I’m crazy about Polaroid photography. I just love it!
I have several cameras that I actually used (up until not too long ago) because I enjoyed SX70 photography (photo manipulation art-making). If you’re not familiar – it was the type of Polaroid film that would take a while to ‘set up’ or process. It looked like all the other Polaroid films but this particular one allowed time for ‘play’ – which meant you could alter the image by manipulating the film itself – with any thing that could ‘push’ the emulsion around. The film was like a sandwich with the emulsion sandwiched between the base layer and the top finish. You could move the emulsion around by pressing with a stylus or dental tool (or anything that you found you enjoyed working with) until you were satisfied with the result.
I show a few of these images (in my post of August 21) if you’d like to see some examples.
The best part (to me) was the instant gratification that this form of photography offered. I was still warming up to the idea of digital and Photoshop was definitely outside my comfort zone at the time. But the real reason I enjoyed it so much was because I could put my personal touch on each individual photograph and make it a one-of-a kind piece of art. No two images were identical and I liked that idea a lot. Still do.
But in this fast paced world we live in where technology changes in an instant – this type of film/photography has gone by the way side to make room for the new and improved…in other words, things change.
But instead of dwelling on what is no longer I’m trying to embrace the changes and focus on the now. And anyway, we all know – art making is not about the tools.
Its what we do with what we got.
I find that I now take a lot of images with my cell phone because I always have my cell phone with me. “The camera that takes the best pictures is the one you have with you”.
And today I just stumbled upon a fun app that keeps my Polaroid craziness in tact. Its called “roidizer”. Its free and very simple and fun to use – if you enjoy Polaroid photography you’ll enjoy this app!
The above image was made with my cell phone using the Roidizer app.
That is so cool – love those pictures – I love photography and art but know very little about either – really appreciate your explanations and photos..
So glad you liked them! – I took the beach chair image (with the orange towel) and had it scanned and printed onto gallery wrapped canvas (24X24) -that’s a nice look for displaying these types of images. They were a lot of fun to create! Thank you!!