Polaroid Photos of “Sea Shells” by photographer Paul E Williams A unique beautiful series of Polaroid Lift photo art prints depicting sea shells. This An award winning series won a European Final Art Award for Paul E Williams.
“Sea Shells” Polaroid Photos Series by Paul E Williams
“From the first time I made a Polaroid Lift photo I became fascinated by both the process and the outcome. To Lift the emulsion off the Polaroids I had to experiment by modifying rubber spatula’s until I found a technique that worked. When you have lifted off the emulsion from a 10×8 polaroid you end up with a glutinous loose mess of gelatine. This has to be carefully unfolded and lifted onto art paper. If the paper is kept wet it is possible to move the gelatine into any shape you like.
I then rolled the emulsion down to squeeze out the water from behind the gelatine and attach it to the art paper. This is both painstaking, precarious and expensive. It also required a 10×8 bellows camera and 10×8 polaroid back and processor. Not surprisingly not that many people made Polaroid lifts as 10×8 polaroids were very expensive. In fact I have never costed any photo I have made as that would be crazily counter productive.
When Polaroid saw my Polaroid Lifts that they asked me to write an article on how to make Polaroid Lifts and I did so. I don’t like using technique blindly and I have come up with many new techniques through my career and each evolved for very specific reasons. I chose my subject matter for Polaroid Lifts carefully then. I had become interested in pressed flowers and the way they folded into 2 dimensional shapes when pressed and dried. This seemed to be a perfect subject for Polaroid lifts as the folding of the emulsion complimented the folds in the pressed flowers.
I used the technique for a Quaker Oats advertising campaign and for a Gordons Gin project. I also made probably the only animations using polaroid lifts one of which is called Icarus Rising and I will try to publish in my stories section. The Lifts in this series and other lifts earned me the a coveted Polaroid European Final Art Award in ’93. I hope you enjoy them.” Paul E Williams.
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