India with my favorite camera: Polaroid 600SE
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. - Arthur C. Clarke
It was a a couple of years ago, when I got the change of getting such an amazing piece of engineering. This post is to present a series of pictures I took with my favorite camera: the Polaroid 600SE. This fine instrument belongs to the so-called cathegory of Press Cameras, rugged and reliable, targetted for professional photographers, reporters, insurance agents, and so on. It produces a one-and-unique picture that could not be tampered with.
The Polaroid 600SE is a very special version of a press camera since it was intended to be used with professional instant film, called peel-apart instant film, or Type 100; a marvel of mechanical and chemical engineering that works as a complete darkroom inside a cardboard sleeve that develops and finishes a color picture in 60 seconds. The process is oddly satisgying: You peel off the photo from the sleeve like a sticker. But it is also a socializing tool: people gets maravelously mesmerized with such a camera, while having possibility of taking and giving away beautiful pictures. Actually, I gave away more than half the pictures I took.
This film was produced between 1960 and 2016, by both Polaroid and Fujifilm. When production stopped, millions of peel-apart cameras (either professional or consumer-level) were left completely orphan. Fortunately, a company in Viena is trying to revive the film format.
By the time I knew about the format, the last production run was being shipped. Luckily, I found the camera exactly when I stumbled upon a classified ad advertising some 2012-expired Fuji FP100C peel-apart film: I bought the camera and extinted film at the same time.
After some time I got the possibility to go to India to do an internship in Karunya University, near Coimbatore - Tamil Nadu. I loaded my camera and 10 packs of film - and boy I was happy with that camera!
Here is a collection of some of my favorite pics I took in India with this camera.
