Portroids
September 21, 2009 5:35 AM Subscribe
"Portroids are Polaroid portraits taken of people I know (friends, family, and acquaintances) or know of (celebrities). I have them autograph in the blank white space prior to the Polaroid developing. This is a list of all* the people I have portroided. (*not all)"
"Oh, for crap's sake!"
- Eddie Izzard, when asked to sign his portroid
posted by not_on_display at 5:52 AM on September 21, 2009
- Eddie Izzard, when asked to sign his portroid
posted by not_on_display at 5:52 AM on September 21, 2009
Man, this is a bummer. The most poignant thing about this (awesome, delightful) project is the terrible countdown on the front page: POLAROID SPECTRA FILM REMAINING: 115.
This guy apparently has 11 new packs with one in the camera. I have a few friends who have refrigerators full of Polaroid film, and have heard of people with cases, but those sort of outliers aside we are watching as a fair and worthy medium glides into extinction. Fuck.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:31 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
This guy apparently has 11 new packs with one in the camera. I have a few friends who have refrigerators full of Polaroid film, and have heard of people with cases, but those sort of outliers aside we are watching as a fair and worthy medium glides into extinction. Fuck.
posted by dirtdirt at 6:31 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
Discussed previously, but John Waters has taken a Polariod of everyone who's entered his home since 1992.
“Digital isn’t instant gratification, and those cameras don’t make that sexy sound.” Waters, too, is hoarding film. “What are wardrobe departments supposed to do?” he continues. “How else will they keep costume continuity shots? And has anybody thought about the poor home-porno enthusiasts? Are they supposed to now risk arrest by taking some memory disk to the drugstore to get printed? The world is a terrible place without Polaroid.”
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 6:39 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
“Digital isn’t instant gratification, and those cameras don’t make that sexy sound.” Waters, too, is hoarding film. “What are wardrobe departments supposed to do?” he continues. “How else will they keep costume continuity shots? And has anybody thought about the poor home-porno enthusiasts? Are they supposed to now risk arrest by taking some memory disk to the drugstore to get printed? The world is a terrible place without Polaroid.”
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 6:39 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
My father-in-law is a photographer and his studio has a huge collection of polaroids there. Everyone that has come into this studio since 1970-something. On the bathroom wall are ones mostly from the mid 70's and on the bottom someone scribbled "61 lies about 63 people." (self links here). A great title for any collection I think. Every time I go over there I have to stare at this thing because it is so fun. I don't know what's going on. People have masks on, there's double exposures, color is altered, they're all faded. One is my husband as a child - and I can only imagine what a curious childhood it must have been around some of those folks in the polaroids. It certainly looks like the '70's were a lot of fun.
When I ask my husband to tell me what the hell is going on in the polaroid he is in all he says to me is: "I was a mime that day." He never elaborates.
The studio is right by Anderson Fair, a bar that is an old folk music haven for Texas musicians for decades. Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt played there with some frequency in the 70s. Just the other day I was over there and some guy in his late 50's maybe drove by on a homemade scooter of some sort - a child's bike with a battery on the back and some crazy rigged motor. Loud as all hell. He stops and asks me if I'm going in there (anderson fair / my in-law's studio). I nod politely and he yells as he drives off something about it being nuts around here back in the '70s.
I tell my father-in-law about the guy I just saw and what he said and all the in-law says in return is: "Yup."
Polaroids to me are these weird little moments captured. Sometimes they're boring, but often they look vaguely intriguing, suggesting some serious fun was going on there. I wish I could jump into them and be there in that moment in time for just a little while.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:44 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
When I ask my husband to tell me what the hell is going on in the polaroid he is in all he says to me is: "I was a mime that day." He never elaborates.
The studio is right by Anderson Fair, a bar that is an old folk music haven for Texas musicians for decades. Lyle Lovett and Townes Van Zandt played there with some frequency in the 70s. Just the other day I was over there and some guy in his late 50's maybe drove by on a homemade scooter of some sort - a child's bike with a battery on the back and some crazy rigged motor. Loud as all hell. He stops and asks me if I'm going in there (anderson fair / my in-law's studio). I nod politely and he yells as he drives off something about it being nuts around here back in the '70s.
I tell my father-in-law about the guy I just saw and what he said and all the in-law says in return is: "Yup."
Polaroids to me are these weird little moments captured. Sometimes they're boring, but often they look vaguely intriguing, suggesting some serious fun was going on there. I wish I could jump into them and be there in that moment in time for just a little while.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:44 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
On a related note, The Impossible Project is trying to resurrect the production of instant film. They've acquired an old polaroid factory and are now doing R&D in an attempt to produce a modern, reasonably priced analogue.
posted by (lambda (x) x) at 6:56 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by (lambda (x) x) at 6:56 AM on September 21, 2009
dang. sorry if that's about my links. maybe this will work.
posted by dog food sugar at 6:59 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by dog food sugar at 6:59 AM on September 21, 2009
Robert Mapplethorpe also took Polaroids. If I recall correctly, he was a classically trained artist who picked up a Polaroid and enjoyed the immediacy, eventually moving on to the photographer we know. The Whitney had a show of these last year.
posted by shothotbot at 7:18 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by shothotbot at 7:18 AM on September 21, 2009
I've been playing around with some shareware software that approximates the polaroid look.
posted by now i'm piste at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by now i'm piste at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2009 [1 favorite]
Can i just step in here and say that i'm pretty sure that this is the only sight on the entire internet on which you will find Barack Obama and BlackWolf the Dragonmaster featured on the same page.
posted by jadayne at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by jadayne at 7:22 AM on September 21, 2009
I had a printer that printed to polaroid. I loved using my digital camera then printing to polaroid, as silly as that may sound. Unfortunately, the manufacturer stopped supporting it with windows xp.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:37 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by [insert clever name here] at 7:37 AM on September 21, 2009
I recall that oh so many years ago, Polaroid came out with a new model that aimed at a target audience and its needs. Called it The Swinger. Need i say more?
posted by Postroad at 8:24 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by Postroad at 8:24 AM on September 21, 2009
Awesome, cheers!
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:53 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by futureisunwritten at 8:53 AM on September 21, 2009
(lambda (x) x), The Impossible Mission was covered previously, and more recently mentioned that they are working on having something out by 2010, and have support from Urban Outfitters.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:06 AM on September 21, 2009
posted by filthy light thief at 9:06 AM on September 21, 2009
Defekto's Last Days Of Polaroid.
Hundreds more on his flikr.
[Disclosure: I kind of peripherally know him not really.]
posted by zoinks at 9:59 PM on September 21, 2009
Hundreds more on his flikr.
[Disclosure: I kind of peripherally know him not really.]
posted by zoinks at 9:59 PM on September 21, 2009
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