“Clarence.” Photograph © Jennifer Trausch.
We’re very lucky with the guest bloggers this week. Here Raul Gutierrez—Mexican Pictures, Heading East—interviews his friend Jennifer Trausch, who makes gorgeous and compelling photographs with large-format cameras, including the 20×24 Polaroid. Read on—Raul and Jennifer explain it all for you. Enjoy. —along
Jennifer Trausch is a New York-based photographer whose day job is operating the legendary 20×24 Polaroid camera at the Polaroid Studio in lower Manhattan. The camera is 5-feet (150 cm) high and weighs 235 pounds (106 kg). It produces huge 20×24 inch (50×60 cm) images that are known for their unmatched clarity and detail. The camera’s storied history includes numerable sessions with artists from Andy Warhol to Chuck Close to William Wegman.
Trausch had rarely used the 20×24 for her own independent projects until recently, when she went out on the road with her assistant, Kim Venable, taking photographs of people around America. While the project is ongoing Jennifer let us peek at some of the images and discussed how they were partially dictated by her desire to push the camera in new directions. —Raul Gutierrez
RG: How did you get involved with the 20×24 Polaroid camera?
JT: As a student at the Cleveland Institute of Art, I took part in a mobility program in New York that introduced me to the 20×24 Polaroid camera. I then interned for a full semester with the camera, but never imagined I would have a future with it. I went on to finish school in Ohio and began assisting photographers and eventually made my way back to NY. Due to my experience with the 20×24 studio, I began working with the artist Gregory Colbert (Ashes and Snow exhibition) as a large-format printer. When there was an opening at the 20×24 Polaroid Studio I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. There are only five of these cameras in the world and it seemed an honor to have the chance to run one. I have now been with the camera for four and a half years.
RG: The 20×24 camera is enormous. What is the process of actually operating the camera in the studio? When a photographer comes in and sets up the studio for a shot are you the person who is actually focusing and making all the camera adjustments?
JT: One of the upsides of this job is that every day is different. One day the studio is rented by a Conceptual artist to make wall-size installations and the next day we are shooting editorial portraits of celebrities for a magazine. And so there is always a new set of variables to work with. The camera remains the only constant, and I am responsible for its handling, for physically moving the camera to compose and focus, the changing of the magnification, the exposure compensations, etc. These are the basic elements, but a lot of the background stuff deals with knowing how to work with the film, how it responds to the shooting conditions. Since every client has a varying degree of photographic knowledge, I often take on other responsibilities such as the lighting. Really, you do whatever it takes to help someone create their vision.
RG: So it sort of puts you in the position of dp/cinematographer working with a director.
JT: Exactly.
RG: And usually you use the camera in a studio setting with a static set, right? What was the impulse to take the camera on the road?
JT: Taking it outside was a strong reaction to what I do every day in the studio. A lot of artists respond to the 20×24 camera by taking advantage of the extreme detail it can produce. The 20×24 negative can give you a great amount of detail, but to get a lot of depth of field you really need high-powered strobes. I found over time a lot of the work started to look the same and have the same controlled feel. The 20×24 was built to be a studio camera but I have always wanted to push it to its limits. Maybe I got bored being in a studio all the time, but I found myself being inspired by artists who were willing to take risks with it, often painters who were unaware of its limitations as a camera. For example, I was intrigued by Julian Schnabel’s technique of composing quickly and working with available conditions, in the end creating images that are quite loose and free. Christopher Wool is another painter whose working method I responded to: he takes the camera out at night and does long exposures that are quite timeless. So I became intrigued with this look of a passage of time which you can’t achieve with strobes in normal studio shooting. I also wanted to use the camera in an intuitive way that was somewhat uncontrolled. There was minor production or planning—we just simply went out to take pictures.
Jennifer Trausch (in glasses) and Kim Venable, on location with the 20×24 Polaroid camera. Photograph courtesy of and © Doug Thompson, who wrote a piece about Jennifer, Kim, and the 20×24 Polaroid last fall, on his site Blue Ridge Muse.
RG: So you’re almost working against that hyperreality that is the 20×24 signature…
JT: Right. On this project out in the field we’re shooting four-, eight-, twelve-second exposures in natural light, so the camera is wide open. I’m attracted to having some of that large negative detail, but then also having this fall-off that is unlike what any other camera can produce… it’s so extreme…. The polaroid material is also quite painterly. It’s a tricky balance as you sometimes have to let go of the typical large-format qualities of tight, crisp focus and just let things happen in the long exposures. Sometimes this means you have a higher margin of error when the subjects are moving about, and well, it is an expensive medium….
RG: When you are working wide-open, what kind of focus depth is there? Is it like a centimeter?
JT: Usually I’m not magnified that much so it’s not quite that shallow, but yeah, if you are in close it can be quite narrow, half a centimeter or even less. When you work at 10-20x magnification it can be a sliver, but it allows you to see things your eye could not. This was my initial attraction to the camera and how I shot on it at first, but I’ve let go of that on this project.
RG: As I understand it, you and Kim took this truck and were driving around the South going to small towns, wandering from place to place?
JT: I worked backwards in this project: a lot of my ideas stem from the actual medium and less from a narrative concept. It sounds silly but very few people have access to this camera, so I wanted to get it out there to take pictures of people who would never have been photographed by it. We had very few parameters, and they were simple: a truck with a liftgate, black-and-white film, no lights, and a basic direction, south. Each day was about whoever we happened to meet. We attacked smaller towns because we knew access would be a bit easier, and I wanted to be getting inside places. My idea was to bring the camera into everyday environments where it had never been before… restaurants, bars, wherever. We often chose the smallest towns on the map and then once we finished shooting we’d ask people if they could recommend another place and we would follow the trail from there.
RG: When you showed up in these places with your big truck, were people welcoming or sort of wary?
JT: I think being two young women was to our benefit. It put people at ease. The scale of the camera makes it quite monumental; people were wowed by the camera and usually open to taking part in the project. The process of shooting became a performance, as often everyone around got involved and due to the instantaneous nature of the film people could react immediately to how I worked and the end result.
RG: And the camera is such a beautiful object in it’s own right…
JT: Yeah, most people had never seen anything like it, and were in awe of the entire process.
“Crouse Family”
RG: In your Skateland project (which I’m a big fan of by the way), you used large-format cameras set up in roller rinks with people you found there. Other than the size and time it took to set up the camera, was the process similar with this project?
JT: Both projects are large-format so they always involve a setup, but I like to combine that with a touch of snapshot-y-ness. With both of them there’s always an awareness of the camera that you can’t hide, so I try to work with that. In Skateland it was more obvious as the setup was more elaborate with lighting and so in the end people presented themselves to the camera. But in the 20×24 project I work loosely, trying to follow more in the documentary tradition.
RG: What are the film stocks available for the 20×24?
JT: There are four films: Black-and-White 400 Polapan, Chocolate (Sepia) ISO 40, and two color films, P7 ISO 100 Saturated color, and P3 ISO 80 portrait film for skin tones, which has a somewhat muted palette (Skateland was shot on this film).
RG: Why black-and-white for this project?
JT: Black-and-white allowed me to simplify my shooting so that I was able to work in any circumstance without lighting. I was also attracted to the grittiness of how the film reads in long exposures.
RG: While working do you ever preview images with a smaller polaroid?
No small polaroids, but occasionally we took a quick digital shot to determine if it was time to take the camera out of the truck. But sometimes when I’m working quickly there’s no time for any of that. In Red House I tried to capture the subjects naturally hanging out in the general store as I found them, and so I didn’t want to alter that feel by testing it out.
RG: Were you surprised by any of the images you made?
JT: Yes, mainly because I was often in uncontrollable situations where I had to go with the flow and so I couldn’t work in any one way.
For example, we ended up at a Jamboree in Floyd, Virginia, where the whole building was shaking as people were flatfoot dancing. It was way too much motion at first but I learned to work with it. It brought a whole new feel to the project and now I plan to work with movement even more.
RG: Do you have a name yet for the project?
JT: Not yet. It’s still fresh and it’s a work in progress. We’re starting another trip this month and have another one planned for July. This month I’m going to be on location on a job in Florida so we’re going to jump off from there and go through Georgia and Tennessee, eventually heading back to New York, shooting along the way. What I know about the project will probably change this month when I’m on the road. We’re still at the beginning.
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34 Responses to “Polaroid on Steroids”
salvador @ 2007-03-15 09:38:52 PM says:
te kiero mucho magui y siempre pienso en ti con kariño el chiko loko y rocker salvador
MELISA @ 2007-03-16 12:56:54 AM says:
buenisimo
Luna @ 2007-03-16 02:12:28 AM says:
I think we had enough about Polaroids, maybe some diversification is needed?!
old_ness @ 2007-03-16 02:45:24 AM says:
big polaroids sound really yummy. do they squish out from 20 inch rollers after you take the picture?
Personism » Blog Archive » links for 2007-03-16 @ 2007-03-16 08:20:50 AM says:
[…] The Daily F’log » Blog Archive » Polaroid on Steroids Jennifer Trausch is a New York-based photographer whose day job is operating the legendary 20×24 Polaroid camera… [It is] 5 feet high and weighs 235 pounds. It produces huge 20×24 inch images that are known for their unmatched clarity and detail. (tags: photography photo interviews) Digg This Save to Del.icio.us […]
pitufina @ 2007-03-16 10:58:24 AM says:
saludos
me encantan las fotos b/n
un besos
saludos para todos
nos vemos
chussss
suzannasugar @ 2007-03-16 12:04:56 PM says:
this has been my favorite entry so far. I am practically drooling over that camera and the beauty it makes.
Makito @ 2007-03-16 01:35:36 PM says:
Please
Add UNICODE title suppor again.
And text size edit again.
Added to my RSS =)!
lala @ 2007-03-16 02:38:34 PM says:
tendrian que hacer un libro, hay fotos increibles
sam @ 2007-03-16 04:27:45 PM says:
my favorite camera in the world… so great to see someone getting it out and about
MICAELA @ 2007-03-16 09:02:31 PM says:
hola iva te quiero decir que SOS 1 AMIGA RE BUENA y las otras tambien pero yo estoy hablando de vos.
habeces nos peliamos pero no importa .
bueno ME DESPIDO CON 1O2 BESOS GRANDE.
TU AMIGA MICAELA MEDINA
Andres @ 2007-03-17 03:41:16 AM says:
This is an excelent article. We need more of these.
Congratulations to Raul and of course, admire and congratulations to Jennifer.
Hugs.
Nos vemos…
por esos mares…
Diego @ 2007-03-17 10:59:39 AM says:
increible el trabajo realizado, polaroids de 20×24
ver más fotografias sería genial
kardios @ 2007-03-17 03:58:39 PM says:
your work is awsome!!
skateland rulz!!
dilia @ 2007-03-17 05:58:04 PM says:
holiis!!ya sebes q te kiero mucho,y q podes contar conmigo en todos momento.lo mejor para vos!!!besossssss
pillo @ 2007-03-17 09:14:03 PM says:
como esras amigo
juancarlos @ 2007-03-18 11:55:22 AM says:
hola lusiano como estas q tebngas un buen dia espero q te vaya bien con amistad juancarls
vale @ 2007-03-18 10:18:24 PM says:
olaaaaaaaa!!
sofia @ 2007-03-19 05:23:09 PM says:
love it.
PALI @ 2007-03-19 07:12:19 PM says:
¿COMO ES ESTO?
digan
Emanuel @ 2007-03-20 03:45:08 AM says:
Desde los mas viejo que esta en su CPU
hasta los mas nuevo que esta en un papel
desde el cigarro que lo puede quemar
a la tijera que lo puede cortar
desde la musica que esta en su cabeza
a la llada que nunca reciviras
y en el vacio de la oscuridad
su espalda que nunca encontraras.
[corrije]
Renata @ 2007-03-20 12:31:09 PM says:
Muchas fotos increiblemente hermosas!, es verdad, deberían publicar un libro, a traves de la pantalla se van cosas muy bellas, pero nada se compara con la calidad del papel!
rojas @ 2007-03-20 05:10:48 PM says:
wenazzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Déb @ 2007-03-20 08:13:50 PM says:
naaaah!!
me encanto la foto!
deverdad esta muy buenaaaa
me encanta eeste tipo de imaenes..
me llenan..
( que emo xD)
/karr38 @ 2007-03-20 09:51:27 PM says:
a mi me dan cosita jaj
gnx @ 2007-03-20 11:31:41 PM says:
Wow! Amazing piece of work!
caro @ 2007-03-21 12:03:22 AM says:
:O
W O W
♥
profugo @ 2007-03-21 12:22:40 AM says:
nicee :O
rapaz fotógrafo @ 2007-03-21 05:33:34 PM says:
Like the poetry hidden in those photos, and like the black&white treatment that has been made. I actually prefer 35mm camera, but that’s a nice one as well. Pass by to see my work if you wish so. Bye and photograph.
PATRICIO @ 2007-03-21 09:05:56 PM says:
wena wena…..miamor linda…………………………….las minassssssssssssss linda ermosa……………………………….tequero muchos…………………………………………………………………..besos
p
a
t
o……………chao
nadia @ 2007-03-21 11:07:50 PM says:
son muy bellas estas fotografías.
saludos dde Arg.
Ndh
laura @ 2007-03-24 11:10:32 AM says:
me gustan las fotos! psaste si kieres
Katherine @ 2007-03-28 06:17:45 PM says:
That is so gorgeous…
latest-digital-news.com » Blog Archive » New Page 1 @ 2007-04-10 02:11:31 AM says:
[…] The Daily F log Blog Archive Polaroid on SteroidsJennifer Trausch (in glasses) and Kim Venable, on location with the 20 24 Polaroid camera. Photograph courtesy of and Doug Thompson, who wrote a piece about Jennifer, Kim, and the 20 24 Polaroid […]
