Instant Simplicity

  Usually when I keep thinking of an idea eventually it will become a project and lately instant photography has been on my mind. Since I'm now in my mid 50s I often ponder on how my photography will change as I get older and I'm pretty sure that I'm going to want things to be simpler. And that's where instant photography comes in. No megapixels, memory cards, hard drives, backups, printers, paper, ink, storage or Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop. Just a one of a kind print where hundreds can fit in a single shoe box.

   In the 70s, 80s and 90s my family had Polaroid cameras and every member of the household used one. I've always liked the idea of instant photography and I even marveled at what it could do. In the late 1990s to early 2000s I tended bar in a huge nightclub and security had an infamous wall of Polaroid portraits featuring club patrons who where caught with drugs, fighting or theft. I always thought it would have made for a good book. It broke my heart when the original Polaroid declared bankruptcy in 2001.

   Thirteen years ago I bought my first Fuji Instax Wide camera and a couple dozen packs of color film (Monochrome film was not released yet for the wide format). I took dozens of photos around the city of Philadelphia, placed them in protective sleeves and left them for people to find, leaving clues on Facebook on where to find them. Every photo was found !

      Just like my digital and film photography my preference is for black and white, especially since the world has become far less colorful. But several times over the last few years there were shortage of the Monochrome wide film. Ideally I would have dozens of packs of Monochrome film sitting in my refrigerator. Until then it's going to be a slow process of trying to make each of the ten photos in a pack of film count.