Camera Number Five

This is my Polaroid camera. It's not quite as romantic as my Mom's.

The body is plastic as opposed to metal... It doesn't have quite the heft or gravitas. From what I remember the film didn't seem quite as dangerous and toxic.

But it's a Polaroid so it still holds some charm.

Camera Number Four

This is my Mom's Polaroid. She used it while my brother and I were young to document our early years.

I remember how she used to have to wait for the image to develop before she could pull the print away from the chemical part. She also used a rubbing stick on the prints which, as a child I never really understood but I always thought it was cool.

This was my early introduction to photography. Although I never got to use this camera as a child, Mom did allow me to experiment with it when I was a teen. My mom is cool like that.

They don't make the film for this kind of camera anymore. That's one of the sad side-effects of progress. I do still have a lot of the prints my mom made with this camera.... Those family documents are priceless to me.