Like Father Like Son
Photo and words by sx70manipulator
This is my oldest son back about 12 years ago. I would take care of him and his brother while my wife was in college. During this time I would video tape them having fun and take candid Polaroid shots of them doing kid stuff. It was an easy way to keep them and myself entertained. Now he is 17 and I have to look up at him (he’s 6’6”).
John Lennon said “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans”,,,it goes by quickly…but I digress…
The Polaroids were special to me back then because we could do stupid stuff, take a picture and laugh at what was in the moment.
Flash forward to today. Here is a typical “Polaroid Moment” for me now: I have a habit of take my Polaroid cameras (one loaded with time zero, another loaded with 600) with me when I go places so that if i get bored, I have something to do. So, I was with my family waiting for the local Mardi Gras parade and I got bored so I pulled out the time zero sx-70 and started to take a photo of a Dorito from a lunch we had packed. As I was opening up the camera, an elderly gentleman, late 70’s early 80’s, came up to me and started a discussion on his experience with his old alpha sx-70 camera. A little while later, his wife called him back to his seat to wait for the parade (I guess she was feeling neglected).
So, I start to go back to my Dorito. By this time, a lady with her three kids appeared next to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the kids looking at my camera so I knew that this was something new to them. As I pressed the button on the camera, the whir of the motor and the sound of the film ejecting peaked the interest of the kids and they came up and started asking me questions about the camera and why the picture was not on a digital screen. I told them that this was a Polaroid the picture would appear in about a minute. The children started to get more and more excited as more and more of the photo started to develop. They passed the photo around and made comments like “wow” and “cool” and “why would you take a picture of a Dorito?”. A little while later the parade had started and they turned their attention to catching beads.
This is what makes Polaroid magical…it’s something more than just taking a picture.
By the way, I tried to photograph the parade but kept getting pelted in the head by moonPies and beads…my wife thought this was hilarious…
