Doug Golupski: Shoot Kodak Aerochrome Like Slide Film

With Kodak Aerochrome still one of the most enigmatic yet sought after emulsions today, we couldn’t help but ask Doug Golupski to tell us how he works with this film to create stunning landscape snaps.

“If you understand how to shoot slide film, Aerochrome is no different,” Doug Golupski said on the common misconception that Aerochrome is a fragile film that requires special treatment. It is indeed a special infrared film, as his stunning results, and many before him, show us. His Kodak Aerochrome snaps are among the best we’ve seen, so we thought it was only proper to put them on spotlight — and ask him more about his tips and tricks for making the most out of this film. If you’ve ever wanted to grab some rolls but also felt afraid of wasting them, this interview feature should be an insightful resource for you.

Continue reading…

Create Infrared Images with a Filter That Mimics Kodak Aerochrome Film

Those longing to participate in infrared photography can now do so on the cheap with this new filter.

Infrared photography is a specialized genre of photography that doesn’t appeal to everyone, but there is no doubt that infrared images can be quite stunning. Since Kodak Aerochrome film is hard to come by these days, one photographer decided he wanted to be able to bring this type of photography to the masses without having to use a camera conversion and with the use of a full spectrum camera., and without having to spend over $80 on one roll of Kodak Aerochrome. The result is a simple screw on lens filter that mimics the old film perfectly. Find out more after the break.

Editor’s Note: One needs a full spectrum camera in order to get the Aerochrome look.

Continue reading…

John Berner Talks About How Kodak Aerochrome Inspired His Art

Kodak Aerochrome, the legendary infrared film that has mesmerized photographers with its surreal false colors, has also become instrumental in artist John Berner’s installations.

When Richard Mosse completed Infra in 2011, he probably didn’t expect that it would become one of the most celebrated works of photography, and inspire creatives to seek to paint their own works with its surreal color palette. It was all made possible by Kodak Aerochrome, the famous false color infrared film that needs no introduction. Mosse eventually became the photographer who catapulted the film to cult status, with many citing his work as the stimulus behind their own forays into the legendary emulsion.

Continue reading…

Ryan Struck Photographs Adventure with Kodak Aerochrome Film

All images by Ryan Struck. Used with permission.

One of the things I really enjoy doing is follow up interviews with photographers to share how they’ve grown and made themselves into success stories. In the case of photographer Ryan Struck you’re going to have a giant smile on your face. We interviewed Ryan years ago about the lifestyle surfing work he does on the East Coast. The last time I saw him, he packed up and left New York and moved about. He’s back now, and Ryan is showcasing a special project that he did called World & Color. This project showcases his travels to various places and is shot with the elusive Kodak Aerochrome film.

Continue reading…

Snag Some Kodak Aerochrome Color Infrared 120 Film on eBay!

There are some Kodak Aerochrome Color Infrared films up for grabs on ebay, but you have to be quick!

Aside from vintage cameras, we also keep an eye out on ebay for some cool films to try. Among the most coveted of these is Kodak Aerochrome, the legendary infrared false color film that produces stunning purple, crimson, and magenta hues. We spotted some listed on ebay, but you have to be fast, as the rolls are selling like pancakes (not surprising).

Continue reading…

Jack Seikaly: Digital Infrared Photography Influenced by Kodak Aerochrome

All images by Jack Seikaly. Used with permission.

“I’m a confused pessimist at heart. I view a world that is in a constant state of chaos and anarchy, generally getting worse over time,” says Jack Seikaly about his infrared photography. “The message I try to portray in my infrared shots is this: ‘the world may be terrible, but look at all the beauty it also has to offer.'”

Born in London, raised in Beirut, and living in Montreal, Jack has been given the privilege to view the world from multiple perspectives and understand different cultures. Along the way, he’s been taking photos. Like many others out there, he was infatuated with the HDR photography process until he started to go towards the world of Infrared. “I’ve now opened my eyes to the wonders of infrared, continuously evolving my technique and style,” he tell us.

Continue reading…

Zak van Biljon’s Dreamy Landscapes Using Kodak Aerochrome

All images by Zak van Biljon. Used with permission.

You wouldn’t necessarily believe it, but photographer Zak van Biljon got bit by the photo bug after using a disposable camera. From the work he produces, you’d think he dove right into medium and large format from the start; but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

He hails from South African, and calls Red Turf his homeland–at least you can tell this from his images shot with Kodak Aerochrome. In 2003 he graduated as best student at the National College of Photography.

In 2004 he left the country and emigrated to Europe. It was in Rome where he discovered another sunlight, and in London where he scored himself on top of booking lists for prestigious underground labels. He continued his career as a part-time commercial photographer in Zurich, Switzerland, exerting his mastery in his fine art projects.

His work ranges from digital to analog, with skills in contemporary advertising and modern art photography. His main focus is the directorial handling of light as shown in his recent art work, capturing the world in infrared. The world seen in red and pink colours provides a new and impressive insight to reality as we know it.

Continue reading…

Kodak Aerochrome: Standard Use and Cross Processing

All images by Nick Seaney. Used with permission. Lead photo done in E-6.

Photography Nick Seaney has been shooting film for a very long time, and like many photographers he returned to film again because he hated sitting in front of a computer afterwards to edit. When he finally had a chance to play with the amazing Kodak Aerochrome infrared film, he was ecstatic to experiment with it and figure out all the cool possibilities is has.

For those not in the know, Aerochrome is an infrared film developed for use by the US Military to find guerrilla forces in places like the Congo. However, it’s been used by other photographers for more creative and interesting uses.

Continue reading…

New Petition is Trying to Revive Kodak Aerochrome

scan0004

Image by Dan Zvereff. Used in our previous interview with him.

For all the lovers of the analog world out there, you should know that a recent Change.org petition to revive one of the greatest films that the world has seen: Kodak Aerochrome. Shooting Film first caught wind of the story and states that UK based Jasmin G is calling on Kodak Alaris and the Lomography company to revive the film. Lomography tried to do a variant called Lomochrome Purple, but it totally isn’t the same thing. While Lomochrome puts an emphasis on purple colors, Aerochrome put it on a pinkish purplish red.

How do they do this? For starters, Aerochrome was an infrared film originally developed for surveillance reasons. Years ago, the US would fly planes over the Congo and other regions with dense vegetation to find guerilla troops. When developed, the film would render the greens into a color like what you see in the image above that leads this story. However, later on the commercial world started to use it for art projects. Dan Zvereff and Richard Mosse are two famous photographers that come to mind at first. We have a full introduction to the film at this link–which also explains how it works.

Continue reading…

Hacked Infrared RED Epic Shoots Video That Looks Like Kodak Aerochrome

Screen Shot 2013-12-24 at 9.37.53 AM

Holy crap! It’s rare that we get this super excited about a video but this latest video from Director Joshua Lipworth is kind of blowing our minds right now. Josh took a RED Epic cinema camera and customized it to shoot in the infrared spectrum–which can often give users some beautiful and trippy results. But what Josh got is something a bit more amazing than the normal blue and white hues that are apparent in infrared shooting. Instead, he hacked it to look a bit like the long gone Kodak Aerochrome film. Though some projects are still done on it, it’s very rare to see them.

To refresh everyone’s minds, Kodak Aerochrome takes the greens in a scene and turns them into purplish reds. The film was invested for military surveillance reasons to sniff out guerilla troops in the Congo. There is a similar concept behind the new Lomochrome Purple film, but it’s not quite there. Granted, this short film isn’t quite there either but it’s quite close and to out knowledge, nothing like this has been tried before in the digital world.

We’re not exactly quite sure as to how Josh did this though–it could be use of on-camera/lens filters or lots of post-production work. Work like that though would really take a toll on the RED Epic’s color range.

Take a look at the video after the jump–and while the video’s concept itself is quite trippy, the added effects of the coloring make it even trippier.

Continue reading…

Introspective: A Photo Project Shot on Kodak Aerochrome About Self Discovery

infrared2

All images by Dan Zvereff. Used with permission

We first read about Dan Zvereff on Japan Camera Hunter, we were captivated by his images and his use of Kodak Aerochrome. The famous infrared film was designed for military applications and what it did was turn all greens into a shade of purple. But that’s just the short explanation, and we’ve got a more detailed and in depth analysis here.

Aerochrome was at the heart of Dan’s project called Introspective, where he travelled around the world for three months on a quest of self-discovery. Along the way he shot various landscapes and scenes in the Arctic, Europe, and Africa.

We talked to Dan a bit about the project and his incredible images.

Continue reading…

What is Kodak Aerochrome? A Beginner’s Guide to The Confusion of Lomochrome Purple

5.01

Photo by Richard Mosse

Today’s exciting announcement from Lomography about Lomochrome Purple is bound to get some people excited and others totally confused. First off, know that it is based off of Kodak Aerochrome–an old infrared film developed for government surveillance. Since it is infrared, that means that there are no real purple fields in the Congo.  So we’re here to answer a couple of big questions that you may have about the new film. Check out more information after the jump.

Continue reading…

UPDATED: Lomography Introduces Lomochrome Purple: Inspired by Kodak Aerochrome

6bb93759b3de8605c300127e0ecaef344e1882

I really don’t believe this happened, but Lomography managed to do something that was essentially lost for years. Kodak Aerochrome was an infrared film used by the government for surveillance. What it did was took greens and converted them to red and purple. That way, guerrilla fighters could easily be spotted and air raids could take down encampments with relative ease.

Today, Lomography is creating something relatively close: Lomochrome Purple. They’re guaranteeing delivery to be around July 2013. Things aren’t totally what they seem to be though: this is a color negative film–which means that it takes C-41 processing. Chrome films typically need E6 processing. They have more sample images on their website if you’re interested.

Correction: I was wrong. According to Kodak, it takes regular C-41 processing.

The film will be available in 120 and 35mm formats. And they’re not cheap: 120’s regular price is € 59.50 wc comes out to $80.59 for a pack of five; but they have a special price of € 56.53 which is $76.57. 35mm film costs  € 49.50/$67.05 but the special price is $63.70.

We’re hunting around for more information, so stay tuned.

Update: Lomo got back to us with more information about the film. Georg Thaler, who leads the film development team had this to say, “After years of researching, thousands of tests and tons of failures, we finally found a way to shift colors of regular color negative films. This is why this film needs to be processed C 41. It’s basically a Color negative, so E6 is not the right choice for this film.”

Rob Walwyn Captures the Bushfires’ Aftermath on Rare Aerochrome Film

We’re streaming daily on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts, and Spotify! You can also listen to it right here on The Phoblographer.

“On the 1st of March, 2020, I went for a drive and bushwalk in the Blue Mountains with some friends,” the photographer Rob Walwyn remembers. Two days later, on March 3rd, New South Wales would officially announce that all fires had been contained for the first time in 240 days. When all was said and done, 80% of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area would burn during the bushfire crisis of 2019-20. 

Continue reading…

New Petition Asks Kodak to Revive Kodak Infrared Ektachrome Film

Lead Photo by Steve Harwood. Used with Creative Commons Permission

A new online petition on Change.org is appealing to Kodak to bring back yet another film emulsion: Kodak Infrared Ektachrome. This film is not to be confused with Kodak Aerochrome–which we’ve featured very prominently on this website. Kodak discontinued the film along with a lot of their infrared films due to people just not buying it–as is the case with lots of films being discontinued. However, with a new generation of photographers starting out in digital and then picking up film afterwards coming to the fore, Infrared film may have a new home soon.

Continue reading…

Kodak Aerocolor IV Film is a Great Way to Burn Over $1,500

Screen Shot 2015-10-21 at 12.13.34 PM

No, the film above isn’t Kodak Aerochrome or Lomochrome Purple–instead, it’s something much different though we’ve understand why experienced shooters might believe it to be otherwise.. The image above is from Kodak Aerocolor IV negative film 2460 and it costs you quite a pretty penny depending on the configuration you get of it: we’re talking well over $1,500.

Aerocolor IV is an ISO 125 color aerial film that is designed for aerial photography; and that’s just what the Canadian government has used it for. For years though, Aerochrome III infrared (not Aerochrome III color) was designed to deliver similar looking results with turning greens into pinks/purples as you see above. However, Aerocolor IV is a color aerial film, not an infrared.

Continue reading…

Chuck Miller’s Aerochrome Photos Make the World Look Alien

17944977151_47c1d40f39_k

All images by Chuck Miller. Used with permission.

Chuck Miller is a writer and photographer from Albany, N.Y. that’s been experimenting with film and digital photography for a long time. Some of his award-winning pictures involve cramming two rolls of 35mm film into a medium-format camera and exposing them simultaneously; modifying a camera to recreate the old horse racing “photo finish” exposures; and trying to resurrect Kodachrome color film by shooting pictures with color filters and composing the images from black-and-white sections.

However, he’s also very well versed in the use of Kodak Aerochrome–an infrared film first developed for military recon that essentially took greens in a scene and turned them purple. Other photographers likes Daniel Zvereff have done a great job with the film. Indeed, it was beautiful for artistic reasons until its discontinuation. But Chuck shot some incredible photos with the film, and we had the chance to talk to him about the experience.

Continue reading…

The Best Thing to Happen to Photo Editing in a While: RNI Aero Review

RNI Aero is one of the best and most innovative things to happen to photography in a while.

There’s a particular look that is of value to many photographers. For years, they’ve been trying to find a simple way to emulate Kodak Aerochrome. This legendary film turns greens into pinks/oranges/red. And RNI finally accomplished it with RNI Aero. We talked to them about how they were doing it a while back. The application is available as Lightroom Presets, a Capture One integration, and on your phone. With this look, you’re getting a much different approach to the standard images you shoot, and embracing something very different. But we’ve been using it for a while.

Continue reading…

In the 1960s, High-Resolution Color Photography Pained the CIA

The Declassified Series is a Phoblographer original series that digs deep into historical government documents to examine how they used photography.

To say that Color Photography was a big headache for the Central Intelligence Agency is an understatement. Considering their use of Kodak Aerochrome, it was a huge priority for them. Aerochrome was an infrared film that turned greens into reddish-purples. Ultimately, it let the government find well-camouflaged guerilla fighters in the Congo. But before that, the US had some major frustrations with the format. Depending on who you ask, color photography processes properly began in 1907 with the Lumière Autochrome process. Still, most of the world’s iconic photographs were shot on Black and White after color processes were developed. In the 1960s, the CIA needed high-resolution color photography: Black and white photography wasn’t cutting it. So they went to Kodak–the American film brand the entire country trusted.

Continue reading…

EXCLUSIVE: RNI Films is Working on Infrared Film Simulation Presets

We got an exclusive look at the next big project from RNI Films: Infrared Film Simulation Presets.

Photographers have been enamored with the look of Infrared films like Kodak Aerochrome. It spawned things like the creation of Lomochrome Purple and a few other emulsions. But, photographers have wanted it digitally for a while, which hasn’t been easy to create, and in fact, it still isn’t. But, RNI Films is working on a project to bring those to life. A film like this is pretty difficult to duplicate because of what it does–like turning greens into a red, purple, or pink. Granted, Aerochrome has been long gone for years, but photographers still pick it up on eBay or have some that’s frozen in their fridge. If you’ve been looking to find a way to get this look with ease, RNI films is arguably the best company to do so. They use a lot of science, studying, and time to figure out how to make just the right tweaks to images. So, we talked to Oliver on the company’s support team to discuss how this is all happening.

Continue reading…

If You Buy This Canon 50mm f0.95 on eBay, Know That It’s Stolen

Photographer Daniel Zvereff’s lens was stolen and is now being sold on eBay.

A few weeks ago, photographer Daniel Zvereff told me a story about how his Canon 50mm f0.95 lens got stolen while on a trip in Mexico–and today the lens has appeared on eBay for sale. Daniel, who has been featured here on the site many times, has done some fantastic Kodak Aerochrome work, and is currently in our zine, spotted the lens just today and reached out to tell us about it. It was stolen unfortunately when thieves snuck into where he was staying and snatched the lens up.

Continue reading…