Fright Zone

Photo and words by ten minutes

This is me on Christmas day in about 1986, breaking in my new Fright Zone playset from Mattel! (Man-tenna sold separately).

Look at the texture of this photo. The speckles are real. The fingerprints are real. This photo has made quite a voyage through many albums, folders, college dorms and shoeboxes. And right now it’s on my desk upstairs, on top of one of many piles of Polaroid photos. Like Tod Brilliant said in reference to his photo, being a child of the 80s, I am extremely nostalgiac. I’ve always thought I was born in the wrong decade. Since I was old enough to drive, I’ve been trekking all over New England with my Polaroid camera in hand, trying to capture the world around me instantly, so that I have evidence to show not just to the people around me now, but to show to the people who will one day be in my life, namely my children.

I almost exclusively shoot Polaroid now, weather it’s 690 film in my Colorpack II, 669 film in my Big Shot, 600 film in my SX-70 or Mio film in my Mio. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do once the supply of this incredible film runs out. There is nothing, NOTHING like a Polaroid. Look at this photo as an example. This photo will still be going strong in 2050, when I’m on my last lap and I hand it to my grandkid. Can the same be said for some digital photos that are lost somewhere on a computer hard drive? I highly doubt it.