Steller: Antietam

Mobile storytelling is something I've toyed with off and on for a few years. I do it with Instagram and Twitter, and they're great for immediacy and spot news. But I wanted something a bit more substantive, that allowed for more in-depth and coherent packages. A friend of mine drooped some knowledge on me and suggested I look at Steller. 

It's an iPhone app that let's you build short essays. Mixed media. Video, photos and text can be laid out to tell a longer story. 

Here's the link to my first story: https://steller.co/stories/323439049282946648

I finished up my first story tonight. It's a series of landscapes shot with Hipstamatic of the Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland. 

Layout was pretty simple. You can arrange pages, change fonts and even go back to change how a page looks. You can put in video. 

I'm still playing around with it but I like what I see. 

New Polaroid Type 55?

A few years ago Polaroid left the film-making business. Their legendary Type 55 b/w sheet film became no more. There's been a void. A deep, dark void. 

A light has appeared though. A small light but reassuring. Someone has launched a Kickstarter to bring Type 55 back. 

I shot a few sheets of the original Type 55 back in 2008 or 2009 with Chris Usher. It was amazing, both the film and working with Chris on his back porch. It was the first time I'd ever worked with large format. It convinced me to kit up and do it myself. 

I might put some money up for it. It'll be expensive - they're trying to get it down to $6/sheet - but worth it. Let's make that void whole again.