Polaroids from New York 01: Miscellaneous Scenes

I’m trying hard to think differently about the way I photograph, to become both more restricting and more creative in my style and method. My images have been feeling a bit stale lately and I’m almost trying to move backwards in order to progress again. I’m trying to shed some of my baggage and see if I can’t stumble upon something new. Part of this process was buying a small Fuji “Cheki” instant film camera during a recent layover at the Tokyo Narita Airport in Japan, to facilitate more image-taking during seemingly mundane moments of the day, at times when I would normally either not have my larger digital camera on me or when it would be buried beneath zippers and Velcro in my bag. It’s not that I’m necessarily a fan of the snapshot aesthetic that was all the rage a few years ago, but it is a great way/excuse to take new images.

These pictures are all from New York at the beginning of this month, while I was attending the recent Eddie Adams Workshop. It was nice to not think too much about the photographs I was taking, nice to see a print show up immediately before I could erase it on my card. I took about 100 pictures with the camera while I was away, so obviously there’s a bit of editing done to get to these very few, but still. I like it. The camera had its own quirks that needed to be figured out as well, which added to the newness factor. I don’t think I’ll be shooting assignments solely with instant film from now on, but I do think there’s a lot to take away from the experience/exercise. And I bought another 100 sheets on the way back home to Hanoi, so I’m definitely not done with the camera yet.