For the past few months, I have been running around shooting photos with a Fuji Instax and, more recently, a polaroid SX-70 Sonar.
I honestly don't remember what got me started on the throwback instant photo kick. I guess since I have been shooting more video and spending so much time looking at a computer screen I needed some time away from the digital workflow. Now if I had enough space and a little extra time, I would set up my darkroom equipment in my duplex. I guess in the absence of such luxury, I jumped into the instant film world.
And I've started to see these cameras fitting into my greater work. On a video shoot in November, I took a quick portrait of two of my subjects and gave them the shot. They fell in love with it, and I think it might have put them a little more at ease as I started to roll on the interview. I’ve discovered that handing people a photo as a keepsake seems to help connect them to me.
In general, photos connect us to people we might not know, but they also do a great job of connecting us to our own pasts. In December my wife and I went down to El Paso, Texas, my hometown. While there, I was going through a box of old photos and saw more than a few polaroids and other prints my parents had snapped back when I was a kid. Looking at the photos in my hands took me back in time by giving me a very tactile link to the past. Memories that were probably buried in my head came forward.
If I have kids I hope they find my boxes of prints and polaroids, helping them link back to their past.
OK, enough with the corny crap. Check out these photos
And I've started to see these cameras fitting into my greater work. On a video shoot in November, I took a quick portrait of two of my subjects and gave them the shot. They fell in love with it, and I think it might have put them a little more at ease as I started to roll on the interview. I’ve discovered that handing people a photo as a keepsake seems to help connect them to me.
In general, photos connect us to people we might not know, but they also do a great job of connecting us to our own pasts. In December my wife and I went down to El Paso, Texas, my hometown. While there, I was going through a box of old photos and saw more than a few polaroids and other prints my parents had snapped back when I was a kid. Looking at the photos in my hands took me back in time by giving me a very tactile link to the past. Memories that were probably buried in my head came forward.
If I have kids I hope they find my boxes of prints and polaroids, helping them link back to their past.
OK, enough with the corny crap. Check out these photos
