The Pola-painting Process
	Becky Smith was Scott's wife and the artist behind all Pola-Paintings seen in this web site. She died in 2001 after a long fight with cancer.
	• To read her professional biography, CLICK HERE.   • To read about her family history, CLICK HERE.     • Frequently asked SX-70 questions, CLICK HERE       •To learn about SX-70 Seminars,CLICK HERE        To see her image galleries, CLICK HERE. Scroll down to learn about SX-70 Products

Pola-paintings are created using Polaroid SX-70 cameras that were manufactured in the 1970's. Polaroid Time Zero film is the only film that will work for this art form. The process by which Pola-paintings are made was discovered many years ago, quite by accident. The emulsion of the Polaroid Time Zero film remains soft for a number of hours after a photograph is made. This softness makes it possible to easily damage a photograph if pressure is applied to the surface of the print. This characteristic originally thought of as a “defect,” is what makes it possible to creatively move the emulsion using a variety of small tools, thus creating the impressionistic and brushed look of an oil painting.

Skill, creativity, experience, and a gentle touch are required to maintain order and beauty within the image. While no real painting is ever done, by manipulating the emulsion while soft, the Pola-artist is able to dramatically change the appearance of the photograph and add what looks much like brush strokes and texture giving the characteristic painted appearance. Each image is unique as interpreted by the individual artist. Given the same image, a hundred different artists would produce a hundred different variations of that image. Pola-painting is a very personal art form.

The best time to manipulate the emulsion is two to four hours after the image is initially created. This delay allows the emulsion to thicken a bit, giving her more control over the effects she adds with her tools. Once the image manipulation is complete (typically one to two hours), the image is ready to be copied or scanned depending on what is needed. Images that have true color and need no correction or enhancement are copied onto medium format film under controlled lighting conditions to optimize the quality of the copy negative. From this negative, hand printed enlargements are made.

If an image is in need of color adjustment because of dusk or dawn blue sky influences or other unexpected factors, the original photograph may be scanned into a computer and adjusted with Adobe Photoshop to bring the color back to its original character. Once finished, the final image is then written as a new digital negative which is then printed by hand in a conventional darkroom. Alternatively, the image may be printed on an inkjet printer directly from the digital file.

Once the final print is complete, matting is designed to compliment the image and final assembly is done using several layers of colored art paper and matte board. In addition, it is also possible to do the creative matting using the computer so all of the layers of complimentary colors are part of the same digital file and resulting negative.

There are many different models including some with autofocus called Sonar's. These give you the ability to let the camera focus for you or if you prefer, there is a bypass button so you can focus manually. The Alpha 1 model tends to be a big favorite among Pola-artists because it has tripod mounting capabilities, neck strap lugs, and split screen focus. Just in case you have never seen a Polaroid SX-70 camera, there are a few of them shown on the Cameras page. To see several examples of these cameras, click here.

Some other models also have some or all of these features. The physical colors of these cameras vary more than the features. Polaroid also made a Model 3 which was a much lower priced SX-70 because unlike the other models, it was not a single lens reflex. In other words, you didn't look through the same optics that took the picture to see and compose your image. With the model three, you looked through a sighting device and saw the approximate scene. While the camera mechanism was the same as the other models, it is the viewing limitations make the Model 3 less popular

Scott Smith gives presentations on the subject of Pola-Painting at professional photography conventions, guild meetings, museums and other functions. To learn more about having one of these presentations in your area, click on the seminar link below.

Pola-Painting The Art of SX-70 Manipulation, Click on the book cover to find out more about it.