Welcome back to our newest addition to the Impossible Blog: Impossible’s Analog Travelog! In this series, we’ll be showcasing fantastic Impossible photos taken on voyages the world over. This entry comes from Nicholas Carn and his trip to Moscow on which he brought along some Impossible film…
Last Christmas and New Year I travelled to freezing Moscow to stay with my Russian friend; of course I brought along my SX-70. The bleak snowy landscape of Moscow is such a perfect subject for instant film. My friend always took a long time to get ready each day so I would usually go out exploring with my camera(s) and meet her later on. Only knowing a few words of Russian, this proved challenging on the underground, having to remember station names visually.
One of my favourite Impossible shots from the trip, called “last night” was of remains of fireworks from New Years eve, the empty and burnt cases lonely on a frozen lake. Also a shot of fishermen sitting on their fold-up chairs, fishing through holes drilled in the ice, a power station in the distance behind. They look great blown up large where you can see the texture of the film. Also “Cosmos” my shot of the Russian cosmonaut memorial. There was a beautiful forest at the edge of the lake by my friends house which I went to explore, it was near here that as I was taking a shot of a power station chimney I was chased off by two Russian hounds, the trouble that an instant film addiction can bring you!…I got lost near the forest but was guided back home by the plume of smoke from the power station.
I was still getting used to Impossible film and the cold conditions were challenging to shoot in but I learned the techniques which make me feel comfortable with the film today. In fact I would say that this learning process helps to make you a better photographer as it forces you to think more about the process. I took plenty of shots with my Holga and Olympus XA cameras too but it’s the Impossible shots I wish I’d taken more of as right now it’s pretty much all I shoot with.
About Nicholas
I am an artist and designer based in London.
Thanks to Nicholas for taking part in Analog Travelog! You can see more of his Impossible photography on his Tumblr blog, his Flickr photostream and his broadcast design and illustration site at purplepixel.com.
If you’ve recently taken a trip on which you shot some Impossible photos or plan on taking one soon, please shoot us an email at usa@theimpossibleproject.com
