My Polaroid Land Camera from Antarctica
Everyone loves a good back story, right? My Polaroid Land 250 appears to have some kind of story. I’m not sure of all the details but a little sticker and a few clicks on Google gave my imagination enough to “zone out” on, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty styles. The story probably isn’t that dramatic but I thought the little camera deserved a write-up anyway, alongside some of the gorgeous photos (these were shot at the same time as the Ektachrome 100 blog post).
The Camera
You can see a whole video about the camera and how it works here: The Best Polaroid Land Camera. I got super inspired about instant film one day, took a gamble on Trade Me and got mine for about $25. It came with the cover, manual, and even the old “cold clip” for keeping the film warm while it develops before you peel. The battery holder still had an ancient 4.5V battery in it so it was all corroded and the camera didn’t fire. I removed the holder, cleaned out the compartment and managed to successfully solder in a 3x AAA battery holder out of one of the unused kids torches.
It was at this time that I noticed this little sticker on the cover (see below). I looked up the “Department of Scientific and Industrial Research” on Wikipedia which informed me that the Antarctic Division of the DSIR was what became “Antarctica New Zealand” in 1996 <- click/tap that link to read the full history of the organisation.
“Antarctica New Zealand is an Institute set up by the Government of New Zealand in 1996 to manage its interests in Antarctica and the Ross Sea. As well as providing logistics support to a large scientific program, it also runs bases such as Scott Base.”
Obviously, my mind went straight to imagining the camera on epic expeditions to Scott Base and the South Pole. The reality is, I have no idea what the Antarctic Division of the DSIR did with Polaroid cameras, if they even used them in Antarctica, or when they would have owned this one. The Land 250 was only produced from 1967 until 1969 (when it was replaced by the 350) so that gives us a rough window to start with. Maybe following this blog post I will see if I can dig up more information on the use of these cameras?
The Film
This camera uses the now (very sadly) discontinued Fujifilm FP100C. None of the major film producing companies manufacture film for these cameras anymore (not even Polaroid), though SuperSense have created a new type of peel-apart packfilm called One Instant to at least give people something to shoot through their otherwise-defunct cameras. It is a beautiful film and I’m sad that it isn’t available anymore. I have one pack left! It is a super magical process, take a look at this quick video of my subjects peeling their own photos!
The Scanned Photos
Part of my joy in shooting this camera was being able to let people walk away with a physical photo in their hand. This means I don’t have the portraits I shot for our friends and family like the ones you see in the video (I did keep the negatives when practical) but what I do have left is a little stack of summer keepsakes that we can flip through! These big and beautiful Polaroids were a very special way to document our summer trip, along with the Ektachrome positive film. With both of these mediums my kids will not need any technology to relive these memories in the future - only light to illuminate them, hands to hold them, and eyes to look at them.
You can see our scanned Polaroid “keepsakes” in the order they were taken below.
Let me know your thoughts about Polaroids, positive film, or documenting special moments in the comments.
-Sam
