I’ve always been into recycling; using my art work to create new art work. I guess now a days it’d be called creating a “mash up” or something.. but I still refer to it as being a “Mega Assemble Project” (after a Spanish friend who used to do something similar but with film). In the days of E6, I used to create these types of collages right in the slide holder itself (see http://blog.angelacoulombe.com/random-still-life/before-we-were-digital-remembering-e6-film/ and for more Polaroids http://blog.angelacoulombe.com/random-still-life/polaroid-diaries/). Anyway, last week I was asked to create some art for a holiday sale. What I’m working with now are old Polaroids I have lying around, fabric, paper, canvases, paints, stamps and assorted hardware. Since I’m using Polaroids and painting the canvases myself, these items are truly ONE-OFF, UNIQUE pieces of multimedia art.  The process is laid out below:

The canvases start off blank. Here I’ve already started the painting process.

I layer different paints on the canvases until I have the right colour combinations.

I also paint on paper to create different textures I can use on the canvases.

Cut out stars. Some have been sewn with my sewing machine, some will end up on collages.

Layering textured paper over canvases. Practicing my fancy hand writing before adding text to canvases.

Nothing gets wasted. Even the scrap I clean my brushes on and write on will get used later.

Finished product, canvase with sewn Polaroid.

Polaroid of VW bus door with cut out text from Spanish dictionary on canvas.

More of the finished products - all using Polaroid images.

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I’ve had the honour to be asked to work with a local children’s theatre group who are rehearsing for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, based on the book by Barbara Robinson. The plot goes something like this: there are six brothers and sisters in the Herdmans family who are all extremely badly behaved. They scream, steal, bite and are all-round delinquents who somehow find themselves involved in the annual Christmas Play. My role as photographer was to create portraits of these children in character, doing the “naughty” things that have made them renowned. Below is a sample of the images that will be projected on screen during the play. Keep an eye on www.angelacoulombe.com for more information about the dates and locations of this play.

Mean and moody, this guys a shouter!

This shady character has a bit of a light hand.

This guy is the school bully either pushing kids into or up against lockers.

This fellow is know for his run-ins with the police and stealing from the needy.

This girls has got some chompers on her. Watch out, she bites!

Watch your parked car around this girl! She’ll take a key to the side of it as fast as you can say "Wot?"

Scratching up a good paint job.

Getting into even more trouble at school.

Bullying isn’t out of the ordinary for this fellow.

He’s not speaking about trouble at school, he’s shouting about it!

Pushing students into lockers is just his way of having fun.

Just don’t make him mad!

Stealing from the local food drive - how low can you go?

Nicked again!

Biting into her brother is a daily occurance.

He’s gotta take his anger out on someone!

Stealing from the church collection basket now that really takes the biscuit!

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Your photography is a record of your living. –Paul Strand.

As a photographer, my job is to constantly look at my surroundings and find amazement in the mundane, to portray the everyday with a sense of wonderment. I am constantly composing and recomposing myself in relation to my subjects, looking at all out front of me for the best way to tell its unique story. Like Lewis Hines said, “If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera.”

If Lewis Hines were alive today he’d probably have much less to lug around. As for myself, pushing photographic boundaries also means using any photographic medium I can, from pinhole cameras to polaroids, medium format cameras to iPhones. I’ve written before that my iPhone is becoming what my polaroid cameras were in days past, an easy way to rethink all I think about conventional photography, my relationship to it and its relationship to the world around me. My iPhone has become another tool for telling a story words alone could not do.

Below: A Study of Portland’s Custom House Wharf, Portland, ME (as seen with an iPhone)

Harbor Fish Market

Reflection of backside of Harbor Fish Market.

Front of Harbor Fish Market

Colourful sign for Comedy Connection

One of my favourite places in Portland, The Porthole

The counter at the Porthole

Advertisement at the Porthold

A study of textures and patterns

A theme of no parking as well as a study of textures, patterns and the juxtaposition of words.

A study of textures, patterns and the juxtaposition of words.

A study of textures, patterns and the juxtaposition of words.

A study of textures, patterns and light.

A study of textures, patterns and light.

Walking uptown from the harbor, encountering the universal symbol for barber shop

A study of symbols, words and their juxtaposition

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