Process is why I got into Photography and Graphic Design in the first place. The process of creating something with a hands-on nature. Setting type by hand, waxing page layouts onto boards, stat cameras, color separations, x-acto knives, darkrooms, push processing, blah blah blah. I was an early adopter of computers and digital for the work I do, but I wonder if I’d have ever bothered to get interested if it weren’t for the earlier hands on processes involved, which are going the way of the newspapers and magazines they were once used to create.

Polaroid transfers were made (and at the moment can still be made) using peel apart Polaroid films, like 669. Part of the way into the development process, you peel the negative from the paper, and roll it onto another substrate (another paper, cardboard, tile, whatever, anything is game as long as the image will stick). The result is always different. It’s  a roll of the dice to see what part of the image will hold. You can add to the process and change the effects by wetting the paper, using a hair dryer while rolling, etc. The fact is, it’s hands on, and it’s completely fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. You won’t get the same result twice. And that’s the best part.

The image of above was shot in 2002 of a Costa Rican rider named George. I can’t for the life of me remember his last name, and there’s a good chance I never even knew it. It was shot shortly after the opening of the Laguna Niguel skatepark in Orange County, CA, a park which I frequented until I moved back east in 2003. The neat thing about the transfer process, is you could also start with a “normal” slide, which I did here. The original was captured on Kodak E100VS slide film, and then, using a Polaroid Day Lab machine, I essentially took a picture of the picture onto the 669 film. The same result could be achieved using a camera with a Polaroid back. However, with the inconsistent nature of the transfer process, I found having an original slide to work from was more effective for action shooting. You wouldn’t want to shoot the image directly to the Polaroid and then fuck up your transfer. With the slide technique, if you screw up you can try again. And again. But the rider doesn’t have to kill himself. In this case I probably went through two packs of ten sheets of film experimenting with results until I got one I liked. This final shot was done on Bristol board, using a hair dryer to heat the negative while rolling.

I used the Polaroid transfer process for several magazine photos, including a shot of Michael Steingraber which ran in Ride BMX in early 2000, and then again with a photo of Brian Blyther that ran in a Dig photo issue in 2003. The above photo was never published.

Processes like this aren’t effectively duplicated on the computer. Yes, you can. But the process IS the point. It’s like making a xerox effect in photoshop for a designer. If you want xerox, use a xerox. If you want spraypaint, use spraypaint. That’s the fun of it. With peel-apart films harder and harder to find, less and less transfers are happening. Myself included. The Daylab is very, very dusty. But no, you can’t have it.