Polaroid Transfers

I’ve been trying some Polaroid transfers during my spring break. I’ve made a lot of Polaroid lifts, but until now have procrastinated trying transfers. There were two reasons for this. One, I've always liked the look of Polaroid lifts better than transfers, and two, everything I’d read about these processes led me to believe that the transfers were kind of a pain in the butt and took a long time to learn to do well. When I actually started doing some this week, I found the opposite to be true. I like the transfers better than I thought I would, although I still like the look of Polaroid lifts better. I think the transfers are the easier of the two processes, however. They are a little more predictable and easier to control than Polaroid lifts.

I’ve made about twenty of these transfers this week. Here’s a few of the more interesting ones. The one at the top of the post is a photo of a diorama at the Exhibit Museum in Ann Arbor.


This is a shop window in Blue Island, IL. The building is actually across the street, and was reflected in the window.



This photo is part of a display of taxidermied birds in the Field Museum in Chicago.



This is also in the Field Museum, in the main hall.



Another one from the Field Museum, this is one of the dioramas.



This one’s part of something I’ve been working on for a while. I don’t like discussing work in progress, especially when I haven’t thought it through fully, so for now I’ll say it’s a closeup photo of an old comic book and leave it at that.

I’ve got a few experiments with Polaroid transfers in progress. They should be finished in a day or two, and I’ll post the results then.