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CEDARVILLE
REVIEW
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CR:
Tell us a little about yourself.
SH:
I grew up in northern Ohio, west of Cleveland, and my interest in photography began in high
school. After high school, I studied photography at Ohio Institute of Photography and then moved
to Evansville, Indiana, where I worked as a commercial photographer for four years. I married my
wife, Roxy, and soon after took the photography position I now have at Cedarville University. I’ve
been at Cedarville for twenty-four years. I love the Lord. I love my wife & girls. I am passionate
about photography.
CR:
Tell us a little about the process featured here.
SH:
I learned the process of Polaroid Transfers in my first job. While studying and working, we
often used Polaroid images as test images instead of wasting time shooting and developing film.
My boss started making Polaroid Transfers, and that interested me. Overall, the Polaroid Transfer
process consists of interrupting the 60-second development of a Polaroid image, separating the
negative from the underdeveloped positive and physically transferring the negative image to an-
other piece of paper (commonly water color paper). With its discontinuation in 2010, it’s become
harder and harder to find Polaroid film. Polaroid Transfers are a dying art form.
CR:
What interests you in this particular process, this aesthetic? Why do you do what you do?
SH:
When I photograph an image, my hope is for others to get an idea of what I see, and in that sense
my photography is an extension of myself. I am always creating images whether I photograph them
or not. I am always looking. I’m looking at angles, light, form, contrast. Often times I don’t have
a camera with me, but I am always looking for that shot, always envisioning it. That said, I some-
times feel the act of photographing an image is not creative in a physical sense, which is why I enjoy
the process involved in creating a Polaroid Transfer. The need to discern still exists. I have a good
idea when an image will be a good transfer and when it won’t. And there are many variations of
creating Polaroid Transfers. I can have Polaroid film in a Polaroid camera and create an original
Polaroid Transfer. I can also work from a 35mm color slide and create Polaroid Transfers from an
enlarger. There are more opportunities for creativity, more variables involved in the physical pro-
cess that will make or break a Polaroid Transfer image.