An Instant Film New Year

January was a pretty slow month for me, and from what I hear from everyone else I’m not alone. I decided I wanted to do something a little more casual than what I would normally do-I bought Polaroid film. I had this Barbie themed Polaroid 600 camera that I had found at a thrift store just sitting in my closet for about a year. I had always meant to pick up a pack of film and test it, but just never got around to it. I ran to Best Buy, picked up a pack of film before meeting up with Ashley who I had planned to take a few portraits of a few days ago. While I was there I asked if she could get a couple clips of me loading the film, and some of the camera itself, because as we all know, social media right now really really wants us to make videos for reels or Tiktok.

I kind of had a feeling that this camera would get some attention, but little did I know that sharing a Barbie Tiktok would actually kind of blow up like it did! A few hundred likes, I kept thinking to myself “what if this video hits 10k views,” then once I hit that, I thought “what if this video hits 100k?” So here we are over 1M views and 200k likes later, and I’m trying to strike gold again!

Polaroid film is kind of expensive and, a little unpredictable in my opinion. I think there’s an aesthetic there, but I had always preferred the look of Fujifilm Instax. Fujifilm is known for their colors, and that doesn’t stop at their digital cameras. I have a Instax 500af that was only released in Japan, but comes with a glass lens, a little bit of flash control, and just a great overall look to it. I do like my Fujifilm Wide 300 as well, but it produces photos just a little softer because of the plastic lens it uses. I would recommend either of these cameras for the Wide film any day over the Polaroid.

If you’re more of an Instax Mini person there’s some great options there as well. I would go with the Mini 90 Neo Classic, but if you have the money for it the new Mini Evo looks amazing! As for myself, I borrowed this Hello Kitty Themed Instax and liked the feel of it so much that I bought one of my own. It’s not as small and practical as any other Mini camera you’d buy, but the feel of it makes up for it. If you’re a Hello Kitty fan, then this is the camera for you.

Instax Mini has a ton of fun borders you can find. I went with the Hello Kitty themed, (of course) the newer contact sheet borders, and this waaaay overpriced Supreme branded. There’s no difference as far as the quality of the photo goes, even when it comes to the Instax Wide, you get a pretty similar photo outside of the borders. Wide you only get three options at this time, standard white border, black border, and monochrome. You can’t really go wrong with any of these, but make sure you shoot somewhere well lit because they do not play too well with darker environments.

I don’t know if I’ll ever have another viral photography video, but I am glad I went out and made something that people like. I think if nothing else, I’m glad that I have an excuse to keep trying out different things when it comes to photography. If anyone has something any of you would like to see me take photos with please send me recommendations. Also, I listed links to everything I have used and suggested down below if you would like to start getting into instant photography.

P.S. I also wanted to share my Polaroid Spectra Onyx. It’s not something I would tell anyone who wants to avidly shoot with because they don’t make Spectra film anymore, but it is a really nice decorative piece.


Instax Wide 300 https://amzn.to/3IV2Joc

Instax Wide Film https://amzn.to/3Hi83lm

Instax Wide Monochrome Film https://amzn.to/3HjjWYh

Instax Wide Black Border https://amzn.to/3GcRc1L

Instax MIni Evo (Wishlist Mini Camera) https://amzn.to/3ITrp0l

Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic (Mini Recommendation)  https://amzn.to/3GcPEVv

Hello Kitty Themed Instax Camera https://amzn.to/3GfVtl9 

Hello Kitty Themed Instax Film https://amzn.to/3ofipLe 

Hard Storage Case For Hello Kitty Instax https://amzn.to/3ANUKGC

Instax Mini Bulk Packaging https://amzn.to/3sdTEjU

Contact Sheet Instax Film https://amzn.to/3GhQXTa

Polaroid 600 Film https://amzn.to/34cBIhg

Polaroid Spectra Onyx https://amzn.to/3gekVNy

Barbie Polaroid Keychain https://amzn.to/3IV0OAg








My Fujifilm Gear

Fujifilm X-Pro 3 https://amzn.to/3nhClfO

Fujifilm X100V https://amzn.to/33abxra

Fujifilm X-T3 https://amzn.to/3GsgcTW

Fujifilm XF16mmF1.4 R WR https://amzn.to/3nloBAK

Fujinon XF 23mm F1.4 R https://amzn.to/3fmIB1r

Fujinon XF56mmF1.2 R https://amzn.to/3FierXR

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Upgrading My Work Station 2022

As 2022 came around I decided I wanted to stop staring at my tiny Macbook screen, and finally get a proper display. It was finally time to upgrade my workstation! I had been eyeing these ProArt Displays from ASUS for a while, so I went ahead and took the jump. This is a great monitor straight out of the box, and it feels like it freed up so much space on my desk somehow, even though its a huge screen.

Only a couple visible cables, but nothing to distracting.

The more I started organizing the more I felt like I should just free up the desk from as much clutter as I could. I had this Epson V600 scanner that I use to scan film just sitting there without power until its ready to be used, so I wanted to figure out a way to still have it near me, but not have it stored completely away. I grabbed this under bed storage where it fit perfectly and slid that under the couch I have in my office. I’m still not sure if I’m going to get a foldable table I can pull out for when I do need it, or I will just place it on my desk/couch when its in use, but we’ll what is most practical it feels once I have a ton of film I need to scan.

I still scan film a bit, but I don’t need the scanner on the desk all the time. This bin fit the scanner and wires perfectly.

This monitor has multiple USB A inputs on the side and bottom that act as a hub for anything connected to thunderbolt, like my MacBook is. I have this Sandisk Extreme SSD that I work off of, plugged into the back where its out of sight, but still as functional as ever. One of these USBs is also taken up by the unifying device meant for the Logitech MX Master mouse I’ve been using for a while now. It’s a really great mouse to edit in Lightroom and Photoshop with. I can map out what each button does for my Macbook and even for specific apps to make my workflow so much faster, I don’t think I could ever go back to a standard mouse after this. I’m using this big leather mousepad I found on Amazon to make up for the room I have now. I always find myself sitting in different positions, and moving my mousepad around anyway, so having more surface area for the MX to move around made sense to me.

Using this huge mat has been great! Much prefer over a small mousepad.

Another thing that I added was a mechanical keyboard. This one from Keychron feels pretty great! It has RGB and works for both Mac and Windows, and even has keys so you can swap between the two depending on your preference. I like that you can cycle through the lighting effects with a dedicated key, without having to download another program. I would say that I’m pretty happy with this keyboard, but I would like to see a dedicated USB dongle, and a better way to conserve battery than just turning off completely when connected via Bluetooth. I opted for the wired setting just because I would get annoyed with it disconnecting from bluetooth every time it would not use it for a few minutes, more so getting it to connect again. On top of the monitor I have this fairly affordable monitor light from JISULIFE. I haven’t ever heard of the brand, but a light with a wireless remote seemed pretty intriguing. It feels decent, and the remote feels…fine enough. When you turn the dial it will brighten or dim the light, but It kind of feels like if you were using bluetooth just out of range, because it doesn’t dim very smoothly. The instructions were translated to english English, so I’m not sure I’m getting I’m even using it to its fullest. Double tapping the button gives you a few different preset temperatures, and holding it down turns the light on and off. This is the only part of the desk that I think I may sit on for a couple weeks before I can have a real opinion on. I may opt for the BenQ Screenbar Halo, which is the exact same idea just a bit more expensive and I can guarantee works so much more like it’s supposed to. I will update here once I decide whether I keep it or not.

The light was pretty easy to set up. I like that it has this little base on the back so that I can possibly add a webcam in the future.

I love the idea of this dial, but it doesn’t feel and work as well as I would have hoped.

Sometimes I take a break and stream some Gamepass on my phone using my Razer Kishi.

I have everything plugged into this desktop outlet from Anker. It has three power inputs, 3x USB, and one USB-C which has enough power to charge a phone, or even my Macbook.

Overall, I’m pretty content with this setup. I eventually want to upgrade my MacBook to an M1 version, but for now this one 2017 will do. I attached all the links to everything you see here below!





ASUS ProArt Display PA279CV 27” 4K HDR UHD https://amzn.to/3pSFCnL

Keychron K3 75% Hot Swappable Bluetooth RGB Keyboard https://amzn.to/3FUJtGx

Anker USB-C Power Strip https://amzn.to/3zrIZFt

YSAGi Multifunctional Office Desk pad https://amzn.to/3pToTAx

Logitech MX Master 3 https://amzn.to/3JIq0Lu

Sandisk 1TB Extreme SSD https://amzn.to/3JFghp6

3M Sticky Mouse Pad https://amzn.to/3ES28kP

OSP Desk with RGB https://amzn.to/3eMwV8a

Pixel Stand Wireless Charger https://amzn.to/3HQkrcf

Pixel 5 https://amzn.to/31Qvkvd

Razer Kishi (Android) https://amzn.to/3qKXn7H

Razer Kishi (iOS) https://amzn.to/3qGvCgw

Gamepass Ultimate https://amzn.to/3HZAmVt

Epson v600 https://amzn.to/3ePTuJe

WD Black 5tb Hard Drive https://amzn.to/3qMqUho

Lacie 5tb Rugged Hard Drive https://amzn.to/3pSZ1ov

Anker USB-C Hub For Macbook https://amzn.to/3F7Lpdw

Samsung Galaxy Buds+ https://amzn.to/3f2jalR

Monitor Lamp https://amzn.to/3tkCT8w

BenQ Monitor Lamp https://amzn.to/3K3TaVj

My Fujifilm Gear

Fujifilm X-Pro 3 https://amzn.to/3nhClfO

Fujifilm X100V https://amzn.to/33abxra

Fujifilm X-T3 https://amzn.to/3GsgcTW

Fujifilm XF16mmF1.4 R WR https://amzn.to/3nloBAK

Fujinon XF 23mm F1.4 R https://amzn.to/3fmIB1r

Fujinon XF56mmF1.2 R https://amzn.to/3FierXR





Dizzy Wright and Logic

Last Friday I got a call out of the blue (from Blue), asking if I could go shoot the Logic show for Awake & Moving, I was ready to call it a night, but how could I pass on this opportunity? 

I'm fairly new to Logic, and his fanbase seems to be pretty young, but I felt like I fit right in with all the "A Tribe Called Quest" music playing in between every set. 

Overall a pretty enjoyable experience, everybody was great. I'll definitely be catching both these guys next time they come around.