There Is No Cat

Friday, October 9, 2026

Sixth Roll of Polyfilm Handmade Film from Ukraine

I just got back from a couple of weeks at our condo in Florida. The day before I left to go there, I got a package from Ihor Polyakov with some more of his handmade film. I got five rolls of 120, divided into "Classic" and "Grainy", and six sheets of 4x5. I figured that since I was going to Florida where it was hot, it would be useful to bring some of the film with me to test in hot weather, while leaving the rest for my return to a now much cooler New Jersey. This first roll was the "Classic" film, shot in my Hasselbla 500cm.

The Florida Motel, an old single story motel in St. Augustine, Florida. A sign to the left says simply Florida Motel. A white pickup truck is parked in the parking lot.

People walk on a beach. A dark flag flies in the foreground next to wooden stairs that take people over the waterbreak between the sidewalk and the beach.

The first three photos have a mix of black pinholes and white pinholes, something that recurs through these photos. I had an minor issue with my Hasselblad 500cm that’s visible here where photos two and three overlap slightly. The first one actually looks pretty good; the pinholes are small enough to miss.

A building has a door and window visible. Behind the building is a palm tree.

A motel has a 1950s style neon sign out front made of various shapes and neon that says Haley’s Court.

Another view of the Florida Motel from a different perspective. Two signs are visible here, but the second is not legible here and goes to black. There is a For Sale sign at the curb.

The fourth photo shows some of the mottling I had seen in previous versions. Five has something similar, but the dots are smaller. Six is pretty good, some dots and some mottling but really subtly present.

Several mailboxes, two white, the others black. Most of the black mailboxes are obscured by film fogging and measles.

The rounded wall of a building has several windows, and the number 160 in 1950s style type.

Seven and eight have something that I would describe as measles, maybe just a bad version of what was on the previous frames, but worse. The shadows on the left and right of seven and the right of eight break up badly and look kind of pixelated.

The same building as the previous photo, showing where the curved wall meets a straight wall.

A sign hangs from a chain in front of a blurred building in the background. The sign is illegible, the type and the background both going to black.

Another building with a rounded front. This one serves as a restaurant and has a sign on the roof saying 180 Vilano.

A building with a non-curved front but with pyramid-like steps at the top has a sign in one window that says Beaches with an arrow pointing left.

Nine through twelve all exhibit the pixelation of the previous frames, with the added bonus of fogging. Not sure what happened here.

I also shot a holder of 4x5, two sheets, with my Smartflex 3445. One did not show anything; not sure what happened there, but I’m reasonably sure that was my fault, not the film. The second shot is of the Castillo de San Marcos, built between 1672 and 1695. There are a couple of obvious oysters here, and many black and white pinholes visible throughout, but overall this looks pretty good.

Posted at 3:11 PM
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