I Love to Shoot Polaroid

Hello everyone, and welcome to my 2nd Steemit post!

For this post, I would like to write about my interest in the wonderful world of polaroid photography.

My interest in polaroid photography actually began earlier this year when I was just surfing on sites like Tumblr and Instagram. These sites is where I love seeking inspiration from other artists who share their own unique work with the world. Sometimes, I would stumble across pics taken with a polaroid camera, and these pics would often have the obscure, faded, and lo-fi aesthetic that somehow holds and attracts my viewing of the subject taken. Looking at poly photos also makes me remember the times as a kid in the late 90s, the rare occasions when one of my uncles would pick up his black box-shaped polaroid camera and ask if he’d like to take a photo of me, and I would gladly let him. He would let me view the photo afterwards, and it was amazing to watch the photo instantly develop as I got to see myself slowly fade into the shot. One photo, if I remember, was a polaroid shot of me when I was 5-6 years old, standing in front of one of those big old-school 90s TV sets with a screen of Pikachu from the first Pokemon movie on VHS tape. It was so cute!! This childhood memory, along with feeling inspired by obscure and retro themes from polaroid pics, made me want to pick up my own polaroid camera. I wanted to have the chance to experiment and discover the creativity it inherently comes with.

The polaroid camera I’ve chosen is the black-colored version of the Fujifilm Instax Mini 8. I’ve been in love with the camera since I took my very first shot of my living room with it. It works great, and it’s very simple to use and install the film. The camera can only hold 10 shots per pack, which may seem too little to some, but for me, this limited number of shots really encourages me to think about my shots a lot more carefully, such as trying to get that perfect angle, determining whether or not if the subject is worth taking a photo of, and most importantly, the lighting that surrounds the subject. At times, this approach in photography feels a lot more satisfying and rewarding, compared to having the feeling of temptation to take quick multiple shots of everything on sight with a digital camera. It allows me to become more in tune with the present moment, which helps further develop my overall photography and observation skills.

Here are some poly shots I would like to share with you all.

Hope you guys dig em’!

Overall, I would recommend buying the Instax Mini 8 if you are thinking of purchasing your own polaroid camera. It functions perfectly, it’s very easy to use, it can be a lot fun, the pics can hold great sentimental value, and the visual retro aesthetics can feel nostalgic and pleasing to the eyes.

My future polaroid/photography posts will most likely be stories of places I visit and explore during my free time, and the subjects I found and took pics of.

Thanks for reading, and have a good day everyone! :)

Peace
-xpandamind