Polaroid vs. Holga

Dilema? I carry multiple cameras around with me and end up taking nearly identical photographs. You be the judge...

Exhibit A: Death Valley Junction



Exhibit B: Death Valley Junction 2:


Exhibit C: Alcatraz


Exhibit D: Roy's, Amboy, CA


I enjoy Polaroids because they satisfy the video part of me that likes the instant gratification. The camera makes that awkward sound and spits out the photograph and you wait your two minutes and slowly watch the photograph come alive. The only thing more magical than that is placing a photograph in the developer and waiting for an image to take its first breath in a dark, red lit room.

At the end of the day I'll have my 120 rolls snug in my pocket anxiously waiting for their magical birth in the darkroom, but I'll also have these Polaroids which are little treasures of the day. Though their image may not be superior to medium format or 35mm film, I tend to value them far more. I keep my negatives safe and I can always make more prints, but this is the only Polaroid I'll ever have no matter what. Even though I have a more permanent and nearly identical record in the tiny grains that come alive through gelatin, I have a pure satisfaction in knowing that this is the only Polaroid. They are truly precious in that way and even more precious now that Polaroid isn't going to make instant film anymore.

I used to buy Polaroids when they came in a 5 pack at Costco. You could get 50 photographs for $45 which is pretty good. After a very upsetting talk with a Costco employee I found out that Costco doesn't even sell the Polaroid film anymore. In fact, they don't sell any film. Period. I understand the convenience of digital photography, but I don't understand the lack of something physical.

Will we still have family photo albums? When we e-mail photos of our children's birthday parties to relatives, will they print them out and put them on the refrigerator? I'm sorry, but those digital prints that you get at Rite Aid or Walgreens or where ever the average American gets their digital prints just aren't as good. Digital photographs take up hard drive space on a computer or still in the camera and can be so easily lost or carelessly deleted. They become so much more expendable and make us bad editors. How many of you have taken a digital photo, looked at it on the screen and said, nah, and deleted it right then and there, or have run out of room on a memory card and flipped though and deleted photos for the sake of more room?

I know film isn't cheap, and polaroids aren't either. But there's something so much more permanent, and so much more special there that I wish more people had the patience and appreciation for.

Bravey Crockett and the Mystery of the Moving Rocks

Ok, so I'm not floundering after all. I've actually started to edit bits of the video I've shot, and am getting a really good idea of what I need to shoot to flesh this thing out. The working title for this project is, "Bravey Crockett and the Dirty Windshield".

But who knows, it could be called "An Afternoon at the Ice Capades" or something equally random next week. Not that my current working title is completely random, but a girl does change her mind. You don't even want to know how long it took me to come up with "Welcome, Human" as a title for my senior film...

I can't say I've ever gone into a project with a title in mind before. Believe me, this makes it rather difficult when sorting through Final Cut Pro files. The Final Cut file for this project is "desert world". They are all super vague like that. Do you know how many films I've shot on Coney Island? If you do, then you know how many Final Cut files I have that are titled, "Coney Island Rough Cut", "NicoleConey", or simply,
"Coney Island". When talking about Coney Island with my friend Jonathan Johnson he made a comment something like,
"We all know that's the key to your heart".
I couldn't have said it better myself.

But, I digress...

Currently I have a ten minute edit of a scene that will be in my film up on vimeo.
For all of you youtubers who would rather see entirely original content, I suggest you venture over there.

This scene was shot at Death Valley's racetrack, which is well known for its mysterious "moving rocks". When the playa is wet and the wind blows, these rocks glide across the surface leaving paths behind them. No one has ever seen the rocks actually move, or know how long it takes them to form these paths. Sadly though, it looks like some people have removed many of them and taken them home for "souvenirs" as there are many paths with no rocks at the end of them. Which is just silly, because these rocks have no significance in any other place.

Now if you like, you can watch the scene from my film. I'm still in the very early stages of editing, so constructive criticism is, as always, highly encouraged and happily accepted! Thanks and enjoy.


Bravey Crockett and the Mystery of the Moving Rocks from Nicole Melanson on Vimeo.

grand canyon

Years ago I bought this great stereogram in an antique shop and it made me want to visit the biggest hole in the ground something fierce. 

 I was lucky enough to visit the Grand Canyon for my 23rd birthday. Photographs really don't do it justice, and I know everyone says that, but it's true. Look at this anyway:

Also I shot a bit of video while I was there. This was probably the most striking bit.

yeah, BABIES!

Ok, so somehow probably the dumbest, simplest thing I've ever done has managed to get 10,000 + views on youtube. Thanks youtube watchers! Sorry I don't have any alcohol infused crotch shots or mentos and diet coke videos to draw more viewers over, but it looks like 10 seconds of boy looking at girl, and girl looking at boy and the word "sex" in the tags is just enough for 10,000 of you (not that I had to hold your attention very long).

It's just a 10 second PSA that pokes a little fun at the ephemeral films of the 50's and 60's (How Much Affection is one of my personal favorites and provides the music for this short). For those of you who don't know the wonders of the Prelinger Archives, shame on you! It's a wonderful archive of all kinds of films, most of them in the public domain. That means you can use them for free, no monies!

Now you can watch 10 seconds of silly.

That Dirty Windshield

I basically have been on a year long vacation since I came here and I'm really disappointed in myself that I haven't produced more in all that time. In all fairness, I've taken a lot of photos, and shot a lot of video, but neither have any real focus other than being pretty in parts.

I'm making an effort to be more productive. I've finally sat down and am logging tapes as I type. Though, I've only found that I don't really have a film here. Just a big stack of tapes mostly documenting where I've been as seen through a dirty windshield. All I ever end up shooting is long car rides through breathtaking landscapes, but nothing more really.

Having been out here so long you wouldn't think I would still have such an outsider point of view and leave so much unexplored. I'd hardly call pulling over and taking a photo of a funny sign or a building exploration.

I was just watching Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey on the History Channel the other day and saw how Richard Evan Schulte explored the Amazon in and out and befriended the indians and earned their trust and eventually became a hero to them and got sick and almost died in the process all while studying the plant life. As I watched all I could think about is my lack of ability to truly immerse myself in anything. I've been here almost a year and am still a stranger and have so little to show for it. I'm not saying I came out here to contribute to science or unknowingly start the psychedelic revolution or anything, but I didn't expect that ABC Family re-runs of Full House would replace any creative routine I would have hoped to set for myself.


Like I said, I've shot a lot of video, but with no real focus. Just a lot of outsider observation of the environment from a safe, inside place. Always a car window documenting a world passing by unexplored to its fullest. No danger. No wind, no sun, nothing to harm me or give me pleasure. I feel nothing and I see it tinted slightly green through that dirty wind sheild.

The more I look at these videos the more I see how much they're lacking in GUTS. I mean, I've got tonsils, an appendix here, maybe the kidney that you'd donate to your dying mother, a sibling or a dear friend. But I certainly have no brains (for the intellectual stimulating), no bones (for obvious structural reasons), and definitely no BALLS (need I explain that one?).

And, saddest of all, no heart.

You think I can add all of that in the editing room?

Welcome, Human at Athensfest!

I am pleased to say that my senior film will be screening at the Athens International Film and Video Festival next weekend!





"Welcome, Human" is playing in the Technology Aesthetics program on Sunday, April 27th at 1:00 PM.

As I'm currently still in California, obviously I won't be attending. I'm a little sad I can't go because there are a few films playing I'd like to see, but I'm relieved at the same time because somehow, I manage to get stage fright even though I'm sitting in the theater like an anonymous viewer. Audience fright? It doesn't really have the same ring to it, does it?


So, if by any chance you'll be in Athens, Ohio, please check out the festival and support my film and all of the other films screening there. And since I won't even be there, you could just be in the area, not go, and tell me you did and I'll consider it a pat on the back. Thanks!

or, you could just watch the film here...


Welcome, Human from Nicole Melanson on Vimeo.