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20" x 24" Polaroid Camera  Since its introduction in 1978 the 20" x 24" Polaroid camera has been recognized as one of the most unique and creative photography tools available. Originally developed to accurately reproduce works of art, especially paintings and tapestries, the camera was soon used as a creative tool to make original photographs. Early practitioners included Chuck Close, Ansel Adams, Olivia Parker, and William Wegman. Only 3 cameras exist, currently located at special studios in San Francisco, New York City, and Prague.When the camera was first developed, the prototype weighed in at 600 pounds, featured a barber chair support as its tripod, and was completely immobile. But today the 20x24 stands 5-feet high, has been trimmed down to a mere 235 pounds, given wheels, swings, tilts and rising fronts.  So how did I get to use it? In 1992 I received a scholarship through the California State University Summer Arts Program to work on it. The camera was flown from New York to Humboldt State University (in California) and each participant was allowed three hours to photograph work we had been experimenting with for the last week.Because the camera has a maximum depth of field of only 18 inches, the fabricated sets had to be constructed with this limitation in mind. In my images, the use of special lighting, including the use of projected text, posed additional challenges. My final photographs required an unusual exposure time of over 8 minutes, the longest they'd ever tried. After exposure, the film is cut from the camera and fully develops in just over a minute producing extremely detailed images with vibrant colors. For more information you can visit http://www.polaroid.com/studio/20x24/ |
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