Redlands Photographer | Instant Photos
I have many loves. Some would call them hobbies, but not me, I call them “loves”. If you read on my side bar, you’ll find out what they are. Do you take Polaroid pictures? I love anything film including instant photography. Polaroid and Instax are my favorites. I love instant photos. Thank goodness there are some nice people working really hard to maintain the love of instant photography through the chemistry of Polaroid. This modern Polaroid is the closest to the vintage Polaroid back in the day. When I lived in Hawaii, you would always find me with a Polaroid camera. I have six Polaroid cameras. I have the original SX-70, a Polaroid Sun660, a Polaroid SLR 680, a Polaroid Originals One Step 2, a Polaroid Spectrum and a very vintage Polaroid 250 Land Camera. Yes, they all work! But not all of them have film available today to use them… so sad!!
Inland Empire Family Photographer | Instant Photography
The equivalent these days is the ever popular Fuji Instax Camera and Film system. I have a few of these too, but I’ll save it for another post. I just love that you can take a photo and have a physical form of your memory in your hand in a matter of minutes. It gives me so much joy when I get a great photo. The Polaroid films do come with it’s share of problems as the film is not stable and it will give you a variety of outcomes if not shot in the right temperature conditions… which made it a perfect choice for me living in Hawaii. The temperature was pretty optimal every time for proper development. I may be getting too technical, but for the most part, I just wanted to show you some of my favorite Polaroid shots. If I can get my behind in gear, maybe it will be a weekly feature.
Redlands Family Photographer | Polaroid Originals
I have a ton of Polaroid pictures that I currently keep in decorative boxes. My kids love to go through them and see old memories of themselves. The photo above is my son and I at Mokuleia Beach in Oahu. We were about the same height at the time.. he’s now a foot taller than me. That’s what I love about instant photography, you have something within minutes.
Inland Empire Professional Photographer | Polaroid Pictures
Personally, I love Polaroid. I prefer it over Instax. When the film performs, I love the colors, the creamy tones, the size of the Polaroid itself as well as the “feel” of it. I’m a tactile person. I want to feel quality. To be fair, I have shelved all of my Polaroids and have not used them for about 3 years now. I have 3 packs of Polaroid Originals film in my refrigerator with production date of 1/19. I was becoming disappointed with the film chemistry and vowed not to purchase any more film until the nice folks at the lab improved it. I may purchase a few packs to assess the current quality. Some people like it as it is and can get really creative with it. That’s not me, I like to take a picture and have something that looks like what I took a picture of.
Redlands Film Photographer | Polaroid Pictures
If you wanted to try your hand at instant photography and want something different than the Instax line, try finding a old vintage polaroid at your local thrift shop. If you want to go for the gusto, here is the link to what I have and what I used to shoot the Polaroids on this page (it’s discontinued but a bargain if you want to venture into the world of Polaroid):
Be forewarned and read the reviews. Some people have great luck and others don’t, not an issue with the camera, but an issue with the film which you can find HERE. I personally would order the film directly and not through Amazon so you know that you are getting the most recent production date. When the film performs, it’s really fabulous.. but then again, I’m such a film geek so there you go. 🙂
Jennifer Brotchie is a professional photographer living in SoCal with her husband and 3 kids. She specializes in family photography, maternity photography and studio portraits for the busy modern family. Having lived in Hawaii for nine years has given Jennifer the professional experience in working with many diverse families and their family dynamics in all lighting conditions from morning to sunset natural light in addition to studio lights, both with digital and analog film cameras. She loves to spoil her family with Thai recipes handed down from her mom as well as experiment with new recipes. Jennifer has had a love for plants for a few years now and has a small collection of Hoya’s. Thank you so much for visiting and hope that you visit more in the future.
