Bringing Back the Polaroid
Last summer, I impulse-purchased a refurbished Polaroid 600. With it's velcro strap & bulky frame, this camera is straight out of the 90s. I was getting a little sick of my VSCO filters & wanted to try out something more hands-on. I definitely got my wish.
While you can purchase refurbished Polaroids from any number of places, there's only one source for Polaroid instant film: The Impossible Project. Impossible was founded when a handful of guys purchased the last remaining Polaroid film factory in the world. After much experimentation, they've reached near perfection with the film recipe. One big difference between old & new film is the developing time. Impossible film can take anywhere from 5–40 minutes to fully develop. No amount of "shaking it like a Polaroid picture" will speed up the process.
Fun fact: My refrigerator's cheese drawer is packed with about 30 film packs (padded with a handful of string cheese). Keeping the film cool helps it last longer.
Since June, I've lugged this Polaroid with me just about everywhere I've gone. Here's the full list:
• Girls day at the pool. (Splash-resistant!)
• Candid shots at my brother's wedding in Lawrence, KS.
• The Amazon Rainforest. (Lots of palms. Too few anacondas.)
• The Hawaii Islands. (Kauai is much more photogenic than Maui. Sorry Maui.)
• Ghost-hunting in the Stanley Hotel, Estes Park, CO. (I tried to use the flash to capture ghosts. No luck.)
• Cusco, Peru: Great shots of the city's architecture.
