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| See Time Zero on Netflix! |
I just watched the most heartwarming documentary: Time Zero: The Last Year of Polaroid Film. If you are a vintage-loving nostalgia sufferer like me, you will love this. It chronicles the rise and fall of instant film and interviews employees on the "Apple of the sixties". I found myself wishing I lived in the late fifties or early sixties so I could work there. The film interlaces the stories of current photographers and artists that still use instant film as their medium of choice. It apex of the story is when Polaroid decides to cease production of instant film and the remaining stock around the world dwindles. A group of people come together to start The Impossible Project in order to re-engineer production of instant film using chemicals widely available and safe today.
I think the reason I'm drawn to Polaroids is my affinity for nostalgia. The photographs have a color palate that I can only achieve using a filter in Instagram. I find myself using a word that many of the people interviewed in the documentary used: warm. The photographs feel warm, the memories feel warm, the tangible photograph that is instantly provided feels warm.
This warmth of instant film is also the reason I am drawn to other analog forms. Handwritten thank you notes are better than an e-mail, text or even phone call. Listening to vinyl records on Christmas morning with my brother the year I got him a turntable sounded so much fuller than our CDs or MP3s. I keep trying to figure out how to set up a "dark room" in the bathroom of every apartment I live in. I knit, I crochet and I make pizza dough from scratch. I feel such sense of joy going back to the basics. Sometimes, in my opinion, the "efficiencies" gained for us by technology and modern advancements take us past the point of diminishing returns - what have we lost to gain it?
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| Vintage Armul Polaroid |
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| These are the only digitized Polaroids I have saved... |
In summary, watch the documentary and join me in scouring vintage shops for a Polaroid instant film camera. I suddenly feel the urge to add one to my shelf so my other analog camera has a friend. Also, many things have happened in my life since my last post: new city, new pet, new job. It was an experiment to test that I am, in fact, actually in charge of my life. Weird, huh? One thing is for sure… a bigger city gives me better odds for scoring a deal on a Polaroid at a vintage shop.
