A trip to the Zoo with Polaroid
I was thinking about why I love Polaroid film so much. If I look back at my childhood, I can remember seeing my first Polaroid at age 4 or 5. I was amazed the first time I saw that Polaroid picture develop. It was a big deal and it would help lead me to the life I live now. (Photogeek and proud of it)
In the 70’s my parents ended up divorcing. We didn’t have much money, so there usually wasn’t film for the camera. But, I had no shortage of imagination. I can remember many hours playing photographer with that Polaroid Big Shot. Some of those images present themselves in my viewfinders still today. I have many (about 20) Polaroid cameras, but I haven’t found one of these. Ours got lost or thrown out when I was a teen and I kind miss it. You can see one here, http://www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Big_Shot
So last week, I took one of the Polaroid cameras on our family trip to the zoo. This was a source of great entertainment for everyone, especially the people at the zoo. People would stare and you could hear comments like, “I haven’t seen one of those in years” and “do they still make film for that?” My father-in-law laughed and brought up the fact that “it wasn’t very green”. I’ve never had a problem with looking a little odd and this is a “must have” trait for photographers.
I have lots of Polaroid’s of my son and hopefully some day he’ll realize how special that is. Considering most of the children his age may never see a Polaroid. I truly hope that the Impossible Project and groups like them succeed in saving Polaroid.
