For those of you who shoot instant film (or for those of you curious to try), I thought I’d mention the upcoming Polaroid Week.  It’s scheduled for October 15-20 and the rules are simple:
1.  You can post 2 unpublished (new or old) instant photos per day
2.  All types of instant film are welcome.

You can play along with the hashtags #PolaroidWeek #RoidWeek on Instagram and follow here.  You can also share your images in the 2017 ‘Roid Week Flickr group.

I’ve been playing along for a couple years now and it never disappoints.  There are lots of beginners, as well as seasoned shooters.  It all inspires.

I was recently looking through my old Polaroids. One of the subjects I noticed appearing often is what you see here in this post.  Flowers in a simple glass jar or vase.  I love the way the film captures the glass.  Sometimes the edges are crisp, sometimes soft.  But that clear glass, especially on black and white film, does something for me.  Being able to see through the glass, while knowing it’s solid with edges and boundaries, is so interesting to me.  Perhaps I’m drawn to it because it feels like a metaphor for so much of life.

Shooting with instant film, you never know what you’re going to get.  Sometimes you get duds; sometimes you get winners.  Some shots frustrate; some shots exhilarate.  That’s kind of how life works, yes?  For me, shooting with my SX-70 helps me have fun with the process and remain (mostly) unattached to the end product.  It’s one of my favorite ways to keep my photography loose.

If you plan to play along during Polaroid Week, please do tag your images #viewfinders as we’d love to see what you’re capturing on instant film.  Whatever your camera, all of us here at ViewFinders hope you continue to find joy with camera in hand; we hope you enjoy the process as much or more than the result.

xMichelle