In my childhood years, I thought of Polaroid cameras as expensive and exclusive. My only knowledge of them was one evening, watching TV at a friend’s house, I heard a scream from his mother. She’d been in the shower when her husband snuck in and made a photo.
After I began 35mm photography, Polaroids held no interest for me. To me they weren’t as sophisticated as SLR’s or rangefinders. As time went on, Polaroid shifted to even simpler cameras.
At some point, I became fascinated with knowing that an image produced by a Polaroid camera was a truly unique image (at least with integral film). Holding one, you know it’s the only such image in existence; you know that the actual image you hold in your hand was at the very spot the photo was made.
I came to enjoy the pastel-like colors of the original SX-70 film. It’s never been duplicated.
