polaroid roundup

Fall Polaroid Week 2020 Roundup | Urizen Freaza

Dear FSC friends, this is Urizen Freaza.

This is the 5th or 6th time that Film Shooters Collective in their infinite generosity (and patience, as it always takes me a while) has asked me to do a Polaroid Week roundup. And I love it every, single, time. Because it’s an excuse to discover new polaroid artists, and the pictures I see feed my brain and my soul through my eyes. Every time, I write a little text raging about how cool Polaroid Week, and how fantastic the community behind it are.

This time I have to come up with something new to say. So this time I want to explain why I love this medium. Without fancy words, clear and simple: because you can touch it, and because it’s expensive. Let me elaborate on this non-sense.

Everything we see will disappear. Every moment we live is fleeting between our fingers. The look of a loved one, the light hitting that glass piece, the taste of your grandma’s sweets. They won’t be there in one second, one month, a hundred years from now. I can’t think of a more human impulse that to hold that moment. Imagine pressing these moments into a 8.8 by 10.7 centimeters square that collects all these perceptions and feelings into an object that you can touch and take (take!) with you. Something that won't be deleted once this hard-drive crashes. Something that will survive. I believe Polaroids were made for this.

And that’s the power of instant film, and that’s why people start using it. And then we pay ~20$ for 8 shots. And not all of them are great. And you can’t throw them away, how could you?! These are pieces of reality, magic talismans that trapped a memory, a look, a smell. So you soak them, cut them open, lift them, sew them, burn them… squeeze as much as you can out of them. Instant film photographers are in many occasions rather instant film artists. The image is just a starting point. It’s one of the most experimental communities I know of. And I believe that’s the power of the medium, that it lives right between reality and manipulation.

Here's a humble, heterogeneous and imperfect roundup of the photos submitted to Film Shooters Collective and the ones tagged as #fscpolaroid on Instagram during Fall Polaroid Week 2020. Please go check the artist's profiles, and if you like what you see, follow them and show them love in any way you can. And most importantly, check out the Polaroid Week pool on Flickr, on Twitter, and on Instagram for the full picture!

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Urizen Freaza was born in Tenerife in 1982 and is since 2010 based in Berlin. He's a self-taught photographer and film-maker. Self-taught meaning that this is a path he's still walking, while hoping there is always more path to walk. He's a member of the Film Shooters Collective and part of the team behind the analogueNOW! festival in Berlin. See more of his work on his website and on Instagram.

Fall Polaroid Week Roundup | Urizen Freaza

Dear FSC friends, this is Urizen Freaza.

Roid Week was over a month ago, so this roundup is kind of coming quite late... But like with a tasteful meal, you shouldn't rush with Roid Week. Twice a year i discover new instant photographers and see what the old pals have been up to. It is a gathering, if only online, of my tribe. The people who understand why I look at an instant photo rolling out of a camera and see magic. For six days our community shows and shares.

Why is that important? Because, my friends, we instant photographers are strange. We complain and we compare what we have to something that no longer exists. We hate and we are easily outraged. Sometimes so much so that one would think the magic of the image rolling out of the camera is no longer the most important part of the whole deal. Not everyone, not all the time. And definitely... not on Roid Week!

It's important because what we perceive as materials for that magic, is what profit-driven companies call product. I'm not saying 'fortunately' or 'unfortunately', it's just so. So if there is a future for us, it will only happen if we show these companies that we are plenty.

Twice a year I see what the old pals have been up to. But more importantly, i discover new artists working on the medium. And that's future. So if this medium is important to you, share it. Share your love for it, share your work, share your knowledge. Or all three things at once.

Here's a roundup of the photos submitted to Film Shooters Collective and the ones tagged as #fscpolaroid on instagram during Roid Week. Please go check the artist's profiles, and if you like what you see, follow them and show them love. And more importantly, check the Roid Week pool on Flickr, on Twitter, and on Instagram .

Connect

Urizen Freaza was born in Tenerife in 1982 and is since 2010 based in Berlin. He's a self-taught photographer and film-maker. Self-taught meaning that this is a path he's still walking, while hoping there is always more path to walk. He's a member of the Film Shooters Collective and part of the team behind the analogueNOW! festival in Berlin. See more of his work on his website and on Instagram.