Sufjan Stevens: The BQE

In an earlier blog post, I wrote about how Flickr user Ettubrute was using his still camera as a way of making interesting films. This post is about what Sufjan Stevens did in his film The BQE.

Using a very old film video camera, Sufjan made a partially documentary-style film about the Brooklyn Queens Expressway, but he did it in a very interesting way. Instead of showing just one screen of footage, he showed three, back to back. Sometimes the images connected, sometimes they didn't. According to Sufjan, the intent of the film is to give an interesting point of view of a part of Brooklyn that he loves, and to develop his photographic eye.

He did exactly that. The film transitions from being mostly photograph-like into a raging geometric maze. He used his video camera to create time-lapsed scenes. But instead of showing them simply as what they were, he mirrored them in the three-across format to turn them into something else.

Unfortunately, the clip with the mirrored videos is no longer available. This is a clip from a different part of the film that uses the three-across format to play on a theme.

ⓒ Asthmatic Kitty Records and Sufjan Stevens. I do not own this.

This is a very interesting presentation, because it is technically and literally a film. But it is set up as photography. In a way, this is a backwards approach to what Ettubrute did. But both accomplish similar things: merging photography and film interestingly.

One thing that Sufjan has over Ettubrute is his incorporation of sound. Sufjan designed the score of the film himself, so it is intended to go with it perfectly. And it does. It goes up and down in intensity and changes at all the right points, making his film even more rhythmic than the patterns of traffic already were. It sounds curious in parts and strong in others.

Lomography Trend / Digital Lomography

A bright red sign posted in the window of a local Indie music store advertises a dead photography trend - or at least it was dead.

Lomography, a type of cheap photography that developed in the 1960's is becoming more and more popular among young artists. What makes lomography fun is that the colors are often wildly saturated and unexpected in hue. The photos are also extremely sharp, often grainy, and usually have a strong vignette around the edges.

Lomo cameras are light, made of plastic, and feel like toys. When they were first created, they were sold for mere pennies, but they caught on because of the interesting colors they produced. Then, as instant and disposable photography got better, the lomography cameras gradually got phased out. But apparently they were not entirely forgotten, because now the Lomo is back. Although now, the camera isn't sold so cheaply. On average, one costs between $60 and $200 depending on the brand, the make, and the product quality. And the film costs about $5 a roll, plus $10 for developing. It's a pretty expensive "cheap" photography.

Fortunately, there's an alternative: digital lomography.
This online tutorial is great and easy to follow, and the images it produces really look like they were taken by a film Lomo.


I suspect that as the old photo / lomography trend will only grow in popularity, but that as the economy dwindles, more and more people will start switching to digital lomography. Not everyone is going to be able to afford to buy Lomo film (120mm instead of the normal 35mm), so they will switch to the free kind.

Poladroid

I found a really great application, which works for both Mac and PC. It's called Poladroid. It easily turns your JPEG images into digital polaroids. But it's quirky. Like an actual polaroid, these polaroids take time to develop, and if you shake it, it develops faster. But the wait is worth it, because the images it produces are great.

It's still in beta testing, though, so it has a few problems. The application doesn't automatically come to the front when switching to it from another application. But other than that, this is a brilliant application.

This app is designed for people who have an interest in old, lo-fi photography, for people who are nostalgic about a dying medium, or for people who just like interesting looking photos. This is a seriously fun app for anyone who likes to play with images.

Poladroid is already making its way around social-networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, but it's still in its Early Adapter stage. It's starting to tip. It's not super popular just yet, but I imagine it soon will be, considering the growing photo-editing trend (Picassa, Picnik, etc.). I anticipate that in a few years, there will be editors like this for tons of other types of old photos. Already there is one to make photos look like they were from the 1800's.