London Photos: London life in images by Kim Gilmour

As you probably gathered, the
Polaroid Manipulation page hasn’t been updated for about four years. Partly because I’ve been experimenting with other photography, but mostly because the film used to manipulate Polaroids (SX-70) has been discontinued.

I experimented late last year with some expired SX-70 film but the results just weren’t as vibrant as the ones using the ‘fresh’ film back in 2003.
Now, Polaroid itself – the iconic instant film – is going the way of the dodo, and it’s sad…

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Another SX-70 Polaroid Manipulation (no Photoshop). I didn’t get around to manipulating this until several hours after I took the photo, so it could have turned out a little better- the emulsion tends to harden very quickly. Ideally, you should do it within 15-30 minutes maximum after the photo develops.

An older Polaroid manipulation I hadn’t gotten around to uploading! Taken on the beach near Port Vell, Barcelona. December 2003.

It’s been a while, but here’s a new Polaroid Maipulation – this one’s of Abbey Road, St John’s Wood. It’s a fairly short walk to the studios, and despite it being 8.30pm (and still light) there were quite a few tourists milling around. If I’d been there a few hours earlier, the colours would have turned out more vibrant. Still, I’m happy with it because it’s been many months since I’ve done one!

Also: did you this site has an RSS feed?

It has been a while since a new Polaroid has been posted. Winter seems to drain the light and colour out of London, two things that you need for a good Polaroid photo. Stay tuned for more colourful Polaroid Manipulations as Spring approaches.

In the meantime, this is St Pauls Cathedral photographed as usual with an old Polaroid SX-70 camera on a rather drab day. I manipulated the emulsion while it was still wet to give it a painterly feel.

Yep, it is a red london telephone box. It is a polaroid which I’ve manipulated using the famous wooden skewer. No photoshop.

Above, tools of the ‘trade’.

The famous Empire movie theatre in Leicester Square. That’s pronounced “Lester”, not “Lye Sesster” as I’ve overheard many an American say.

It is an SX-70 Polaroid Manipulation. I shot the Polaroid while walking to work this morning, then sat down for 10minutes with a wooden skewer smushing the emulsion around. Voila.

You can see all our Polaroid Manipulations here.

A bit of craziness here. This is a Polaroid photograph of the London tube map. While the emulsion was still soft, I smushed it around and around and around like chewing gum until I was left with this. It is complete nonsense, but maybe closer to the geographical truth than the official map.

More about the Tube Map from bloggers here, here and here.

It’s probably also worth putting a few somewhat failed attempts at SX-70 Polaroid Manipulation in this gallery. Not everything can turn out like Van Gogh! Here’s what happens when the manipulation’s initial exposure meant the photo came out way too dark, coupled with messing around with the emulsion when it was too wet (like about two minutes after I took it). Last of all, the actual subject matter wasn’t too hot, either. This is not a particularly arresting scene. It is not a total failure though so I thought I’d put it up here anyway. Check out the other more successful ones we’ve done

Another SX-70 Polaroid Manipulation, this time of the new Jubilee Bridge across the Thames in London. Taken on a cold and windy October 24th and manipulated using a wooden skewer while on the top deck of a London Bus!

I have noticed that certain colours are more suited to manipulation, especially blue and red. This probably has something to do with the emulsion layers and primary colours.