When the instax became popular a few years back and everyone seemed to have one, I was a bit apprehensive about owning one and using it to create work, however 2019 was a turning point with me and this camera, as I decided to use it in one of my university briefs. For this brief I decided I wanted to test my confidence and work on my communication skills. I went around Manchester’s northern quarter and asked several strangers who I thought looked interesting, as I did this, I realised many subjects were a similar age to me. During this project I took polaroids of the locations I found my subjects.
During the first lockdown I had a few polaroids left over from the previous shoot, which just so happened to be the Manchester shoot. I decided to take it on a walk and captured an interesting portrait of my friend but also of the wildflowers around us on that walk, that seemed so unaffected by the lockdown.
[image: by Elizabeth Medling]
I have planned to use polaroids again, for what purpose I do not know as of yet but I will share some of my favourites as soon as I have taken them.
The instax is simple to use and is a point and shoot camera. You can adjust the dial to suit your light sources temperature. A red light on the dial usually indicates what colour temperature you need, you spin the dial to the red light, focus on your subject then shoot. Do be warned if the location is not bright enough or you have loaded the film the wrong way the polaroid will turn out blank. When you first load the film click the shutter and the plastic from the film will come out, this means that your film is now ready to be exposed.
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