The Impossible Project (literally!)

For my new project, Sequence & Series, I decided to do a play on Nick Knight's series of subcultures for i-D mag in the 80s. Having moved from Essex to Kent and having recently been a bridesmaid at a massive Essex wedding, I decided to base my subculture on the stereotype of the Essex girl, and how different it can be from surrounding Kent or London.


I decided to shoot it on something a bit different, so after my lovely flatmate bought me a Polaroid camera from Budapest in Easter break, I decided to get some of the new PX silver shade film from the Photographers' Gallery. I was after that kind of grainy black and white texture, and although I was well aware that using Polaroid might make it a bit more unfocused and generally less documentary style, I still thought it would be cool. So in between travelling from Rochester and back and forth to Central London, I stopped off at my cousins house in Redbridge for her to model, and it turned out to be a very lovely weekend!

As it happens, the photographs didn't come out tooooo well at all, pretty annoying as the new Polaroid is about as expensive as large format colour film. I was told to develop it at 17-24 degrees which I tried (but it has been SO hot) and also covering it for 90 seconds after (for the last few I was doing 10 minutes!!). Probably should have stuck to trusty Ilford HP5 and my Chinon! Also worth noting though, as my flatmate said, it could be the camera itself. It was brand new, but I'm going to try the second pack in her previously tested polaroid camera so we shall see.

Here are the results anyhow:



Slightly better after a reduced temperature and keeping dark after for longer, but still so different from original polaroids.