My Treat

Last week I bought myself a treat to celebrate my participation in the "Visual Poetics" exhibition this month at Addison Center for the Arts.

I went to see the wonderful people at A&A Studios and bought a used Polaroid Spectra camera, as seen here. I actually bought their advertised Spectra Starter Kit, because it came with a three-pack of all three Impossible Project™ films created for use in the Spectra.

In the days before digital photography (and way before cameraphones, much less smartphones and pads) the exciting Polaroid camera family made available vast new ranges of possibility for impatient photographers. Okay, patient photogs, as well as casual/family photogs, also loved (and still love) Polaroids.

But the advent of easily accessible, tiny and cheap digital cameras made the snap-shooter and the party-shutterbug toss away their cumbersome and retro-unchic instant cameras. The film was pricey, and you couldn't delete embarrassing shots, or mistakes. Additionally, the Polaroid company stopped making film and cameras, so for a while there, those who still loved and practiced the niche art of instant photography either hoarded and coddled their outdated film, or simply went without.

Then there was The Impossible Project. I'll let them tell you about themselves. They rescued and reformulated instant photography for many thousands of people (like me) worldwide, and have also helped to introduce instant photography to young people who may never have even held a film camera before.

So I'm excited. I love the black and white images I have gotten from my Spectra so far, and while I'm less enthusiastic about the color ones, I am very excited about one particular thing the Spectra can do: multiple exposures.

Huzzah!

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