all photos ~ (embiggenable)
MUCH HAS BEEN WRITTEN, RE: THE JOY OF PHOTOGRAPHY but little has been written about flat-out, just screwing around fun with photography. And, iMo, when it comes to just pure fun with photography-different from the pleasure to be had in “standard” picture making-nothing, in my experience, comes close to the making pictures with Polaroid cameras or films. I can’t even guess, with any accuracy, the number of Polaroid camera/film pictures I have made. Multiple thousands for sure to include SX70 and Spectra camera-made prints, 4x5/8x10/ sheet film prints, 669 print film (3 1/4x4 1/4 pack film) prints.
A significant part of the fun of making Polaroid photographs comes from just screwing around making straight/ un-manipulated pictures with family and friends and sharing the instant gratification that derives from sharing the results - most often smiles all around, all the way up to fits of hilarity.
As much fun as that is, the inevitable next step up the fun ladder is when you realize you can push around the emulsion of an SX70 print-does not work with any other Polaroid material-before it hardens. This is rather addictive and those so addicted can find themselves carrying around a little kit of pointy tipped things (of varying thicknesses for different width strokes). Embracing and perfecting (a matter of taste) this technique kinda makes one feel as though they are an artist (of some sort).
Then, once ya got the art bug, the serious amongst us move up to the Polaroid image transfer process. This requires the use of a 4x5 view camera and a Polaroid 4x5 film back in order to shoot and process 4x5 Polaroid print film. The process is as follows:
have a tray of water, a roller instrument and a squeegee, and sheet of heavy fine art paper ready
make an in-camera exposure onto Polaroid print film
put the paper in the water, soak thoroughly, squeegee dry but still damp
pull the film pack of of the back to start the film processing
before the processing is complete, peel the film pack apart, place and then roll the film onto the fine art paper
wait 10 minutes and then peel the film off of the paper
Voila, the dyes from the film will be transferred to the paper
The fun part of this process is that you now have an image on fine art paper and have the ability to add hand-coloring or any other embellishments to the print. Artist, indeed.
All of that written, my fun with Polaroid continued over into my professional work inasmuch as I made many manipulated SX70 prints and Polaroid transfer prints for quite a number of advertising clients and editorial assignments.
Unfortunately, as they say, all good things must come to an end. And, yes, there is a sad ending to this barrel o’ monkeys’ fun. To my knowledge, none of this is possible today. RIP Polaroid.
Photo captions (top-bottom, l-r): 1) my ex, 2) good friend and then par amour, 3) son 1, 4) son 2, 5) Pittsburgh magazine special issue ~ 24 hours / a day in the life, 6) national teen magazine article ~ teen life in a small West Virginia town, 7) regional magazine article - boxing gyms, 8) regional magazine cover ~ rebuilding the rust belt article, 9) University of Pittsburgh magazine ~ School of Dentistry article
PS I have created a new Fun with Polaroid gallery on my WORK page.