I admit, I’ve been struggling with my Polaroid experiment. Shooting Polaroid for me is so hit or miss and I tend to get frustrated. When a photo doesn’t turn out (especially when I do something stupid like forget to adjust the light/dark wheel), I always want a do over but I don’t want to waste film on the exact same shot. I’ve definitely learned that you will burn through some film just getting the hang of it, getting to know the quirks of your specific camera. I also experimented with a number of films, something I wouldn’t recommend to a Polaroid newbie. In retrospect, I would have been better off sticking with just one film and getting confident with that before I tried anything else.
And portraits of people, wow, I cannot take a good Polaroid portrait. Plants and still life, I’m getting more confident with those. Maybe it’s because it takes me AGES to set up a shot and this is so much less uncomfortable when you’re photographing a potted geranium.
But then just when I think frustration is getting the best of me, this happens. Magic.
Something comes out of that camera that’s even better than what I imagined. And it makes it all worthwhile.
And keeps me coming back for more.
