I sort of regret selling my old SX-70. It was the “Sonar” version, with autofocus. It was in great shape, but the scarcity and cost of SX-70 film meant it sat on the shelf gathering dust. I experimented with some of the filter and flash options available at the time, but it was never as good as it should have been. I also stand on the fact that modern Polaroid film is only acceptable to those who never experienced the original.
Oh god, I miss peel-apart instant film. Damn Fuji for ending it and refusing to let another company take over production. When these photos were taken, it was about $11 for a pack containing 10 shots. Now a well-expired pack goes for over $200, with no guarantee that it will expose correctly.
I loved the way colors would render with FP-100c as it gave everything a dreamy, instagram-filter feel but you know… authentic. The black and white photos had a lovely curve in the tonality that I found lovely, and of course the magic of instant photography never really fades. I experimented with recovering negatives by bleaching the part of the film you’d normally throw away, with mixed results. I mostly shot on a Polaroid Land Camera, and on a few occasions a Polaroid Big Shot – for the times I wanted to pretend I was Andy Warhol.
