Hipster? Me?

"What's that?" I said to my niece on Christmas Day.

"Oh, I got this for Christmas. It's a Polaroid camera." she replied while looking at a developing photo of our Christmas tree. 

Me: "Really? A Polaroid? That's cool. I've been thinking about getting one for myself. What are you going to use it for?"

Niece: "These are great for Smash Books. The size of the photos fit perfectly."

Me: "I'm so happy you liked the Smash Book." (Side note: Smash books and accessories were last years Christmas gifts, yay me!)

 

Fast forward to this past week. I'm walking through my local Walmart and decide yo go look in the camera department, again. Every so often I go take a peek at the Fuji Instax Mini hanging in the bubble packaging. Today was different, today I saw a price break. I picked it up, looked it over, then put it back. Do I? Don't I? I have a number of cameras and lenses. Why would I go back to this old technology? Maybe not today, I'll think about it some more. Awe heck, for the price, I might as well get it. It's going to be so much fun! Added bonus, the film packs were on sale.

 

 In today's digital world, we all just click away. Taking hundreds of photos of everything we come into contact with, meals, drinks, temperature gauges in our cars. We have cameras in our phones. Good quality cameras. So good that my daughter won a photography contest with a photo she took on her iPhone. Everyone takes photos of everything without even thinking. When I was growing up, it was kind of a big deal to take a picture. You had, 12, 24 or 36 frames to use at a time. We used them wisely as the film cost money, then the developing and printing cost more money. Then you had to wait to shoot through the roll. It could takes months before you saw if any of the photos were good.

I'm just as guilty as the rest of you. Heck, the same day I bought the camera I snapped this photo for a funny Facebook post regarding the news reporting a possible Velveeta shortage for the Super Bowl.

 

So I got my new camera loaded and started taking photos of different subjects. Figuring out the lighti settings, what subjects work best, how close you can get to subjects. At first, I wasn't too impressed. I've been spoiled by the quality of digital cameras. I was expecting this camera to work like my other cameras. I was expecting the same quality with a vintage feel. I was wrong in my thinking. 

This led me to researching the camera on the internet. I wanted to find out what the camera is best used for, as clearly it was not great for overcast, late afternoon, outdoor, snow scenes. It was during this research that I discovered I am a "hipster" for owning this camera. Me? A hipster? I'm pretty sure I'm about 20 years late to being considered a hipster. Plus, I don't have the wardrobe. My vintage clothing is really not vintage, just old. I am proud to say, I don't wear "mom jeans". But not wearing " mom jeans" does not make me a hipster.

So what is this camera good for? Candid shots of people. I snapped these 2 photos at the swim meet today. All the kids were fascinated by the camera and the instant print. Plus they love the vintage look.

 

These cameras are being used at weddings for photo guest books created right on site. I'm planning on using this for a travel journal on our next vacation. A family reunion would be good. You could create an instant family tree. ( I just now thought up the idea.) I'm confident I will discover many more uses for this camera. So join this middle-aged, hipster mom on my Fuji Instax camera journey. 

Smile. Say cheese!