GENRE ANALYSIS
I believe that my project would fall under the concept of the photo essay (though it is a bit different). Photo essays typically are a set of photographs designed to evoke a sense of emotions from the reader, as any normal essay intends to do. The photo essay can be simply a spread of photos, or it may have captions or a few sentences, and even full text essays with photos inserted to illustrate the point of the essay. However, I believe that when we use the name photo essay colloquially, one imagines the photos being the particular focus.
Of course, it is important to address the slight variation in my work in that the photos are a series of polaroids. This is slightly different in that the copies of the photos still exist in their original physical form. Polaroids are designed to capture that exact moment and give the user an instant insight into that moment. The famous singer Patti Smith describes the peculiar magic that polaroids mean for the photographers, both professionals and casuals, that use them:
Polaroid by its nature makes you frugal. You walk around with maybe two packs of film in your pocket. You have 20 shots, so each shot is a world.
Patti’s perception of Polaroids mirror my own intentionality when I break out my camera. Each moment I take a photo of I have pre-judged as special, deeming them worthy of spending the equivalent two dollars per film. In this way, these shots are reflective of the photographers inner perspective in a way that is more intimate than photographers who now using digital cameras can take as many photos as they want to find the perfect shot. Additionally, the instant gratification and having a physical copy has revitalized the popularity of polaroids for my generation as well.
The primary work that I want to model my work after is the work of Wim Wender, who used polaroids in his photography through taking a trip across the United States. Wender’s work is an archive of personal memory. They are records of his own journey throughout the U.S., and portraits of the people he met along the way. The photos that were deeply rooted in the moment when he took them are now historical artifacts, in a way that Wim realized when he took the photos. The New Yorker described it as “experiencing the past as the present”. I like this description in relation to my own project. My project is already experiencing the past in the present as I am exploring the role of intimate individual artifacts in relation to loss and evoking that in my images. Beyond that, the viewer will also be seeing a moment that was present for me that is now a relic of the past. This perfectly embodies the feelings of isolation that I hope these stories will evoke, as well as the composition of the collection.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/the-lost-worlds-of-wim-wenderss-polaroids
The other example of a collection of polaroids that fits my spirit in terms of intermingling the past with the viewer’s present is Brigid Berlin’s collection from her time in Andy Warhol’s clan. But in Brigid’s description of why she takes the polaroids, she rejects the notion of these polaroids as art. Instead, she merely likes the clicking and pulling out of the photos to watch them develop. I love this connection she has with the instantaneous here and how she appreciates the physical form of the polaroids. But Brigid is downplaying her own work in my opinion. There is a clear intentionality to her polaroids. Some of the polaroids have layering from double exposure which is a skill very hard to master in using polaroids. The purpose-driven creation unveils her real commitment to the subjects, but in my view, even more so to that of the polaroid form itself. I plan on using this model to spurn my own inventiveness. Looking at this model has made me curious into what more I can do with my polaroids. How can I use different angles, lighting, subject matters, and the unique handwriting of the individuals, to craft a more unique piece? That is what I hope to explore in my sample.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/brigid-berlins-world-in-polaroids