These multiple exposures blended the abstract and narrative in compelling complexity. In the 1990s Carey moved on to produce the series of “Pulls” and “Rollbacks”. Eliminating the figure altogether, Carey created these abstract images taking full advantage of the camera as a printmaking machine. Exploiting the roll film nature of the system, Carey produced pieces sometimes seven to ten feet in length by letting the camera run beyond its usual stopping point. At times, the positive would be cut away from the negative and “rolled back” into the camera for additional exposures and developing.
Click here to see more of Ellen’s work and excerpts from the essay “Ellen Carey, Matrix to Monumental”, by Ben Lifson.
Ellen Carey, 20×24 Pulls and Rollbacks, Part 1
Ellen Carey, 20×24 Pulls and Rollbacks, Part 2
You can see more of Ellen’s work at her website: Ellen Carey Photography
You can see more of Ben Lifson’s works and writings at: Ben Lifson
Mega # 4, the 20×24 Pod Machine
Ever wonder how 20×24 pods are made? This video shows our pod machine in Putnam, CT taking the Polaroid reagent mixed at our site In Dudley, MA and loading into the individual foil packets or “pods”.
One pod is used to develop a 20×24 exposure.
In memory of Peter Bass, Polaroid Technical Specialist for over 35 years. Peter played a pivotal role in developing the 20×24 and 40×80 formats and the cameras that used this unique Polaroid film.
20×24 Portraits at Jade’s Toy Box Store in Tribeca, NYC 25 North Moore at Varick
20×24 Portraits © Jennifer Trausch 2009
Jennifer Trausch’s 20×24 Images from the South at Jodi Arnold, 56 University Place, NYC through December 13th 212-997-2329
“Wilson’s Night Spot” is a loose narrative exploring the nature of the American South, composed as a series of intimate portraits of everyday life. It contains work from four trips taken over three years, spent wandering instinctively through the small towns of the South. Jennifer spent most of these trips utterly lost, albeit intentionally so, freed to work off impressions and immersion, responding to the subtle details found in each place.
In order to facilitate the search for open and intimate narrative pictures in these locales, Jennifer used the 20×24 Polaroid Camera producing instant 20” x 24” prints as her guide. Jennifer’s compositions are far from passive as all have a textural sobriety that is introspective yet engaging. The absence of distinct references of time and unique perspectives, frees up viewer interpretation.
“I chose an atypical way of working with the 20 x 24, eschewing control and extreme detail for highly selective focus and long exposures that are loose and gestural. As the project progressed, the images took on more and more of the dark, surreal nature of the South, both wondrous and strange. My survey is a slow, steady discovery of this feeling, experienced and articulated through all of the palpable sensations surrounding it.”
– Jennifer Trausch (2009)