Russ Murray

Big Shot Portrait: Julien Julien is my other French colleague in NYC for client meetings this week. I brought my Polaroid Big Shot, loaded with discontinued, crazy expensive FP-100c pack-film. We met in a restaurant, where Julien decided to turn the "pack-film-peel-reveal" video into a gender-reveal party... 🙂 Camera: Polaroid BIG SHOT Portrait Camera (circa 1973)Film: FujiFilm FP-100c Color pack-film (Expired 2018)Photographer: Russ Murray / remages Subject: Julien Pichon / Booker (software) Guy 🙂Location: The Smith, New York, NY The Big Shot Reveal Video {coming soon...}

Big Shot Portrait: Julien

Julien is my other French colleague in NYC for client meetings this week. I brought my Polaroid Big Shot, loaded with discontinued, crazy expensive FP-100c pack-film. We met in a restaurant, where Julien decided to turn the "pack-film-peel-reveal" video into a…

Big Shot Portrait: Tyler In NYC for an afternoon meeting with colleagues and visit to a client, with my Polaroid Big Shot in a bag, loaded with precious, discontinued, rare (expensive AF!) FP-100c pack-film. My client/frie…

Portrait of Tyler McFarlane (blog post)
russmurray.com/2025/11/17/b...

Extended Family Polaroids Two family members got engaged after years of being virtual fiancé and fiancée, which -- though long overdue -- demanded a family gathering to celebrate! They brought some new, extended family members we'd never met before: the sister and mother of the fiancé. Of course, there were Polaroids taken, but only two, because were were having so much fun all day... Engaged at last! Subjects: The Engaged Couple / Fiancé's Sister & MotherLocation: Stamford, ConnecticutCamera: Polaroid SX-70 AF (auto-focus) Sonar (vintage)Film: Polaroid SX-70 Color Instant (new)Photographer: Russ Murray

Extended Family Polaroids

Two family members got engaged after years of being virtual fiancé and fiancée, which -- though long overdue -- demanded a family gathering to celebrate! They brought some new, extended family members we'd never met before: the sister and mother of the fiancé. Of course,…

Life’s lenses blurring / vision and memory are / approximations. First haiku-senryu style short-poem post in a long time. Original iPhone photo // no edit Subject: Police Car in Rain at Dusk through Raindrops on a Windshield.Location: Stamford, ConnecticutCamera: iPhone 16 Pro MaxFilm: N/A (it's digital, silly!)Photographer: Russ Murray Full post on my Haiku Blog:

Life’s lenses blurring / vision and memory are / approximations.

First haiku-senryu style short-poem post in a long time. Original iPhone photo // no edit Subject: Police Car in Rain at Dusk through Raindrops on a Windshield.Location: Stamford, ConnecticutCamera: iPhone 16 Pro MaxFilm: N/A (it's…

ChatGPT 4 vs. 5 According to ChatGPT 5 This section is a 100% human introduction & musings about ChatGPT 4/5 and the general state of AI… On August 7, 2025, at approximately 9am EST (well, that’s when I looked at it for …

rmx.is/2025/08/07/c...

PolaCon Portraits: Melissa & Oliver I noticed Melissa as she was being photographed by someone else, standing in front of a seamless paper backdrop lit by a single "softbox" studio light. She seemed friendly, very comfortable in front of a lens, and had a certain style. When the other photographer was done, I told her I appreciated her look and asked if I could take a couple of photographs.

PolaCon Portraits: Melissa & Oliver

I noticed Melissa as she was being photographed by someone else, standing in front of a seamless paper backdrop lit by a single "softbox" studio light. She seemed friendly, very comfortable in front of a lens, and had a certain style. When the other photographer…

On My Way to PolaCon NYC It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed... No, wait, that was Snoopy launching his career as a great writer with a manual typewriter... 🙂 Actually, IRL... It was a gloomy morning in late May. A Metro North train from Stamford, CT to Grand Central Terminal. An old photographer with a backpack full of cameras and films.

On My Way to PolaCon NYC

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed... No, wait, that was Snoopy launching his career as a great writer with a manual typewriter... 🙂 Actually, IRL... It was a gloomy morning in late May. A Metro North train from…

PolaCon Portraits: Alex Alex is a "work friend" that became a dear friend over time, whose initials are "AF" which I find endlessly amusing. I've mentioned Alex elsewhere on this site, including my Instant Photography page and a previous post about Polaroid and PolaProjects. He is one of two key people who re-inspired me about instant and other film photography back in 2017-18.

PolaCon Portraits: Alex

Alex is a "work friend" that became a dear friend over time, whose initials are "AF" which I find endlessly amusing. I've mentioned Alex elsewhere on this site, including my Instant Photography page and a previous post about Polaroid and PolaProjects. He is one of two key…

Me, Moi-self & Eye at Polacon This 2025 edition of the PolaCon NYC event was just like the last two: LOTS of people shooting each other with a wide variety of instant film cameras! As usual, I had a blast capturing portraits of all the interesting and fabulous people there, but it was inevitable that one or two people would pose me in front of the lens, instead of behind it...

Me, Moi-self & Eye at Polacon

This 2025 edition of the PolaCon NYC event was just like the last two: LOTS of people shooting each other with a wide variety of instant film cameras! As usual, I had a blast capturing portraits of all the interesting and fabulous people there, but it was inevitable…

Oscars Night in Los Angeles As luck would have it, I was in Los Angeles for work and a visit with my son, when I discovered it was Oscars night! After my son flew back to El Salvador from LAX, I was alone in my hotel, so I went up to the rooftop restaurant for dinner to console myself. It was bright, cold and windy, not the warm California sunshine kind of evening you imagine.

Oscars Night in Los Angeles

As luck would have it, I was in Los Angeles for work and a visit with my son, when I discovered it was Oscars night! After my son flew back to El Salvador from LAX, I was alone in my hotel, so I went up to the rooftop restaurant for dinner to console myself. It was…

Instantly; Wait Sixty Seconds When special and/or beloved people visit, they know there’s a good chance I’ll ask to take their portrait with some type of instant or other film camera. But when it’s a holiday w…

Instantly; Wait Sixty Seconds russmurray.com/2022/04/17/i...

My Boy Was Back in Town Two years after posting about his 30th orbit around the sun, my son is back in town for a visit! Camera: Polaroid BIG SHOT Portrait Camera (circa 1973)Film: FujiFilm FP-100c Color pack-film (Expire…

My Boy Was Back in Town russmurray.com/2024/04/25/m...

PolaCon Polaroid Portrait #15 Portrait of creator, artist, and (soon-to-be) astronaut Rhiannon Adam at PolaCon NYC 2024. I’ve followed Rhiannon’s powerful, insightful, evocative, and thought-provoking work for a few…

PolaCon Polaroid Portrait #15 russmurray.com/2024/06/01/p...

PolaCon Polaroid Portrait #13 Portrait of “woman in purple shades” holding a vintage Mamiya Press Camera, at PolaCon NYC 2024. In this configuration, the Mamiya looks very much like the Polaroid 600SE (or “GOO…

PolaCon Polaroid Portrait #13 russmurray.com/2024/05/30/p...

Big Shot: Max & Boo A Polaroid Big Shot portrait of Max (my son) and Boo (my cat) on the floor looking up, using Fuji FP-100c instant, peel-apart, pack-film, expired in 2011. As you can see, though kept cool and/or re…

Big Shot: Max & Boo russmurray.com/2024/09/13/b...

PolaCon Polaroid Portrait #2 The second PolaCon NYC event, sponsored by Polaroid, was held from May 17th — 19th, primarily at Worthless Studios in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. I went on Saturday the 1…

PolaCon Polaroid Portrait #2 russmurray.com/2024/05/19/p...

Polaroid Super Green Polaroid has gone “super-green” like one of my favorite lines from the movie Fifth Element, when Chris Tucker tells Bruce Willis he understands completely: Or like another favorite exch…

Polaroid Super Green russmurray.com/2024/10/06/p...

Lomo Mono 110 Party Portraits After shooting in color at the Cameras & Films Barcelona “Grand Re-Opening Event” on November 7th 2024, I switched over to black-and-white or blanco y negro as they would say in Spa…

Lomo Mono 110 Party Portraits russmurray.com/2024/11/08/l...

Lomo Color 110 Party Portraits At the Cameras & Films Barcelona "Grand Re-Opening Event" on November 7th 2024, my plan was to shoot with the oddest camera in the shop, purely as a conversation-starter. Let's just say my plan worked perfectly! I spent the whole night with people asking variations of "what is that weird camera" in English, Spanish, Catalan, and various other languages... 🙂

Lomo Color 110 Party Portraits

At the Cameras & Films Barcelona "Grand Re-Opening Event" on November 7th 2024, my plan was to shoot with the oddest camera in the shop, purely as a conversation-starter. Let's just say my plan worked perfectly! I spent the whole night with people asking variations…

One of my companies informed me they cancelled a $2m conference in Florida. Why ?

They didn’t feel they could pass on the incremental cost of tariffs. So they are cutting expenses.

That’s a city that lost a ton of tourism revenue.

The cost of tariffs isn’t just the cost of the tariff

Phil’s Fragrant Feedbag A few friends and family came over for dinner and whatever, after which I gave everybody a bag of dried lavender from my garden. Amusingly, my friend Phil had no clue what to do with a bag of lavender! So I told him to stick his nose in the bag to see if he enjoyed the fragrant, dried blossoms and/or felt calmer after smelling them.

Phil’s Fragrant Feedbag

A few friends and family came over for dinner and whatever, after which I gave everybody a bag of dried lavender from my garden. Amusingly, my friend Phil had no clue what to do with a bag of lavender! So I told him to stick his nose in the bag to see if he enjoyed the…

He did with his little muskrats, when the results of many votes were transmitted through Starlink…

Replacing Racism, Unlocking the Heart (and Mind). I started to write about racism several times before, motivated each time by some sad, horrific, race-creed-religion-motivated hate crime, police brutality, act-of-war, or terrorism. However, the posts remained in my drafts, unpublished, because each time, the horrific event that inspired me to write, was too quickly followed by another, then another, then many more, in my own country and around the world.

Replacing Racism, Unlocking the Heart (and Mind).

I started to write about racism several times before, motivated each time by some sad, horrific, race-creed-religion-motivated hate crime, police brutality, act-of-war, or terrorism. However, the posts remained in my drafts, unpublished, because…

Acknowledging the Death of Strangers (Empathy) After an otherwise enjoyable holiday weekend with family and friends, I found myself saddened once again by news of murder and death, and posted this status update to my Facebook feed on July 4th: "Today, as we celebrate our American Independence Day, my heart breaks for the victims of hate in Baghdad, Iraq and Dhaka, Bangladesh." Many of my "friends" responded with sad and angry emoticons, a few with standard Facebook "likes" indicating (I hope) approval of my post, rather than their like of murder and/or death.

Acknowledging the Death of Strangers (Empathy)

After an otherwise enjoyable holiday weekend with family and friends, I found myself saddened once again by news of murder and death, and posted this status update to my Facebook feed on July 4th: "Today, as we celebrate our American Independence…

Insecurity vs. Security? Today, I read a brief article posted on Medium by Elan Gale entitled, "All Hail Insecurity" which I enjoyed and agreed with overall. It's been deleted now, so you'll have to make sense of my comments without reading Elan's post first... I liked Elan's post, but he focused mostly on how "bad" people are a subset of "secure" people, which made it seem as if he was saying insecurity is good and secure is bad.

Insecurity vs. Security?

Today, I read a brief article posted on Medium by Elan Gale entitled, "All Hail Insecurity" which I enjoyed and agreed with overall. It's been deleted now, so you'll have to make sense of my comments without reading Elan's post first... I liked Elan's post, but he focused…

Impossibility and Risk In discussing a difficult, pending project, with many real and imagined obstacles, via email (an imperfect tool) with a partner and colleague. Business and product names have been in the text below, to protect the and/or . 🙂 <I wrote> As the French writer Andre Maurois said, “the world progresses thanks to impossible things, which have been accomplished!” I suppose this is my approach to life and business and , but of course we have to be clear about what can and cannot be done, on the difficult schedule requested of us…

Impossibility and Risk

In discussing a difficult, pending project, with many real and imagined obstacles, via email (an imperfect tool) with a partner and colleague. Business and product names have been in the text below, to protect the and/or . 🙂 As the French writer Andre Maurois said,…

Our Future Will Be Brighter Than You Think, but… There's always a "but" isn't there? But...in this case, it's not a terrible "BUT", but rather it's more of a clarification and refinement of what is being predicted for our future... Predicted by whom, you ask? And who dares to predict a brighter future, despite all evidence to the contrary? Well, this time I am "news-jacking" and commenting about a recent article posted on…

Our Future Will Be Brighter Than You Think, but…

There's always a "but" isn't there? But...in this case, it's not a terrible "BUT", but rather it's more of a clarification and refinement of what is being predicted for our future... Predicted by whom, you ask? And who dares to predict a brighter…

Moonrise and Wires Approaching the self-storage building where I keep some of my stuff, I noticed the moon rising full and luminous to the east. From my point-of-view, the moonrise was tangled up in power lines, so I drove down the hill behind the building to untangle it. From there, the moon composed its glowing visage between the wires for me to capture...

Moonrise and Wires

Approaching the self-storage building where I keep some of my stuff, I noticed the moon rising full and luminous to the east. From my point-of-view, the moonrise was tangled up in power lines, so I drove down the hill behind the building to untangle it. From there, the moon…

Cranberries at the Union Square NYC farmers’ market on November 30th.

November 30th—direct and reflected afternoon light and shadows on buildings in downtown NYC. #Hipstamatic