Portrait of an Artist......

Marlene thought I was crazy as I made a mad rush toward a gentleman standing on the street in Mexico. While most would have seen a simple man standing with a camera. I saw an artist holding a Polaroid Land Camera Model 210! I immediately paid him for a photo of Marlene and watched as he carefully focused through the focusing screen and snapped the photo. I then impatiently waited as he ripped the film from the camera and waited for development. Land Cameras use film which folds together after the exposure. After a few minutes you can peel the film back and reveal your instant photo! As we waited for the film to develop he was so excited to tell me how he wanted the Polaroid model which you could manually adjust the shutter speed and aperture and for $1 an hour he could go to the Internet cafe and look at all the Polaroid cameras for sale on the Internet. It made me realize how blessed I am, as I have a Polaroid 110a with the PolaPack conversions at home. (From back in the day when I used to check lighting for my Hasselblad....waaaaay before digital, and I haven't touched it about six years - but that's about to change) and how I was standing there with full Internet service on my phone. We sometimes get so wrapped up in what we don't have, that we don't take note of what we do have.

As he stapled our photo into the cheesy folder, I was thinking how many portraits, how many moments this man has captured. I really envy the simplicity of his art! He left an impression on me for a reason I can't fully explain, but I do know that he was the best part of our short trip to Mexico. I am already making plans with Marlene to go back down there and ask to do a photo essay about him.

Before we left I asked if I could take his portrait, he said "sure, but I don't have any money to pay you!" Too classic!


My Polaroid portrait:



His Polaroid Portrait: