Lord, how do I explain this? OK. purists, block your ears now, please and shout "La la la".

The Polaroids themselves are partially opaque and partially transparent and they have an additional (transparent) layer on the back of them, so they can really only be viewed by holding them up to the light and watching the way the colours of the two layers combine. The problem was, there was just no way to bring across the effect in an ordinary scan. So I conducted evil experiments while scanning.

Here is the run-down:

1) F2B Polaroids separated from the backs and the frames.

2) Some scans of a telescopic picture of the moon and a cloudy blue sky printed on overhead transparencies and glued to the back of the Polaroid layers.

3) The glued ensemble laid onto the scanner and scanned while shining a torch through the picture.

4) Discovery that scanning with a torch created a whole new magical effect, especially if I shone it through the moon.

5) A million different attempts to scan each of the shots, altering the number of torches, their respective positions and distances from the shot each time.

5) Selection of the 4 scans I liked best and hey presto, here they are in all their unkosher glory.

There you have it. And now you may crucify me for posting torchlight-and- scanner works on a Polaroid site.

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Uploaded: Jan. 13, 2010

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