From a very early age, I was fascinated with my grandmother’s Polaroid camera. I think that particular camera is what sparked my interest in photography – something about the flash, the sound it made. Five-year-old me thought it was pure magic that the camera could make a print that quickly. Thirty-two-year-old me still thinks it’s pretty magical.

In the past year or so, I have fallen in love with instant film all over again, and have been using it almost exclusively for about two months. I won’t say that this trend will continue for me, but for the moment, it is satisfying a need.

Even though I lead a fairly quiet life and consider myself an introvert, I have to admit that I’m a bit of a risk-taker, and tend to do things on a whim when it comes to my photography. Instant film satisfies a part of me that enjoys the spur of the moment, the idea that something cannot be repeated, and that I’ll have to choose to embrace (or at least be okay with) the outcome, for better or for worse.

While I miss the Polaroid 600 film with all of its glorious color, there is a (very large) part of me that hopes that with all of its improvements, Impossible Project film will always retain some of its absolutely perfect imperfectness – the color shifts and artifacts that appear on the film, both of which vary from pack to pack. The surprise is half the fun for me, and the fact that I do not always know what the result will be is risk-taking on a miniature scale.

May your photography continue to satisfy your needs, too.

~Anna~