I went to Central Park summer 2014 to sell my art which is of musicians that perform in Central Park. After four years of taking photos of them it was time to share them. As I was leaving my apartment to come to the park with all my stuff I thought it would be a good idea to bring my Polaroid camera.
My thinking was that I could charge people for photos to attract them to the table and hopefully purchase and get interested in my art.
Within a month the Polaroids took off and my friend Gleb came to the park to support me and he saw potential with what I was doing. After about a month I said to myself that in taking the pictures I was coming in contact with people from all over the world. I got to take their picture and talk to them briefly and they went on with a Polaroid memory of Central Park. It became obvious to me that being at the tripod I was in a unique scenario where I could see the world come to me. Where in the world could you be at one point and have people from everywhere come to you and in a social manner? I had created it without setting out to do so.
My idea was to document these people by taking a black and white film picture after they have taken their Polaroid and have them hold it in that picture. I told Gleb that I was going to make a project out of it. I had no intention of giving it an audience at that time I just wanted to shoot them. Gleb said right away we have to do a community Facebook page. So we did it and called it Central Park Polaroids. I would shoot rolls of film send them off to be developed then Gleb was in charge of managing the page and the posting of the photos. I would tell people it won't go up right away as I have to shoot off the roll and the developing takes a little time. In this age of instant photo gratification we would get people messaging the page the day after they had been in the park asking where their photo was. My response was it is still in the camera.
I was very sad when their were errors on my part or camera malfunctions which caused rolls to be lost forever. The moments captured in those lost shots can never be duplicated and those people might never come back to the park. I have taken measures to prevent more problems but when you don't know right away their is always some doubt.
Season 2015 I discussed with Gleb doing a video for You Tube showing what we doing in the park. Gleb thought it was a great idea to do something like that. Eventually after some discussions we said an interview with people who have had a Polaroid would be much better. Thus we came up with some questions to probe people about the park and the value of a Polaroid picture.
There are about 5000 pictures so far and about 500 interviews. The one thing about the interviews that has made an impression on me is that I have taken people through an experience. It is not just a Polaroid photo taking service. A person will look at their picture and not just remember the moment but all the other elements I have introduced that come with the memory of that photo.
I hope Gleb and I can impart in our Polaroid people the importance of Central Park and the great value of a physical Polaroid picture can have upon ones memory in life. The physical experience is something we are loosing and Central Park Polaroids can remind you of the great importance of that in our lives.
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