Photographs from my travels, using the Poladroid application.

 ”My photographs are more about me than they are about the people I photograph.” – Richard Avedon

***

The Charm of Polaroids.

I took a Polaroid camera with me on my first trip overseas to Portugal.  Big and expensive, I lugged it around my neck into castles and forts, through museums and to beaches.  I loved that I got the photographs right there.  They were square and the colors were just a bit off, but that is part of their charm.  I wish I had a photograph or two to share, but they are stored in some

Try to put "focus points" a bit off center.

 boxes in my car.  

Notice the slight greenish color.

Polaroid, as we know it, dies…

Well, last year Polaroid admitted defeat and stopped producing their instant film.  With the digital craze, they could not keep up.  But currently Polaroid has offered a new camera, the PoGo which uses digital technology to print photographs from the camera. I checked a recent review and it looks a little weak.  No borders, the photographs are only 2 inches by 3 inches, and it eats major batteries.  But see for yourself.

The best shots to use are ones that work cut into a square.

Try the “Droid.”

For easier and cheaper use, try Poladroid, which names itself  ”the easiest and funniest Polaroid Image maker.”  A, by donation

 only, product that you can download online right now (for free if you wish), it allows you to change your digital images into pretty solid replicas of the old film photographs.  It lives up to it’s name too, it is easy and fun!  

Try adding text using a simple photo editor, like Picasa.

How to use Poladroid:

1.  Simply, open up Poladroid and a mini version of the camera appears in the upper left hand corner of your desktop.  

2.  Drag your digital image up to the camera and Voila!

3.   The camera makes the same noise that the “real” version makes and a photograph pops out.  Like the old version, it takes a few minutes for the photograph to “develop” and you can even grab the photograph and shake it around if you like (which doesn’t make it develop any faster and never did, but is irresistible).

4.  Like the camera, it only allows you to make 10 photographs before you have to “change the film,” meaning close and reopen the application.  A bit unnecessary and for those in a rush, it is annoying, yet as a big fan of Polaroid, I appreciate the attention to detail and the film-like experience.

5.  To spice them up a bit by adding “handwriting” on the bottom, use a simple photo-editor like Picasa and type who is in the photograph or where it was taken.

The downside to Poladroid is when you have produced 9 or 10 photographs and they are developing, it really slows down my computer.

Here is the photo of the day on Poladroid’s site:

Photograph from Peta, check out her photographs by clicking here.

Justin Timberlake likes them, so you must too, right!  Hah!!!

If you decide to use this application, please share your photographs on the Create Our World Facebook page, in Create Our World’s Flickr Group, or just shoot me an email.  Maybe I can make a post of other’s shots!  I love looking at others photographs!

Create Our World.

Ben

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“The goal is not to change your subjects, but for the subject to change the photographer.”  ~Author Unknown

Tags: adventure travel blog, Benjamin Jenks, create our world, hitchhiking, how to use poladroid, poladroid, polaroid, roadtrip around the USA
Categories: Photographs.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Photographs.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.