Polaroid is an Experience
So this New Years I took a road trip with my wife up to “sunny” Canada, to spend the holiday with her family. I made sure that before I hit the road I was stocked up on film. So I bought a 3 pack of spectra image film at a local camera shop. Didn’t think I was going to use it all but boy was I wrong. Let me preface this by saying, I haven’t been shooting polaroid film for too long, Id say about 8 months, and its been one of the greatest discoveries that I have ever made. I mostly used it to take “artistic” type of shots and hadn’t yet experimented with it in a social setting. Reason being, is that polaroid film is pretty expensive and have been tentative to press the shutter button for anything other than a beautiful scene that I deemed worthy to shoot. But this time I had an itch to try something new…
For as long as I’ve been traveling to my in-laws I had noticed this great wall that I just envisioned using as a backdrop for some amazing polaroid portraits. The wall is a deep maroon and I just imagined how the flash from my spectra would bounce off that wall and create a beautiful halo of light around my models head. I’ve wanted to try this for a long time but I guess I was just to shy to ask everyone. Well this time I got over it and I believe as a result I experienced the true essence and beauty of polaroid photography.
At first shy and bashful, was each one that stepped in front of my lens. But the sheer splendor and amazement of seeing colors, shapes and light, replace an empty void. Only to reveal a beautiful representation of each person, was simply overwhelming. The laughter began to roll, we were all in a state of bliss as each portrait got sillier than the last. As you could see we had ourselves a blast. As I mentioned before, we experienced polaroid at its best. For me, Polaroid photography is no longer just about beautiful vintage images and a wonderful diffused spectrum of colors, but more about the moments shared and captured. A quick flash of light, a sudden loud slap, a robotic hum, then out appears…. nothing, but an awkward plastic frame. We impatiently look at each other and smile in anticipation. We can do nothing, only wait and hope as a white square slowly begins to develop itself into a memory. Polaroid is an experience…
