instant gratification
People know me as a painter of evocative portraits of men. What most don’t know is that many of the models in my paintings also posed for photo stories captured with vintage Polaroid cameras on peel-apart instant film. I am developing a photobook based on the resulting decade of work entitled Instant Gratification.
I bought my first 1960s Polaroid Land Camera on a whim in the early days of Ebay. The camera was in excellent condition and the particular pack film it used was plentiful and inexpensive so I started taking pictures. For a young artist who had recently relocated to LA, instant photography meant being able to quickly build a body of work that was real and undeniable. As if by magic, I was a photographer.
I was familiar with the popular type of Polaroids, where the plastic camera spits out a photo that you impatiently shake until the image appears. This was not that. This camera was substantial. To use it one had to flip up the viewfinder and then extend the accordion bellows until the lens locked into place. The film, folded into an intricate origami pack, had to be pulled through the camera manually after each shot. This action, a fluid swipe at just the right speed, spread the chemicals across the photo sensitive paper and launched the developing process outside of the camera. When the appropriate time had passed, a backing sheet is peeled away to reveal the image. The resulting photos were luminous and detailed with symmetrical white borders that set off the rich colours and contrast.
Following Polaroid's lead, Fujifilm discontinued the last of their peel-apart films in 2016. Like many die-hard fans of these products, I have an expired stash that I continue to use. Although the results have become less predictable over time, the magic is still potent. With Instant Gratification, I'm sharing my decades long love affair with these iconic cameras and films.
-Alessandro Tomassetti