A while back I was inspired by a good friend and amazing photographer Steph Larson and her 365 Days of Polaroid project. Although it may be immediately obvious, the idea is to take one polaroid every day for an entire year. Her project blew me away; it was done pre-pandemic and was truly incredible to see an entire year on display. I think I spent about two hours looking through the Polaroids over and over, each time walking away with something new. It felt like a very honest approach to documenting life just as it is. It really moved me and I've wanted to start my own ever since. 2020 wasn't the year for it, and although I'm not sure how much better 2021 will actually be, I figured the best time to start is now.
I'm approaching my project in a few different ways. First, I began posting them to my personal Instagram account daily with accompanying captions. It'll be interesting to look back and perhaps attribute some of those captions to the pieces in the final project. I also decided that I'd like to post a recap of each month as the series progresses with my general feedback/anecdotes. Another thing I chose early on was to not limit myself to just one Polaroid a day and allow for additional photos, so I'll also be sharing the "outtakes;" or the ones that weren't chosen. Lastly, after noticing how the camera exposes color in varying temperatures (it exposes very green in cold temps and very red in warm temps), I decided to create an overall color palette for each month.
So without further adieu, here is my Year in Polaroid:
January
For the first couple of weeks, I struggled to feel confident in this project. A lot of the photo work that I do is very much planned in advance and photographed with precision and attention to detail. I've never been great with instant cameras so I thought this project would be good practice for me to loosen up and get more comfortable with candidness. This first month overall feels much more thought out than I'd like the series to be, but I think it's just because it's new.
I found it difficult to toe the line between taking photos I would be proud of and letting them just exist as they are. Only taking one photo per day was giving me a bit of anxiety, so I gave myself room for error and opened it up to take as many as I'd like. I didn't want to be too rigid and only photograph for the project - there's merit to taking the photos I'd like to have for myself and going from there. I get more Polaroids to look back on, and it feels more personal to allow myself to be open with it.
It feels as though I'm beginning to hit my stride with the project and getting used to the technical aspects of shooting with a Polaroid. Analog is tricky for me because many of the techniques I shoot with do not translate. I like to shoot at lower exposures and enhance in editing - and boy did I learn fast how unfriendly the Polaroid is to low light exposures. I'm a little ashamed to admit how much film I've completely wasted with bad exposures. I also like to shoot wide and crop in post. Framing the shots properly is still something I trip up on, but this project is forcing me to be more intentional with my framing which is a great takeaway.
Color Palette
Outtakes
These are the ones that didn't make the cut for January. Now that I look back I'm not fully sure why I didn't end up choosing some, as I prefer them over what I ended up with. It's interesting to see where my points of insecurity are around the project. I've had this thought lingering in the back of my head that people will be looking at these eventually - so what did I want them to see? I think I over-curated and glossed over some great photos/moments.
February
February, for all intents and purposes, was a much more wild month than I anticipated. Things are starting to pick up again as the days get longer and life slowly starts to open back up. Now that I've settled into the project I feel less like I'm curating and much more fluid and honest. I'm shooting less and enjoying the process more with less anxiety and scrutiny to "get it right." I'm beginning to look at it with a sense of fondness over my days vs an assignment I need to complete.
One thing I wasn't anticipating was incorporating partial nudity in the series. It's not something I've ever really done with my work and to be honest, was a complete accident as the Polaroid shoots wider than what you see in the viewfinder, so clearly I'm still locking down framing. I feel a ping of discomfort when I think of these photos in the final part of this series on display and have gone back and forth about whether or not I want to include them or censor them. For now, the series is just for me and I'm trying to keep photographing through that lens. It is real and unfiltered and I have no idea what my feelings will be a year from now.
Color Palette
Outtakes
There were too many good Polaroids to choose from this month and I truly cherish all that made it into the series along with the outtakes. February has shaped up aesthetically to match the vision I had in my head for this series.
March
It's amazing how much more I enjoy shooting this series when life opens up a little. I feel like I'm in more of a place where I can just roll with it and not worry about how the project is coming together. Feeling that way and looking back on the month makes me a little more fond of it. Less curated, more lived.
Color Palette
