Film from the Santa Cruz Dream Time

The “Pleasure Point Surf Spot” sounds more like a second tier whore house on the outskirts of Reno than a famous stretch of beach in east Santa Cruz — although I’m sure interesting photographs could be pulled from either location.

The photographs I choose to present here were made during a late evening stroll from Cliff Beach up to Pleasure Point where the surf breaks year-round. It’s a magnetic strip of sand and rock for weekend surf bums, dirtbag board freaks and apparently — with a plastic camera from the 1950’s — can morph into a surreal x-ray within the bowels of some Lynchian daydream.

The little Imperial XII Flash is a sleeper cell embedded within the ranks of more famous medium format 6x6 “toy” cameras from the same era. It serves as a direct counterpoint to the offerings from makers such as Kodak and Ansco.

We’ve already discussed the more subtle merits of the Imperial XII in horrifying detail here.

A roll of 120 film is first transferred by hand to a vintage 620 spool and then lovingly shoved into the camera; ready to absorb the demented light in 1/40th second doses.

On that evening in Santa Cruz the film happened to be good Ilford XP2 400 Super.

Twelve chances to capture glory per loaded roll. Twelve frames of uncertainty from a camera that has no business being so fiendishly enjoyable to sling. The photographs from the Imperial XII are tattooed with the unmistakably etheric fingerprint of many plastic lens cameras. Bowed and skewed, doughy at the corners with rockstar vignetting, sharp as a Russian razor at the center, perfection through imperfection.

Film was developed in a slightly ascorbic acid-heavy brew of caffenol in a small bathroom on Thompson Avenue.

All text and images copyright 2023 by Adam Welch unless otherwise indicated.