Ode to the Polaroid Land Sx70

 It's high time for a post about vintage cameras. Long before I started selling vintage goods I was fully ensconced in photography. As often happens to photographers, I became fascinated with vintage cameras but for me it was specifically polaroid vintage cameras. I had seen these beautiful soft focussed images, heavy with grain and bits of  undeveloped edges and I needed to know how those were achieved.

It was the lovely hippy urban girl (who just happens to be my sister in law) who turned me on to The Sx70 alpha1. I had tried the 80's plastic polaroids which are fun for parties, but I wanted an SLR camera and the Alpha1 is exactly that. It was love at first sight......

For a while when the film was still easily obtained I preferred to shoot with polaroid. Even though the film was almost always expired it didn't matter as sometimes that resulted in beautifully decayed looking images.

As the film grew scarce my friends an I began to discuss whether shots were "polaroid" worthy or not.

In the fall of '99 Polaroid folded instant film production entirely. We began to buy expired film in lots of 25 and 50 packs. Those eventually became too expensive and so I reluctantly turned to 35mm film and rediscovered the joy of shooting with the camera I first learned photography on, my Yashica FR.

As friends and family learned of my interest in old film cameras I began to receive 35 mm cameras and gear until soon one whole corner of my bedroom was taken up with camera storage.

And on it goes.... My home is now filled with Vintage cameras some usable others just for show, but my true love is and always will be Polaroid Sx70 cameras.

                                       

Post script: I haven't completely left polaroid photography behind, I just (at this moment in time) don't have the kind of cash it takes to fill my need for film.  the-impossible-project.com is still producing film and it is absolutely beautiful and every bit as nostalgic as the original TZArtistic. If you have the means, do get some, you won't regret it and it just may lead you on to ever more creative discoveries.