Recently I had the occasion to finally fulfill two of my dreams; I was able to finally get myself a pack of The Impossible Project’s black frame black and white instant film for Polaroid Cameras, and I was able to use it for a special occasion, my engagement photos with my better half and the love of my life. The engagement outweighs the film on the dream scale but I wanted to tell all of you about my experience with the film.

I was pleasantly surprised with the results. On the Impossible site, www.the-impossible-project.com, they make a disclaimer. They say that their film, although high quality, is different in chemical make-up than traditional Polaroid film that many of you are used to using–and they were right. There are a few quirks to be aware of.

The first few seconds after the film is ejected from the camera are CRUCIAL. Keep the film out of the light for those seconds; I taped the film box to the camera so the film went right in after the photo was taken. However I was a little impatient with a few and I paid the price. If you don’t leave the photo to cook for the proper time it ends up not being as sharp as you would hope, the grain structure is muddy rather than crisp, it also takes down the contrast to almost nothing. When you figure that each photo costs about $3.25 it’s worth it to leave it in the dark for as long as it needs.

The next thing to be aware of is the Dry Age Kit. One of the other differences between Impossible film and Polaroid is the need for a drying kit, after the photos are taken you can view them for a little bit but don’t get too attached because they will need to go right into a light resistant air sealed bag with two very large silica gel packs for, wait for it, a MONTH. Yes that’s right, a month…like I said, don’t get too attached. The drying process dries up the chemicals so they don’t continue to develop the photo over time and give it strange color and tonality shifts. But if that’s what you’re going for then by all means forget what I just said.

With those things in mind, I was very happy with the results like I’d said earlier. My pack turned out to be a little warm toned and when the photos were newly taken they were a slight purple hue that smacked of old albumen prints. They also turned out with a white almost hand drawn vignette around the border.  Most of all though, it was so much fun! I really enjoyed shooting “Polaroid” again which I hadn’t done since I was 10 years old. The film is a little pricy but it is so worth it for a special occasion or for the successful lomographer. I plan to make this an occasional treat.

Thanks to IMPOSSIBLE for making instant POSSIBLE again.