AG inhaling fish soup in Albufeira
AG in Portugal
AG inhaling fish soup in Albufeira
Book Illustrations
Lighthouse at Dangerfield, Atlantic/Little, Brown, 1969. Lighthouses, Scrimshaw Press, 1970
Cape Cod Light, a color adaptation of The Light at Dangerfield, On Cape Publications, 2000
A Cunard steamship rounding Cape Cod Light, from Cape Cod Light
The keeper of the light, from Cape Cod Light
Scrimshaw Press Titles 1960s
I began publishing titles like this to provide first run quality paperbacks with sewn bindings for kids in 1965 after having been a weekly contributor to Scholastic publications for 3rd and 4th graders. The books were a big hit with independent booksellers on the Cape and Islands, and we sold as well up the coast into Maine. It was a far cry from today and the demise of indie stores. I believe that my Scrimshaw Press was the first to reach this market and pave the way for others to follow.
Analog photos by Paul Giambarba
My late wife, Ruth, in the Sedestal on our way from Bergen to Oslo in Norway.
4 July 1955. Contax II, scanned from 35mm Kodachrome and not enhanced.
My wife Fran in Lugano, Switzerland, 1985. Nikon F, 35 mm lens, Kodacolor
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The following black and white photos were part of an exhibition of my photos at the Cape Cod Museum of Art in 2008. Kodak Plus-X and Tri-X film.
Author David McCullough, 1981
Illustrator Edward Gorey, 1982
Author Alec Wilkinson, 1982
Author Alex Theroux, 1981
Sculptor Joyce Johnson, 1981
Sculptor Arnold Geissbuhler, 1981
Instant Polaroid photos taken on attached Polaroid backs
Instant Analog Photography
Taken in available light with a Polaroid 4x5 inch back attached to a Calumet view camera.
These were taken on Type 108 color film and not color corrected in Photoshop.
This photo was brightened by 35 in Photoshop.
Photographed with available light on Type 55, Polapan 200, same equipment and setup.
I photographed their mother in available light with an Arca Swiss Polaroid back on a 500C Hasselblad with Polaroid Type 44 pack film.
This was taken also in available light against a color background using Type 108 film.
The photo has been color corrected in Photoshop.
48 years ago a Polaroid Model 100 camera could take pictures like these
Instant Analog Photography
It still works well after almost 50 years of age and use.
The first Polaroid camera to use a drop-in film pack, a significant leap from the roll film of the first generation of camera models.
It's too bad that Lady Johnson was instrumental in getting Land to concentrate on the SX-70 concept (she objected to the trash collected in the National Parks that consisted of so many Polaroid pull apart negatives) because IMO it took better photos than my SX-70.
My daughter, taken with a Model 100 and Type 42 film and available light in the breezeway between our home and my workshop.
Another Model 100 photo of my daughter on Type 108 color film in the same location.
The paper mural she created is hung behind her as a backdrop. I probably used a tripod.
Another breezeway photo using Type 108 film, this time in front of a sheet of black Formica.
These three shots were deliberate and posed, as opposed to the "grab shots" that follow.
My daughter working in my studio on a drawing for Polaroid's Cross-eyed Owl lunchroom.
The light is from a skylight and the film is Type 42.
A sculptor as well as graphic artist, here she is in a grab shot of a snow cat she made.
Shot with Type 42 film.
Buffy, the cat model, caught examining the sculpture with a bit of annoyance, I think.
Unlike digital photogaphy, these came to life instantly as photos in hand to be passed around and enjoyed.
Published in 1969 and sold as a trade book by Doubleday, this title contained Type 108 color and Types 42 and 44 black-and-white photos that I took with off the shelf Model 100, 350, and Colorpack II cameras.
Scroll down for examples of photos taken with this extraordinary camera.
42 years ago a one-piece molded plastic Polaroid camera could take pictures like these
Instant Analog Photography
My concern is for people pictures.
It fell on deaf ears at the time, but I thought Polaroid's advertising and sales promotion should promote true-to-life people pictures that had been taken with off-the-shelf cameras instead of using models grimacing in ecstasy at being photographed with Polaroid backs on high-end professional hardware made in Germany and Japan. This photo is of my daughter which I took with a Colorpack II. I didn't use umbrellas or fancy reflectors to manipulate the light, nor did I have special film from the Polaroid lab that the professionals always got for their shoots.
My son, still a Boston Red Sox fan today, taken with the same Colorpack II camera and black-and-white film.
He's standing against a painted particle board wall in my workshop. The lighting is from an overhead skylight.
Their mother, photographed with the same Colorpack II, in Copenhagen on a rainy day.
The Colorpack II was also good for long shots.
This is a street in the picturesque town of Dragor in Denmark. Distance was set for 50 feet.
As a designer I was overwhelmed by the ancient carving of letterforms that I found in Rome. Also taken with a Colorpack II.
The photo is of the original packaging I did for Stan Calderwood's baby, the one-piece molded plastic Colorpack Land Camera.
Not that Land loved the idea of cheap cameras, but Stan wanted the company to grow and prosper. It did, and the reason was that here for the first time was an instant photo camera that was inexpensive and took color as well as black-and-white photos. I think the price for it was around $29.95 at the time. I'm surprised that Polaroid historians don't make more of this—and the genius of Stan Calderwood—but they tend to focus elsewhere.
Design and Illustration
Portion of watercolor on charcoal paper, New York Harbor, circa 1960
Copyright © Paul Giambarba. All rights reserved.
Design of logo for the Kyoto-Boston Sister City Committee, 1972
Copyright © Paul Giambarba. All rights reserved.
Poster commissioned by the Yacht Club, Costa Smeralda, Sardinia, 1972
Copyright © Paul Giambarba. All rights reserved.
One of two original sketches made on a deal table with children's markers.
Copyright © Paul Giambarba. All rights reserved.
My drawing table. The magnifiers helped me better see what I was doing.
Copyright © Paul Giambarba. All rights reserved.
My children and me on the island of Caprera, Sardinia 1971.
My designs are developed as product identity, these as recent as just a few weeks ago.
Introduced at the International Center of Photography in New York City on 18 December 2009.
Most of the complete line of film and cameras packaging and product identity I produced for the show.
It all began with tackling the Polaroid identity problem becoming so apparent in 1957. Click on The Branding of Polaroid 1957-1977.
Product identity for Polaroid Sun Glasses and accessories, 1962
Rotating display for the introduction of 10 second roll film.
Colorpack II camera and film.
Rectangular and square format film packaging.
Square Shooter cameras, meant to be stacked to as retail traffic builders.
The original SX-70 family of products.
Later generations of SX-70 products.
