Got myself instant camera

Guess who played too much Life is Strange? 👀🙃 This is my new camera: Polaroid Flip.

I'm not an avid photographer, although I appreciate the medium. In Tallinn, we have at least two photography museums that I visit several times a year. I always find two or three captivating pictures I can connect with. It's difficult to describe, but probably everyone has had this feeling, when a photo or a painting suddenly seems very personal and intimate.

In the era of digital photography, this form of art became mundane. I can take a hundred pictures on a day trip and never share any of them because they aren't good enough. Even if they are, I know they'll look like crap on a small phone screen, cropped and compressed by Instagram. And there are tens of thousands of photos like that sitting in my iCloud. I myself won't ever look at them again!

I don't mean to chastise digital cameras and smartphones. It's just that to me, a digital picture has to be perfect - like those stunning images we see online. Naturally, that's not a level I can reach. Skill issue, I know.

Which is probably why I got this idea to obtain an instant camera. The photos they produce are imperfect by design, and those flaws give them a certain charm. It's impossible to create something like this with Polaroid, so there is no pressure to try. Moreover, these cameras leave physical artifacts I can put somewhere or give to someone. Sure, you can print a digital picture too, but the same search for a perfect image to print out comes up all over again.

With film, you get what you get. Just a piece of memorabilia. At least for me, that takes the pressure off producing something more than just a photo.

PS: Fun fact! Instant photos aren't, in fact, instant. It takes 15-30 minutes for them to develop.