Instant Fun, Squared.

Hybrid vs. Analog.

I participated in a NAPfS photowalk on Tuesday, an early evening stroll through an older part of Pflugerville, TX. Well attended, it was a nice gathering with about 15-16 peeps. I had a great time.

I brought along 3 cameras… my trusty Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX100, the Fujifilm SQ10, and a new Fuji Instax camera, the Fujifilm Instax SQ6.

The SQ6 uses the Fuji square film. It’s totally analog, unlike the hybrid SQ10. You point, shoot, and a picture pops out. What you shot is what you print. Immediately!

The SQ6 has an Auto mode, a ‘selfie’ mode, macro and landscape settings, the ability to lighten and darken, and it’ll shoot double exposures. You can turn off and on the flash – plus included in the box are green, red, and purple colored plastic filters that fit snugly over the decent sized protruding flash located at the top left corner on the face of the camera.

It was my first pack of film in the SQ6, and that’s the camera I started out with for the stroll.

I had only read through the manual a couple of times, so I was familiar enough to do some damage! The 10 pictures I made with the SQ6 turned out decent enough. I like the mystery of not knowing what’s going to emerge.

Solid purchase.

SPECS | Fujifilm Instax SQ10 + Fujifilm Instax Square Instant Film & Fujifilm Instax SQ6 + Fujifilm Instax Square Instant Film

After I emptied the SQ6 of its 10 images I broke out the SQ10, which is a lot more predictable. I like being able to shoot manually and print later. And that’s what I did. I just shot a bunch of pictures and when the group wound its way back to the coffee shop, I opened a box of film and stuck it in the camera.

I was able to be selective about which pictures I printed, and that’s something about the SQ10 that makes it work for me.

I like and will use both cameras, but the SQ10 just edges out the SQ6 in coolness. Now, I’m hoping Fujifilm produces square black and white film for the SQ6. That’d be awesome.

Here are 10 pictures, the 5 in the left column were made with the SQ10, the 5 in the right the SQ6.

 

Dead Bumble Bee.

A lesson in observation.

I was out working in the studio and got up to go check for a package on the front porch. As I walked across the driveway I noticed this black spot on the sidewalk.

We’d had a little bit of rain lately, and I’m wondering if maybe that’s what caused this poor little guy’s demise.

There wasn’t a package at the door, so I turned back and went in the house and got my clip-on macro lens for the iPhone. I unscrewed the stock macro/wide-angle lens from the clip and twisted on 4 – 37mm diopters a +10, +4, +2, and a +1.

There’s a bunch of paper scraps on my work table and I was able to fish out a piece of black art board to use as a background, and as a scoop to pick the bee up from the concrete walkway.

I moved my art stool out of the garage to the top of the driveway, placed the art board with the bee on the stool, and fired up the Blackie App.

It took a few attempts to get the focus the way I wanted, using natural light from the cloudy skies.

The detail in the wings is my favorite part.

RIP Bumble Bee.