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Welcome back to Viewfinder, our ongoing series in which we chronicle interesting projects people are working on that incorporate Impossible film. This week, we bring you photos of Psych Fest, as seen through the eyes of our good friend and excellent photographer James Joiner…

I knew from the moment I de-planed in Austin and felt warm, dry Texas air envelop me (at nine PM) that this was going to be a good weekend.

I was back in Texas for Psych Fest, an annual celebration of Psychedelic music hosted by locals The Black Angels. I say back because I had just been here a few weeks ago for the absolute madness that was South By Southwest, seven days of bourbon for breakfast and sleep being something that happened only when your face splashed forward into an empty tray of nachos while one of over ten thousand bands serenaded you at five in the morning.

No matter what happened, Psych Fest was going to be a vacation in comparison. This time around I was on assignment for a trifecta of magazines, paired with two different writers and armed with a backpack of Impossible film (thanks, Annie at Impossible!), my trusty SLR 680 and its digital counterpart.

After what would be my last good night of sleep for the duration and possibly more breakfast tacos than is technically healthy, Thursday was a mellow day spent prepping and bouncing between festival pre-parties, with the highlight being a wine tasting with rock n’ roll winemaker Charles Smith, who heartily drank beer and regaled us with stories of his wilder days. I should note that anyone who believes those “wilder days” are in the past is sadly mistaken, the man is nothing short of a force of nature.

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Hello, instant film lovers, and welcome back to Viewfinder, our series in which we chronicle interesting projects people are working on using Impossible film. This week, we’re happy to present to you “Ray of Summer,” a photo book by Japanese photographer Ken Hirama and singer/songwriter Ray.

The “Ray of Summer” photo book was made limited of 100 copies and was only available at Ray’s annual solo live performance. Due to the great feedback, I wanted to share some of the photos. The book is a collection of Ken’s portraits of Ray using a folding SX-70 and PX 70 Color Shade Cool film

A great portrait comes from the mutual trust between the photographer and the model, therefore having known Ray since our early teens, we were both comfortable with each other. Rather than planning each shot, I would let her play in the park or the beach to bring out her natural charm. My job was to capture her charm using this unique type of film and understanding that it always produces an unexpected image. The choices we had to make upon choosing the right photos and the film was also difficult but with the help and support from so many, we were able to finish this beautiful book.

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Welcome back to Viewfinder, our series in which we chronicle interesting projects that incorporate Impossible film. This week, we’re happy to bring you J. James Joiner documentation of the Newport Folk Festival…

It wasn’t until I loaded the backpack full of film onto my already sweaty back that I started to worry I may have made a mistake. Not only was it well over 80 degrees – and pushing 100% humidity – but I now had two days of serious shooting ahead of me with two cameras that were past the 30 year mark.

When I decided to do the Impossible Folk Project – the name an amalgamation of the project’s primary subjects, Impossible Project instant film and the venerable Newport Folk Festival – I made the determination that I had to commit fully to the concept, and left my usual digital SLRs on a shelf back home (In all fairness, I should admit that I did, at the last minute, slip my Fuji x100 in the glove box. But only as a “break glass in case of emergency” contingency. Or if I found myself out of instant film and with the time to take several minutes manually focusing each frame). Now here it was: go time, so to speak, and I was definitely having a moment of panic. Not only was I not well-versed in the way of instant photo taking (I generally shot my Polaroid cameras as a hobby, not in the so called professional capacity), much of that shooting had been done on expired film, which as you know can be, um, unpredictable?

After checking in for our press stuff and firing a few shots of the waiting crowd, shots I suddenly realized I couldn’t preview for at least a few minutes to make sure I had “caught” the moment, it dawned on me just how dependent we’ve all become on instant gratification (which is, of course, ironic since I was shooting with the OG “instant” format). Here I was, supposedly a seasoned “professional”, and I was getting panicky over whether or not I had managed to get a decent photo. Deciding that peace of mind (and restoring a suddenly shaky self-confidence) trumped any late-onset light damage, I pulled the pics out of my pocket (don’t worry, I have museum-quality pockets) and gave ‘em the mid-development once-over. Lo and behold, and with a great deal of the credit owed to the wonderful folks at the Impossible Project, they looked great.

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Hello, old friends. Welcome back to Viewfinder, our series chronicling interesting and exciting projects people are working on that incorporate Impossible film. This entry has a musical bent, with images of musicians and bands by Jeff Mather, founder of Indiana music venue Jurassic Park…

Jurassic Park was an idea I conceived early on in college at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN. The music scene there for a long time was lacking of a small music space for bands to play, for both local and touring bands. When I wanted to see bands I liked, I found myself driving to Chicago or Bloomington, IN for shows, and I thought why not try to get those bands through West Lafayette? So I moved into a house with the full intent of turning the basement into a music space, and I built a stage, installed lights, bought a sound system, and started booking bands for every weekend.

In the beginning, most of the shows were either local bands or out-of-town bands with a local presence, but the buzz started early and Jurassic Park grew with each show. Every weekend, more people were showing up to the new and somewhat only music venue in town. As attendance was growing, so were the caliber of acts, including Reading Rainbow (Philly), coming off a tour with the Dodos, and Cast Spells (Dave Davison from Maps & Atlases).

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Recently, our good friend Chloe Aftel attended Coachella to shoot for Spin Magazine. While there, she also captured some beautiful, dreamy shots using Impossible PZ 680 film

Chloe says, “Using the new Impossible films at Coachella was a real pleasure. From the overcast days to the bright sunlight, I got nothing but extraordinary colors. The film really creates its own atmosphere that only enhances the lighting conditions of the day.”

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Hi again, Viewfinder viewers. Welcome back to our series focusing on interesting and creative projects that incorporate Impossible film. This week, we bring you Connecticut Noise-Pop/Neu Wave band The Field Recordings, who have put together a limited edition Album/Photobook containing Impossible images…

“So this book is part of a Limited Edition of our first album, THE ELASTIC NOSTALGIA. The First Printing is 100 hand-numbered copies (50 with a CD / 50 with a Cassette) we’re self-releasing for Record Store Day.

The book is kind of a play on our name—what would a bunch of Field Anthropologists or Hobby Scientists use to make reports from the field? An old Polaroid camera, a label maker & a typewriter… So this is supposed to be their documentation of whatever it is they’ve seen. The lyrics are transcribed like they were overheard, the instant photos, the footnotes are their analyses… The idea came to me a year ago as we were finishing up the recording. And then I just wrote down a bunch of loose general phrases that I thought related to each song, like EMPTY HOUSES, HANDS WRINGING, 1951, HUMAN CIRCUITRY/ACTUAL CIRCUITRY, ARROGANCE, that kind of thing, and gave the list to my drummer (Jared Thompson, he took photos 1d, 3a, 5c, 6d, & 9d). And then I just carried my 680 or sx-70 or Spectra around wherever I went for the next 8 or 9 months, looking for things that...Read All

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Our friends at Urban Outfitters wielded Polaroid cameras at SXSW, and got some excellent portraits and candid shots of the performers using Impossible films.

Each photo captures the gritty and personal atmosphere of SXSW and is signed by the pictured artist. To see the full pool of images, please visit Urban’s Live In Austin Tumblr page

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Welcome back to Viewfinder, our feature highlighting interesting projects people are working on incorporating Impossible Film. This entry focuses on Colorado-based software engineer and photographer Mark von Minden’s autumnsongs series.

autumnsongs is an evolving analog instant photography series. Each autumn a set of new instant photographs are paired with a corresponding set of songs by a variety of artists which are then mixed into a DJ set by Mark. While autumn colors and leaves were the original subject matter, there is also a strong element of abstraction within the work. Ultimately, an overall theme of change and progression informs Mark’s approach to the project each year.

To see more of Mark’s series, please visit autumnsongs.net and his Flickr Photo Sets

New York-based graphic designer and musician David Sankey recently released his first album under the name The Queerest Old Quaker. The album artwork features an image taken with Impossible’s PX 70 Color Shade film. We asked David to tell us a little about the album and his experience with Impossible film.

“The Queerest Old Quaker project and this first album are the result of several years of casual songwriting, but it wasn’t until early this summer that these songs began to develop a relationship to one another. I recorded most of the instrumentation in my bedroom here in New York and then had my sister, Rebekah Sankey, work out some harmonies. Her boyfriend, Vincent Castoro, recorded our vocals. They’re both incredible musicians…

(More after the jump!)

At Solid Sound 2011 in June, The Impossible Project handed out Polaroid cameras and Impossible PX 680 film to a handful of festival attendees, who were instructed to take photos at the festival that fit one of two categories: SOLID, or SOUND. The photos were then hung on a gallery wall at MASS MoCA.

All of the images taken that day can now be seen HERE

Special thanks to Wilco and the Solid Sound team!

Thanks to our great pals at Gorilla vs Bear, Flavorpill’s Flavorwire recently featured an image shot with PX 70 PUSH! in their slideshow “Strange and Brilliant Polaroids of Famous People.”

We cannot argue – the 21 images are indeed strangely brilliant and form almost a history of instant film since the 1960’s. Gorilla vs. Bear’s PUSH! shot of The Walkmen is included with the likes of Johnny Depp ironing toast, Andy Warhol with a skull on his skull and James Marsden looking like he just woke from a week-long bender.

Check it out!

Daytrotter gives you exclusive, re-worked, alternate versions of songs, videos and unreleased tracks by some of your favorite bands!

During the month of March, our buds at Daytrotter shot PZ600 Silver Shade, Polaroid IMAGE & Softtone in Austin, TX for the SXSW 2011 Music Festival.

If you’d like to win an original Impossible image from any Daytrotter session for your own personal collection, just fill out the form on the DT site and they’ll let you know if you’re a lucky winner. Good luck!

The Impossible Project is please to announce a special collaboration with The Decemberists and photographer Autumn De Wilde.

The Decemberists upcoming album The King is Dead will feature deluxe limited edition packaging. Each of the 2,500 box sets will be unique and distinctive, featuring a one of a kind polaroid from De Wilde. The clamshell box will include the CD, 180 gram vinyl….(more after the jump)