Throughout its history, photographers have used the Polaroid for myriad reasons. Often
the goal is to make certain in the here and now that “they got the shot,” i.e., to achieve a
simulation of real life. Chuck Close has used the vivid large format 20" x 24” Polaroids
both for documen... Read more
Throughout its history, photographers have used the Polaroid for myriad reasons. Often
the goal is to make certain in the here and now that “they got the shot,” i.e., to achieve a
simulation of real life. Chuck Close has used the vivid large format 20″ × 24” Polaroids
both for documentation and as studies for his larger paint canvases. Other artists have
shot with Polaroids for the opposite purpose, to achieve something unknown or
unfamiliar. How might a Polaroid reinterpret and change reality? Ellen Carey takes this
exploration to its rawest level, unconcerned with camera image. Carey uses the color dye
pods as starting points for abstract smears, always unexpected, but definitively
recognizable as a Polaroid.
Because of their instantaneity, Polaroids were also widely used for commercial purposes,
such as passport photos and insurance documentation. They were also popular with
fashion industry and nightclub photographers. Many of these images were deceivingly
modest; witness Jimmy Baynes beautiful 4×5 portraits of ladies out for a night on the
town in early 1960’s Cleveland. William Coupon frequently used Polaroids as gifts for
his primitive tribal subjects, to break down the barrier caused by their fear of the medium.
A Polaroid is vital, the swollen dye pods bursting with possibilities. A Polaroid, by way
of its immediacy, is held up to a higher scrutiny; conversely, it can be immediately
critiqued in order to improve the next one.
Lately, young photographers have been revisiting the wonders and quirkiness of Polaroid
film. Using expired Spectra film, and a new film manufactured in a former bankrupt
Polaroid plant in Belgium, this generation has created a novel vernacular language in
instant photography. Blog sites of Polaroid art have sprung up on the Internet. With a
new generation of advocates, the continuation of Polaroid art seems assured.
