The 'Slow Photo'

KLMNO SUNDAY, AUGUST 25, 2013 EZ EE F7 The ‘slow photo’ movement, ESSAY developing a following BY MELANIE D.G. KAPLAN icals used to process the film is com- pletely different. The intention was nev- In an old shoebox, I have a Polaroid of er to replicate Polaroid film exactly, the my beagle and me, taken in Lower company says; rather, it is experiment- Manhattan about a decade ago. That was ing. Verellen, the former Microsoft engi- my last Polaroid print — until this neer who opened Rare Medium two spring, when I was walking around years ago, says that he used to hear a Cleveland with a camera shop owner and number of complaints about the film, his friend Tim. but he thinks that it has improved. The Tim was using a Polaroid 250, which chief complaint today is that the film he’d bought at an antiques mall, and an isn’t really instant. Black-and-white film old pack of Polaroid instant film. He shot takes about five minutes to develop, and a picture of me, and in the palm of my color film can take a full half-hour. hand, I watched the image miraculously “Impossible isn’t Polaroid,” Verellen appear. Because of the film’s age (it says. “They’re making a more artistic expired five years ago), the colors were a product, so the casual photographer can little off, giving it an artsy, dreamlike be disappointed. With instant film, they quality. And because Polaroid will never expect it to develop in a couple of make film again, it was also a collector’s minutes before their eyes, and it item. doesn’t.” Polaroid, best known for its instant In addition to setting expectations for cameras, stopped making film in 2008. film processing times, Verellen and other That same year, rather than watch analog camera merchants spend count- Polaroid fade into extinction, some for- less hours talking to customers about mer employees teamed up to form the vintage cameras and film. Many of these Impossible Project. They saved the pro- stores hold classes and workshops on duction machinery in the Netherlands how to use analog cameras, but more and were able to start manufacturing than anything, the owners spend time new instant film for old Polaroid camer- chatting about every aspect of photogra- as. phy – from reminiscing about childhood Today, according to the Impossible cameras to debating the merits of vari- Project, there are more than 100 million ous types of film. of these classic cameras that can use “We’re enthusiasts here,” Verellen BIGSTOCK Impossible’s film, which hit the market says, “so people know they can come in in 2010. Some are in our parents’ attics; and hit us with the most bizarre Polaroid others are stuffed in boxes at yard sales; questions, and we’ll be able to help them andmoreandmore,theycanbefound— out.” refurbished and shiny — at retro camera At Studio Space Junk in Chattanooga, stores across the country. Tenn., owner Diane Edwards encourages Picturing the Not surprisingly, says Cory Verellen, people to stop by, and if she’s not busy, owner of Rare Medium, a photography she’ll give them an introductory lesson store in Seattle, some of the biggest on Impossible film. She calls her store an Polaroid enthusiasts are teens and young analog camera convenience store. “I’m a adults who have never known a camera one-stop shop,” she says, “where you can click-free vacation that wasn’t digital. get your Impossible film, talk about “But then you also get folks my age — cameras and have a cup of coffee.” I’m 39 — who grew up with instant Some of the stores host photo walks — BY PETER MANDEL painfully shy. cameras and want to capture some of the casual strolls around a neighborhood So I get that hotshot photographers magic of their childhood,”he says. “Every that give photographers of all skill levels This is Scotland, and I am tasting are proud. They can spot us amateurs time I’d go to my grandma’s, she’d break a chance to slow down, carefully frame Scotches. Very fine ones, in fact. I coming, and they suppress a smirk. I out the same Polaroid camera and shoot their shots, take pictures and discuss the should be happy. Even giddy. But know just what they’re thinking: No us to measure our progress. The Polaroid minutiae of the experience with like- there’s a problem. I can’t even see the fire in our bellies. No guts. No decent was ubiquitous in the U.S. I get a lot of minded folks. The walks are typically drams — much less sip any. equipment. No game. customers who are nostalgic for that.” free, and some shops lend or rent out Smartphones have suddenly sprout- And when push comes to shove, I There’s also a sense of backlash cameras to those who don’t already own ed like shiny bamboo shoots. People in realize that they’re right. That shot that against digital technology, and the emer- them. my tour group are squeezing in front of caught the drama of an accident, in a gence of what might be called a “slow I tried an informal version of this in me and elbowing me out of the way. dusty alley, deep in the medina, in photo” movement. Cleveland. The camera store owner, There’s a woman with not one but between souks, in Fes? Not mine. I “Our demographic is pretty young, so Scott — who has a Polaroid camera two phones happily clicking away. A missed the action. I was engrossed in we’re talking about a generation who tattooed on the inside of his forearm — man wearing tweed is hopping as he spooning up sauce with couscous at a grew up in digital, and they see our film lent me a camera. He set up a tripod, and snaps, which blocks a taller man be- cafe lunch. as a way to escape,” says Dave Bias, vice I leaned over awkwardly to look through hind him. I watch the tall guy drag over That image that made the Atlas president of Impossible America. Initial- the viewfinder, snapping a picture of a chair from somewhere and begin Mountains look luminescent, and ly, Impossible sold about 30 to 40 boys’ and girls’ bathroom signs at Lin- shooting what has to be a hawk’s-eye picked out a lantern moon? I didn’t refurbished Polaroid cameras a month — coln Park, then waiting for the chemicals view of the scene. take it. I was too busy skidding on found largely on eBay and through to react and produce a photo. Is the Duchess of Cambridge here? pebbles. Too busy poring over a map. pickers (people who find cameras at yard Tim, who took my picture, is a creative No, what the flashes are highlighting is, Too busy wiping my brow. sales). Today, it sells more than 2,500 director with an ad agency and shoots well, whisky. Images of a desk clerk It may be simple jealousy, but lately each month and has standing orders digital all the time for work. Shooting on pouring. Pictures of a drink. I’ve felt a secret, giddy relief when I through the end of the year. his Polaroid has made him look at As quickly as I can, I grab my enter a place where pictures aren’t But it’s not all about nostalgia, says pictures differently. “I used to go out and camera, set the settings, flip on the allowed. Is it a tropical garden in Bias. “For us, it’s showing that film has a shoot 300 photos, bam, bam, bam,” he flash, and — for reasons I’m not sure of Burma full of expansive blossoms and viable place in the modern world,” he says. “With film, you can’t do that. It’s too — something makes me stop. Just this enormous trees? I might see a butterfly says. “People can have a real physical expensive. You have to slow down. You once, I’m not quite up for battle. I slink against a branch without the scene photo — something they can touch, have to think before you shoot.” over to a plate of scones. being backlit by a dozen flashes. something tangible.” Slowing down forced me to notice What’s going on? The single-malt Is it an almost-famous restaurant in Next month, Impossible will take the things I would normally have over- shot: It will not be mine. Madrid? I’ll be able to actually taste ultimate step in the marriage of digital looked, like a chain-link fence painted Everyone else will snag much better and digest without a tablemate photo- and analog when it releases its first lavender, in front of some purple flowers. images than I will. They’ll be grabbing genically rearranging my food. Unruly hardware device, the Instant Lab. Rather I spent minutes — eons in a digital world Facebook traffic the very second they lakes of gravy, hills of mashed pota- than taking instant pictures on vintage — deliberating over how to frame one post them. toes? Do not sculpt. Here comes my cameras, the portable Instant Lab allows shot, mindful that I had to ration my I will drink my unrecorded whisky in knife. users to transfer digital images from an film. As we walked past abandoned disgrace. Can you find flavor in a photo? Can iPhone onto instant Impossible film. It houses and old churches, I was con- you sniff it? Roll it around on your will be demonstrated Sept.

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