Just The Way You Are

I got commissioned to shoot the last of my Polaroid film, a project inspired by my good friend Tony. Although most of original ingredients in the Polaroid emulsion can no longer be found, the impossible project is underway, hoping to keep instant in our lives minus digital. There are already some adorable products on the market like the Fuji Instax = so fun. The Polaroids posted here are peel-aparts shot on a 2 1/4 format camera. True to magic, they don't have to beg for acceptance no matter how they turn out including chemical streaks, light leaks, faulty peels, thumbprints, dust, and temperature variations. At first, I didn't like that the exposure on the 2 1/4 format left a black strip along the side. I once bought a couple of dark slides on ebay hoping to have a friend custom cut an aperture out of the slide and force the negative to expose in an even all around square. But, once the slide was cut, it was too flimsy to insert into the back of the camera. We tossed them. My ambitious attempt to control the outcome failed and I was back having to accept things as they are. Ultimately a good exercise for too-fast-for-love never-satisfied me. Instead, I shoot where the light spills in through a large window for 10 feet before fading to black, making the otherwise black strip invisible.