studios or where they worked on art and slowly a new project was born. I was able to get 3 more boxes of the film, and I only have about 12 photos left of that.

I have been brainstorming what to do with all these photos I have taken of people who inspire me. I got some different frames and tried to think of an interesting way to display Polaroids than just putting them on a wall. I'm slowly getting all the people I want to take photos of and hopefully I have found more of the film from a friend in Nashville. Its been expired since 2014 so hopefully its usable. I will try to put together an art show soon with everything framed up and hopefully involve all the people I have shot and who inspire me. I hope I can inspire people to pick up a camera or a paint brush or to revisit old hobbies and push them to work hard and stay busy with things.

Collection of B&W Portraits on FP-3000C Film