2010-03-28 // 18:20:36
CDR
oh, you chose. good.

i was going to write something but then i noticed you look half naked in the photo next door so i have to rush there immediately and check.

^ I'm totally naked next door, but you can't see anything (I was catering to the US market). Yeah, in the end, it had to be the light version.

2010-03-28 // 15:56:24
recurrentdream
I'd be much obliged to go into the spaceship especially if he was wearing those classy shoes.

i can't resist a well dressed alien-man.

2010-03-28 // 15:47:11
recurrentdream
Fits my mood perfect, minus the sleep.

^ The late-night wall jumper approaches you from behind in his shiny, shiny shoes of alien leather...

2010-03-28 // 09:41:38
ullo
technical question for you Esther. We had a pretty cold february in Munich and apparently you still managed to get a a very good image result on the film if i compare it to other px test taken open air. i know you are magic and you are living in the outer world and this is probably the answer to my question aswell as the reason why you are not feeling cold but, still i need to ask: any tip & tricks used here? a simple coldclip? a portable microwave to keep camera and film at the right temperature? an hairy armpit?
winter is almost over so I should not be afraid of cold anymore but still,,,I'm very curious. :-)

^ I'll try to remember how it all came about and tell the tale step by step. It was definitely a cold and windy day and it was freezing on those steps. I know I took four other shots of two different scenes near to this place before this shot. I took two shots with each test film: two of the pictures were very pale and lacking in detail; the other two came out much too high-contrast and looked like old newspaper clippings. You could see silhouettes but there were no intermediate tones between the dark and the light areas. I didn't really like them and was disappointed. But I had all the clocks with me, so I decided to try this shot anyway and to play around with the exposure settings more. I took the shot on the 043 film (which was coming out less pale than the 040 but very over-contrasty). I took the first shot and tried turning the setting to very dark - almost fully darkened. I thought a dark setting might tone down some of the contrast and might still work somehow. The resultant picture was very much darker than this one. The clock faces were very clear and my face, too, but the building and the feet on the steps were invisible. So then I tried one last shot, turning the setting to slightly lighter than before - though it was still more than halfway to dark. When the picture came out, I asked my shiny shoe model to stick it into his jacket and keep it warm against his body. This was the last shot outside, so he kept it there until we were inside again. Even so, when I got home and looked at it, it was still a mass of undetailed grainy spots and wildly over-contrasty with hardly any intermediate tones. I thought it was a failure. But I could see that it was still changing, so I left it in a warm spot close to a radiator all afternoon and overnight. By the next morning, some of the grain had gone and some of the intermediate tones had appeared. This was the condition it was in by the time I had to send it off to Impossible the next morning. I think a cold clip would probably help a bit. And it must also help if you don't take the picture right out of the warm armpit or cold clip after you think it has finished developing - because it will not have finished developing. It can clearly continue to develop for several more hours as long as you keep it in the warmth.

2010-03-27 // 14:58:18
birdclaws
I think this one might have been my favorite of your test shots.

will he wake her?

did the alarms not work?

what was she doing the night before to fall asleep there?

who is the man?

^ I like this one and the kiss that isn't uploaded yet most. They were my two favourites. Though I do feel like this one is the most-"me" shot of them all, if you know what I mean. I like how it raises so many unanswerable questions. I have to keep asking myself the same things. This is one possibility: I think perhaps she wanted to catch someone before they left. I think she might have heard he was leaving the night before while she was at a party and decided to spend the night on the steps so as not to miss him. But she has slept through all the alarms, and he is coming down the stairs now. He must see her there, but he may decide to slip past her unnoticed and never return, or he may decide to wake her. I don't know how it ends. I think it ends right here at this moment.

2010-03-27 // 13:27:23
Reyo
a genius you are

^ I am honoured, Sir Reyo.

2010-03-27 // 12:45:36
rodeo
Is that why you need so many clocks? because people keep on stepping on them? If so, i have a better solution- why not sleep indoors in the warmth and just use the one?

^ Sounds like a very unpoetic way to sleep. I don't think I could do it.

2010-03-27 // 12:28:11
rodeo
no, it looks like you are about to be walked all over....

^ Or maybe he'll trip on a clock and I'll just sleep on regardless.

2010-03-27 // 11:00:44
rodeo
nothing like laying your head on a cold step to rouse the harsh reality of life, is there?

^ True. It didn't feel as romantic as it looks.

2010-03-27 // 04:39:00
Philippe
love your narrative (?) style.

^ Thanks (!).

2010-03-26 // 23:17:17
dimitris
How many times will you make me write "one of the best photos in polanoid"?

^ You must write it one hundred times until you have learned your lesson.

2010-03-26 // 21:32:05
amaliachimera
Why Europe is much better than the US- older architecture on which to lie on.

I love this.

^ You may be right. It will be a while before the US attains the same level of antiquated crumbliness, and by the time it does, Europe will have crumbled into even greater picturesqueness. I'm afraid we will most likely always be lightyears ahead on the dilapidation scale.

2010-03-26 // 17:16:13
rodeo
brilliant! very you!

^ Thanks Rhi-babes. I thought of Emma shivering and felt a little - a very little - sympathy with her during this shoot.

2010-03-26 // 15:44:43
emilie79
the clocks!!! :)
i cant believe how good each of your pictures is! the compositions are all impressive and amazing - wonderful job!

^ Kind creature. Thank you. Yes, I got the clocks out at last. There are a few more test shots to come. This was probably the most creative one though. That step was freezing.

2010-03-26 // 13:58:49
g.
grande classe
!
reminds me to maya deren, the mood. most wonder-ful.
(and if there wouldn't the reflections of light on his shoes, it all wouldn't be so [but this shall not be a reason to offer this precious item some shoe company])

^ Ha, you're right about the shine. Everything else looks so grainy and rough-textured that the shine draws the eye and seems like a major point of the scene. It was, of course, a meaningless coincidence, like all the best things.