Every Polaroid Picture Has a Frame Outside Of The White One

Hi! So, let’s get Polaroiding here. In my third instalment of In Search of the Perfect Polaroid, I’m going to be using this picture:

Now, my tip for instant photography today comes from the story behind this picture. I was only starting to be interested in Polaroid photography, and was kind of just in it for indie credit. See, I would really prepare for these pictures, setting them up just so and wearing the perfect outfit and getting the light just right, because I wanted them to look as effortless as possible. This particular fall day, I wanted a photo of my sister and I sitting up in a tree looking all chill and outdoorsy, so I persuaded her and my mom to go out on the trail near our house to take it.

We walked out to this tree that was a little off the trail, down a hill. My sister and I climbed up, got in our pose, and my mom was about to take the picture, when she lost her balance standing on the side of the hill, fell down on her back and started to slide down towards, yes, the river. My sister was screaming, “Mom!” and I was screaming, “My camera!” and my mom was just screaming. We leapt down from the tree and thank goodness, caught her just before she slid into the frosty water. She was okay, and much less importantly, the camera was okay, but when she stood up again she hesitantly told me that her finger had pulled the trigger as she was sliding, and the camera had ejected my last Polaroid picture. I was crushed. I really was. I was pretty mad, too. I had put on this great outfit, arranged the little hike and had entrusted my camera to my mom. I regretted the afternoon already.

But then, as we walked home and the picture developed, I saw how really… natural it was. I mean, yeah, there’s nature in it, but it just looks, like, actually effortless, you know? So then I completely turned my attitude around and kept thanking my mom for taking such a fabulous photograph; I don’t know if she or my sister was really impressed with my rapid change in perspective, considering it mostly revolved around the photo and myself. But then, as we walked on and got home, I finally just started to smile at the picture in my mind of my mom sliding down the bank towards the river, and the picture of my caring sister giving no thought to my art and just trying to save our mother. And then they started to smile, and we all started to laugh, and couldn’t stop; long after I put the picture away (until now), we were laughing, about how the afternoon had gone completely wrong and turned out so well.

So, today’s tip is kind of two-fold: first, in a technical sense, don’t be upset when your photo turns out totally different than you expected it to, because it usually will, and second, be natural – don’t try too hard to be indie and effortless in your photography. And second, in an abstract sense, remember that every picture has a story. Every photo has a frame outside of the physical one, a frame that transcends what you can see and is just a good memory. So really, don’t look so hard at the picture that you forget where you were when you took it.

RJ

P.S. Thank you to my mom for being the most genuine artist I know; I should have never doubted your ability to take an amazing picture.

Time Heals All Polaroids

Well, hello there! You’ve come to take part in the second instalment of In Search of the Perfect Polaroid! Now, let’s get right to it! Here are two Polaroids I took in San Francisco that will bring me to today’s tip.

The first is a picture of Alcatraz Island, taken from Pier 39:

And the second is a picture of the San Francisco Bay, taken from Alcatraz Island:

Okay, I know what you’re thinking. Okay, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can guess: you’re thinking, “These pictures are awful! What kind of useful instant photography advice can come from this?!”

Calm down (if that was what you were thinking). Let me tell you why these pictures will in fact be very useful to us.

I’ll start by saying, both these photographs were so horrendous at first that you couldn’t even be sure that they were photographs; the images were so white that it was hard to tell where the Polaroid frames ended and where the actual pictures began. And now, considering the fact that Impossible Project film for Polaroid is roughly $3 per shot, you can imagine my disappointment when my shot didn’t turn out. If you have had this horrific experience of turning a picture over after its thirty minutes of marination, only to see that it is a complete failure, you might even be able to feel my disappointment, somewhere in the depths of your photographer’s heart. Anyway, you get it: I was crestfallen.

But, because we all know it’s nearly impossible to get rid of Polaroid film (to physically get rid of it, I mean; to get rid of film by wasting it on subjects that accidentally blink or on scenes that turn out too dark is very easy), I satisfied myself with stashing the two pictures away in my camera case, and moving on to less overexposed things.

Five months later. Imagine my surprise when I came back to the photos half a year after they were taken, only to find out that I could tell what the scene was in each one! Look at the photos again! Don’t the pictures look better now that you have this image in your mind of what they were before? Of course, we can now also see the large awkward glitch at the bottom of the second picture that looks a little too chemically to be a part of the Alcatraz Island terrain, and yes, both photos look like they were taken in black and white when I was definitely shooting with colour film. But! You can see what’s going on in them! You can make out what I wanted to capture! Exciting, right?!

So, Today’s Tip: give your Polaroids time. Time to develop, time to decide what they want to become. Do not give up on a picture just because it looks terrible an hour after it was taken. Let each photo sit in a cool, shady place (that sounds refreshing), for longer than thirty minutes. Maybe let them sit forever. Who knows, maybe the pictures above will develop even further and in five months, you’ll be able to see Frank Morris and the Anglin Brothers still trying to swim to shore!

So go take a Polaroid picture, and watch it as it develops over time!

RJ

P.S. I wish I knew more about the way the ink works in Polaroid/Impossible Project film, and why it seems to keep developing long after the package says it should be done – is anyone an expert who would like to give me a crash course? Leave it in the comments section or go to my Contact page to send me an email!