Top: February 1972 // Polaroid 110 Land Camera
Above: December 2007 // Nikon D70s, Nikkor 35-70 f/3.5-5.6
Above: December 2007 // Nikon D70s, Nikkor 35-70 f/3.5-5.6
Mom celebrated a milestone birthday late last year, and I was tasked with putting together a slideshow for her party. Revisiting hundreds of images from family archives unlocked a lot of emotions. Now, I deeply appreciate how important it is to document even the most benign moments because they never can be recreated. My Dad's documentary dedication is evident in binders full of slides and negatives that I'm slowly studying and scanning for sharing with the family. Curiously, the experience triggered a hunt for images that have remained with me my entire life, like the one above of my Mom and me. When I inquired about the shot, she said she didn't remember it. But I found it in an album last night, discovering for the first time that it was a Polaroid. Dad shot occasionally with a 110 Land Camera (I wish he still had it) and each of the emulsions remains as pristine as it was the moment he peeled the paper. This one is only now beginning to delaminate, but the image is in tact. The day we built the snowman is much like our recent weather. I'm upset because I probably felt like the weather that February afternoon—cold, wet, miserable. But, despite the tears, I made something with Mom that I'm sure was intended as a welcome home gift for Dad when he returned from a long day at work. If he hadn't grabbed the camera and made an exposure, who knows if I still would remember?
