Bastian lives by this creed and is constantly looking forward to his next adventure into the wilderness with his expired Polaroid film. He is continuously searching the landscapes surrounding him, traveling over peaks and through the snow, to capture the moments that allow him to escape modern society and experience that natural synergy of “both everything and nothing at the same time”. In single outings, he has traveled and hiked up to 20 miles and 10,000 feet of elevation gain with a backpack full of photography equipment including 4 lenses, a tripod, a light-meter, a self-timer, and of course a box full of film. He told us that his ultimate goal is to get to his hiking destination and that “It doesn’t matter how long it would take, I had all the time in the world [back then]”. He described to us the feeling that hikers around the world experience when they reach their final objective after a hard day of trekking: “My mind sets free when I [finally] reach an objective that I dreamed would look good through my lens, at that moment there are no houses, no cars, and no noise, it is just me and the image I am creating”. This nothingness allows him to feel everything the world has provided us through its natural wonders.

Although Bastian’s objectives are almost always accompanied by cameras, he insists that it isn’t necessary. He urges all people to go out and experience the feeling of accomplishment one gets when they return from an outing in a national forest or their small local park. “You don’t need anything else [besides yourself]. You don’t need a camera or even shoes. You don’t need anyone to accompany you. All you need is to be alone with nature”. He told us that the perspective someone obtains while spending this time in nature is a valuable tool for a life worth living. “Nature has always been with [us] humans. We are a part of it, and that’s why we need to spend time in it. Respect it and it will respect you [in return]“

Now 38, Bastian has spent the better part of a decade chasing the eternal beauty of our earth’s endless landscapes and capturing it with a wide range of photographic film. What started as a search for the elusive expired Polaroid Time Zero film has evolved into a love for all types of instant film. Through the years as his photographic talents have matured, so has his taste in film, as he has slowly worked his way through various Polaroid and negative formats on his nature expeditions. He shared with us that “It [all started] from my Polaroid Time Zero (integral film) addiction which was fast and simple to shoot. I soon started to shoot expired pack film like Polaroid Type 669 (pack film) in the more professional Polaroid cameras like the Polaroid 180 Land Camera”. After her mastered both integral and pack film formats he soon moved on to shooting large format 4x5 instant film like the beloved Type 59 and Type 79 Polaroid stocks which he shoots on his Ebony SV45TI camera. However, just as life’s circumstances change, so has Bastian’s ability to purchase the film he loves so much.

When he began this journey, recently expired and out of production Polaroid film was a lot easier to come by. You could still purchase it on eBay on a regular basis and the prices weren’t as astronomical as they are now. In the beginning, you could purchase a pack of a box of film between $20.00 and $40.00 dollars and have relatively consistent results. Now, in 2019, you are lucky to come across properly stored film that is 15+ years expired for about $100.00 dollars, that may not end up working at all. He shared with us that “In a way, it’s almost over for me [in obtaining] Polaroids. It was scaring me for a while and I was afraid. I started to think about why I was scared, and I realized that life goes on and so will my photography”.