My Grandma’s Polaroid Camera
How I started regularly capturing life’s moments with film
About ten years ago, I discovered my grandma’s Polaroid camera in her basement. It was clunky, heavy, and black, seemingly out of place in the digital world. Yet it was fascinating to me.
“Can I have it?” I asked her, expecting her to say no.
To my surprise, she said yes. I brought it home and then looked into the cost of Polaroid film. I realized that the photos came in packs of eight, which worked out to one photo costing a little over $2.00. This seemed ludicrous. What could I take eight photos of that could possibly be worth $18.99? With the luxury of being able to take an endless stream of photos on my iPhone, it was hard to imagine spending that much, especially on a photo that may not even turn out. And so the camera sat, unused in the bottom of my closet.
Then, in 2017, my now-fiancé Dylan gifted me a roll of Polaroid film for Christmas. I couldn’t wait to use the camera for the very first time. Following the instructions on the package of film, I pulled the bottom piece of the camera down to place the film inside, as shown, and closed it. The camera loudly spit out the piece of paper that had been on top of the film.
I instructed Dylan to pose on the deck outside, and I took what I thought would be the very first picture of him with the Polaroid camera. It clicked as the photo was taken, and the photo immediately appeared below. But something didn’t seem right. Where was the lens? The flash?
Then it dawned on me. I tried pulling the front of the camera open. It lifted to reveal the lens, the eye of the peephole, the flash, and a slider with “Light Management System,” next to it in all caps. And thus, I came to the realization that I had taken the first photo with the front of the camera closed.
The instructions on the package of film hadn’t mentioned anything about opening the camera. With the camera properly open, and now that I was able to actually see Dylan through the peephole, Dylan posed, coffee-in-hand, smiling. I snapped the photo, and we waited, expectantly.
And just like that, it turned out. Looking back on this photo, it seems both timeless and dated at the same time. It looks like it could be from the ’80s, if not for the date that I printed with sharpie on the front.
Since then, I have used the camera to capture many important events in my life. I’ve flown with my camera to Seattle, carried it up mountains in my backpack, and have captured Christmas celebrations.
My favorite thing about Polaroid pictures is that they are a way of physically capturing a moment in time. And then there are the 10 minutes of anticipation as you wait for the photo to develop in your pocket, or face down on the table. Some turn out, some don’t, but that makes the ones that do turn out all the more special.
I hope to continue capturing moments on Polaroid film, however this morning I looked up the price of film on Amazon to write this article, and it looks like they may have raised the price of film for eight photos from $18.99 to $25.99. Spending over $3.00 for a single photo? Ludicrous.
Janay Wright is a freelance writer who draws on her human experience to explore ideas related to everyday life, personal growth, and social justice. More from Janay:
