Snapixel

magazine issue 8

analogue
November/December 2010
 Contents
06 The Cult of Photography
10 In the Age of Kodachrome
26 Mosaic of a Life
38 Hotels and Hostels
46 The Russians are Coming
52 Analogue Explorations
62 Q&A

02
02 II


Snapixel Magazine
Snapixel
I TheMagazine
Ne w Documentarian
I Analogue I I 03
03
 Editor
Kaitlyn Ellison

Art Director
Adam Oliver

Writer/
Copyeditor
Robin LAm

Contributing
Photographers:
Parker Fitzgerald
SEan GIn
denis Khripyakov
Jamie Livingston
MAtt Powers
Steven richmond
Piper Robbins

04 I
 I learned about the discontinuation of Kodachrome in a photography class
my senior year of college. It was a class about experimental photographic
processes —an exploration of the dying arts of photography. That semester I
shot Kodachrome for the first time, as well as large-format polaroid film —after
it had already been discontinued. I also did a project on gum printing (an art
that involves mixing watercolor paint with gum arabic and potassium dichro-
mate). That semester was one of the most frustrating of my life —I spent hours
on these projects and never did end up making a print I liked.

My experience with outdated technologies perhaps mirrors that of other

photographers: it was irritating, time-consuming, expensive, and impracti-
cal. Yet, all of this frustration did not stop me from loving analogue photog-
raphy. There’s a sense of adventure and impermanence. Working with film
is infinitely more unpredictable than digital —there are so many things that
can go wrong. So just in time for the final month of Kodachrome develop-
ing, this issue of Snapixel Magazine is dedicated to honoring the films that
have attracted such cult-like followings. For those who haven’t seen much
film photography before, I hope you find something that you would like to
try yourself. For all my fellow cult-followers, I hope this issue brings back
memories of your own trials and errors with analogue. Either way, enjoy!

Kaitlyn

Cover: September 5th, 1985, by Jamie Livingston

P. 2-3: Pyongyang, North Korea, by Steven Richmon
P. 4-5: Image by Denis Khripyakov

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 05

 The cult of
Photography
Mama always said
there was never a
party that didn’t
end. Just like col-
lege, Harry Potter,
and the SUPER NES,
some things just
can’t last forever.
But still, it’s a little sad.    next year.
When Kodak announced last
summer that they were stopping
production of their signature Ko-
dachrome film, a collective wail
emerged from the throats of old-
school photographers around the
world. Following on the heels of
Polaroid’s discontinuation in 2008,
Kodachrome’s end was the inevi-
table result of digital photography’s
increasing popularity.
Kodachrome was known for its
vivid and vibrant colors and was a
gold standard among professional
photographers in the early days of
color photography. It is perhaps
most famous for the image ‘Afghan
Girl,’ shot by Steve McCurry for
the cover of a National Geographic
issue in 1985. The girl’s piercing
06 I
By Robin Lam, Photographs by Sean Gin
sea-green eyes seemed to jump out
from a muted palette of earthy reds
and blues, enrapturing the world
outside of war-torn Afghanistan
and catapulting Kodachrome to
fame. In fact, McCurry was given
the very last roll of Kodachrome
film ever made, the contents of
which will become part of a Na-
tional Geographic documentary
The film was admired for its color
reproduction, smooth tonal range,
and dark storage properties. It was
developed in 1935, only seven years
after the first television set and was a
revolution in color photography—
by far the highest quality color film
you could get for many years. But
by the time the decision to end pro-
duction was made, Kodak reported
that Kodachrome had fallen to less
than one percent of the company’s
total still-picture film sales.
Film enthusiasts received a simi-
lar punch in the gut in 2008
when Polaroid announced that it
was shutting down production of
its eponymous instant film. The
iconic square, white-bordered pho-
tographs, which captured bits and
pieces of our society since 1948, be-
came the quintessential symbol of
the easy and happy-go-lucky Amer-
ican family life. Family gatherings,
vacations, daily life, your dog—ev-
erything became an instant artifact
once it was on film. You were never
sure how they’d come out; there
was no previewing or going back to
edit and crop before printing, you
got what you took.
Though digital cameras can show a
picture right after you take it, you
can’t touch it, hold it, or watch
the magic of film developing in
front of your eyes. When you dig
through messy closets and stumble
upon shoeboxes filled with old
photographs of frowning babies,
retro Christmases, and forgotten
acquaintances, your eyes immedi-
ately light up like you’ve found a
hidden treasure. That doesn’t hap-
pen when you find a memory card
lying around.
It’s true that Polaroid photos would
fade, that their colors were often
off, and that they sometimes had
streaks running through them,
but looking back, that was part of
their appeal. The faded and slightly
 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 07
 blurry Polaroid images invoke a far-
away and romantic feeling similar
to that of happy childhood memo-
ries—whether you actually had any
or not.
Today’s digital cameras undoubt-
edly ease the photographic process,
allowing us to view, edit, and evalu-
ate what we photograph as we go.
Large sensors allow us to capture an
amazing amount of information in
extremely low light situations—an
impossibility on film—all while
saving a whole lot of money that
would’ve been spent on buying,
developing, and printing film. Yet
the crystal clear results that digital
can bring us is having a backlash
among some who feel that digital is
too perfect for their tastes. Along-
side the demise of Kodachrome and
Polaroids, there’s been a resurgence
in popularity of toy cameras such as
Holgas and Lomos. These plastic
cameras, by all means unsophisti-
cated and somewhat poorly made,
are loved for their off-kilter expo-
sure, blurry results, over-saturated
colors, streaking, and “happy ac-
cidents.” Leaks and low-quality
lenses create blurred, glowy effects
that some enthusiasts liken to a
dreamy nostalgia, bringing to mind
similar emotions that surround the
use of Polaroids. The imperfect,
un-pristine quality of the images,
paired with the novelty of using
film in a digital age, have made toy
cameras popular again for the first
time since they were introduced in
the 1960s.
Ironically, the popularity of the
toy-camera-film-look has been
08 I
furthered in recent months by digi-
tal platforms such as Hipstamatic,
Instagram, DailyBooth, and PicPlz.
iPhone photography and mobile
photo sharing are the newest obses-
sion in social media, raking in avid
followers and million-dollar invest-
ments. With the ease of a swipe
and a touch, users can change their
virtual lenses, filters, flashes, and
film, shoot a ‘photo,’ and then up-
load them onto various social net-
working feeds for something like
a photo-Twitter effect. Filtering
programs like Instagram allow us-
ers to instantly see their picture un-
dergo a drastic artsy vintage-fying
change—perhaps a vignette here,
a splash of pink there, or scratches
and smudges throughout. The Ins-
tagram logo is even a small graphic
“Though digital cameras can show
a picture right after you take it, you
can’t touch it, hold it, or watch the
magic of film developing in front
of your eyes.”
of a Polaroid camera. Subtle? Not
so much.
Is this faux-nostalgia, or a sub-
conscious cry to a return of film
photography? Probably the former
(why go back to film when you can
create the same effect in digital?),
but it doesn’t hurt to hope.
We associate good times with
the past, the golden age. What’s
worth thinking about is why ‘real
vintage’ photos, like Polaroid and
Kodachrome, are cherished. It’s not
only because of the time, love, and
spontaneity that they originated in,
but because of the past that they
remind us of and the history that
we associate with them. In 10 or 20
years, there is no doubt that future
technological advances will make
even our current digital photog-
raphy look hokey and outdated.
There’s no need to rush the process
with premature aging program.
Though the majority of profession-
als have switched to digital photog-
raphy, the loss of Kodachrome and
Polaroid is similar to the feeling you
get when you go home for summer
break and find that your childhood
corner store—which was the only
place that sold your utmost favorite
old-school soda pop—shut down a
couple months before due to bad
business. No more soda pops, no
more film.
As we become increasingly digital
and film photography drifts further
into a niche filled only by enthusi-
asts, the rich history of these films
is worth recognizing and appreciat-
ing as we continue along our quick
march towards digital domination.    
 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 09
In the AGe of
Kodachrome
Photographer Steven Richmond embraces Kodachrome in its final days to explore the film
in its truest form: Travel Photography. Here we present images from North Korea, the Unit-
ed Kingdom, Syria, and Lebanon to show Kodachrome’s capacity for capturing the world.

By Robin Lam, Photographs by Steven Richmond

10 I
 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 11
 W
hen Kodak first introduced Koda-
chrome film in 1935, black and white
film was still the standard in everything
from family photos to magazine spreads. However, this new
film had several improvements over its predecessors which al-
lowed color film to become easy to use—it produced images
without the heavy grain of other color processes, could be en-
larged without losing detail, and was magnificently archival.
Significantly, it was much faster than other color films, allow-
ing photographers to compose and shoot spontaneously with-
out necessitating a tripod.
National Geographic magazine was the first to pioneer the use
of Kodachrome in 1937, sending out photographer W. Robert
Moore to shoot in Austria. With Kodachrome, Moore was able
to capture action photography—cattle herders leading their
cows—in color on 35mm film, something never accomplished
before. The vivid, "iridescen[t]" color was "just something that
color photographers had never dreamed of," a lab technician
stated in a retrospective book, The National Geographic Society:
100 Years of Adventure and Discovery.
Through the work of National Geographic photographers and
other publications, Kodachrome became strongly associated
with travel photography—exotic locales, beautiful scenery,
and moving photographs. By the time American tourism took
off in the 1950s, Kodachrome was the most commercially suc-
cessful color film in production. But as film and all its manual
labors were gradually eclipsed by digital photography, Koda-
chrome was hit especially hard because of its complicated and
precise production and processing demands. With a plum-
meting demand in the market and increasing costs in produc-
tion, Kodak was forced to retire the iconic film in 2009 saying
through a press release that “the majority of today's photog-
raphers have voiced their preference to capture images with
newer technology.”
Unsurprisingly, photographer Steven Richmond first discov-
ered Kodachrome film after he heard about its imminent re-
tirement. Born after the Baby Boom generation, Richmond
was drawn to the film as an opportunity to participate in
something historical. “When I looked into what Kodachrome
was, there was a lot of discussion about its iconic status and
historical significance,” he says. “Steve McCurry’s famous Af-
ghanistan photographs taken in the 1970s were shot using it
[and] I wanted to try it too, before it was too late.” Richmond
credits the vibrant colors that first attracted photographers to
the film in the 1930s as part of Kodachrome’s lasting appeal. “I
12 I
think the colors are quite saturated with Kodachrome. People
often talk about how the reds look really red. There’s some
truth in that. There’s a definite ‘look’ or aesthetic to the im-
ages, which you don’t get with modern color film or digital
photographs.”  However, he acknowledges certain advantages
of digital over an archaic film like Kodachrome. “Practically
speaking, it’s not a film I’d use for a lot of things. It’s quite dif-
ficult to shoot with [in comparison to] modern films.” 
This comment is telling and illustrates the extent to which
digital has replaced film in the past few decades. “Great images
can be captured using many mediums, whether that is film, a
digital sensor or a paintbrush,” Richmond emphasizes, declin-
ing to choose a preference between film and digital. “I think
it’s really up to the photographer to choose the medium that
suits them.” 
Nevertheless Richmond shows great subtlety and variation in
his recent Kodachrome work. His quiet, deliberate approach
brings to life seemingly mundane daily scenes, while loud
festive parades and circus scenes are captured from afar, qui-
etly imposing in their photographic symmetry as well as their
portrayal of the sheer magnitude and might of their subjects
(point in case: North Korea). “I [photograph] with an open
mind, not really formulating a narrative until I see and edit
my images,” Richmond says. “[In] a country like North Korea,
you don’t really have a lot of scope to deviate too far from what
you are presented with. The images I captured are hopefully
transparent to the viewer. I was being presented with a view,
and I recorded that.”
It makes sense that, with contraptions like the iPhone, the In-
ternet, and walking, talking, expression-capable robots from
Japan, honky-dory processes like Kodachrome would eventu-
ally become obsolete. But Richmond shows that even modern
photographers newly introduced to Kodachrome can produce
images with a distinctive aesthetic using the iconic film. “To
think that previous generations used this film because there
was nothing else, and that when it came out it was technol-
ogy at its best, really does put things into perspective,” he says
when pressed about his view of Kodachrome as inspiration.
But ultimately, photography—whether film or digital—is
about the exploration of a moment: “We all have a creative
side which I want to explore a bit more [as a photographer].
The ability to create a permanent record of a moment is quite
an allure that never goes away.”   
 Park of Spontaneous Dancing, Pyongyang, North Korea
,

Grand People’s Study House, Pyongyang North Korea

P. 10-11 The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Perofrmance Arirang, in

the Rungrado May Day Stadium, Pyongyang, North Korea

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 13

Kim Il-Sung Square, Pyongyang, North Korea
Above: Tory Political Conference, Manchester, England Below: Inside a 1970s Parliament that was built but never used, Edinburgh, Scotland

08 I
 Royal Navy Cadets in Trafalgar Square, London, England

“When I looked into what Kodachrome was, there was a lot of

discussion about its iconic status and historical significance. Steve
McCurry’s famous Afghanistan photographs taken in the 1970s
were shot using it [and] I wanted to try it too, before it was too
late.”

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 17

18 I
 “Communist Phil,” Ballymoney, Northern Ireland

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 19

At the Races, Beirut, Lebanon
 Tea with breakfast, Aleppo, Syria

“To think that previous generations used this film because there
was nothing else, and that when it came out it was technology
at its best, really does put things into perspective.”

22 I
 Below: Palmyra, Syria Above: Krak des Chevaliers (a Crusader fortress), Syria

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 09

Hotel, Beirut, Lebanon
26 I
 mosaic of a life
One photograph a
day. 18 years.

By Robin Lam, Photographs by Jamie Livingston

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 27

 Livingston and a friend lounging in the pool. The photograper is on the right.

28 I

Project 365 is something that most people in the photographic
community are familiar with. The rules are simple: Everyday for a
full year, take a photo of anything, anyone, anywhere. 
Most photographers who have tried this project can attest to how
difficult sustaining the endeavor actually is. Not to say that the pho-
tographing itself is hard—you could take 365 pictures of your cat
and it’d be a project—but that it’s much more difficult to find some-
thing different everyday that’s somehow meaningful and reflective
of your life at that given moment.  course you always get a few people who say, ‘Oh this is really neat,’
Even if you’re not particularly picky about your photographs or are
just one of those people who can snap a satisfactory photo at any
given time, there are plenty of potential problems that could weak-
en your resolve. Where do you store the photos? How do you organize
them? How do you remember to take them? Who’s gonna look at them?
What’s the point? Simply not getting bored of the project is itself
something of a challenge.
Now image doing this for 18 years. Without a digital camera. With-
out blogs, Facebook, or Flickr. That’s dedication.
Jamie Livingston (1956-1997) took a Polaroid every day for 18
years. From day one as a 22-year-old college student at Bard College
to the day he passed away on his 41st birthday, Livingston docu-
mented his hilarious, quirky, and sometimes tragic life with a Pola-
roid SX-70 camera.  on who he was with,” Crawford recalls of his friend. “He was really
When Livingston’s 6,000-plus photographs were first discovered
by an Internet blogger, the website hosting the photos weren’t even
intended for the general public to view. “[The project] was origi-
nally put online mostly as a convenience for a handful of friends
[who] were organizing it for a show at Bard College where Jamie
and I went to school,” says Hugh Crawford, one of Livingston’s best
friends and the main force behind the exhibition of the Photo of
the Day (P.O.D.) project. The exhibit itself consisted of an 8x120
foot wall covered with 8-foot by 24-inch panels of photograph print
outs. Though it was meant as part of the coordination effort for the
exhibition, to its early viewers, the website was a mysterious entity
that presented the photographic diary of an unnamed man—18
years of memories floating unhinged in cyberspace.
What started out as a project on a whim became a steadfast docu-
mentary of the emotional power of one man’s dedication to life,
friends, and New York City. Like an old stop-motion film, the im-
ages flash by your eyes one by one, and you can’t help but wonder
why you feel so moved. Individually, these Polaroids aren’t all works
of art. The resolution is low-quality, photos are blurred, and some
are taken about nothing at all. Yet since the Internet world discov-
ered Livingston’s P.O.D. in 2008, it has become a phenomenon,
spreading like fire through blogs around the world and picked up
by several major newspapers and news organizations. “It was very
much a surprise to me,” Crawford says about the popularity of Liv-
ingston’s work. “It was one of those things that sort of leaked out
somehow. The first thing I knew, all of a sudden all of my websites
had gone offline because my webhost had been overwhelmed by
traffic. In the first year or so, you’d suddenly get tens of thousands of
people in Amsterdam or in Belgium looking at it for some reason.”
People around the world were drawn to the photographs in different
ways, finding their own meaning in Livingston’s work.
“Apparently it’s really a big deal in China. [The Chinese] believe
things that happen on the days of their birth are very portentous,
sort of an omen. So what has happened is that Chinese young peo-
ple born between 1979 and 1997 look up the picture that was taken
on the date of their birth and put it on their blog. Then other people
see that and they go look up the day that they were born too, and of
and they go look at all six and a half thousand of them. Every so of-
ten there is this huge, huge, huge wave of traffic of people in China
who are looking at [the website]. That was as much of a surprise as
anything.”
Undoubtedly, part of the P.O.D.’s impact comes from the massive
scale of the project, but the real allure comes from images them-
selves—unabashedly simple, ordinary, and utterly mysterious. Who
was this man? Who are all these people and what are these photographs
for? Why are there accordians, elephants, and Fruit Loops? And when
you finally realize the true nature of the project: How crazy must this
guy have been to do this for 18 years?
Livingston himself was something of an enigma to even his close
friends. “One of the things that’s really interesting is that he seemed
to have a different personality, a different side of him depending
was sort of good at bringing a lot of people together and form-
ing a community around himself. He had an easy way of making
commitments to do things, which is one [reason] he was very loyal
to his friends. He would regularly host a Thanksgiving dinner for
all of his friends who were orphans—either actual orphans or just
people who were the New York City orphans who moved to NYC
Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 29
and weren’t in touch with anybody. A big
Thanksgiving dinner for all of his friends
who were estranged from their families in
one way or another.” As a photographer,
circus performer, filmmaker, MTV video
editor, cinematographer, and Mets fan, Liv-
ingston seemed to be a magnet for all sorts
of amusing and interesting things. But per-
haps the reason he was always in the thick
of things was simply that he appreciated life
more than average individual. “He had a suc-
cession of illnesses all the time that I knew
him,” Crawford explains. “He thought he
had colitis but it turns out he had Crohn’s
disease and was misdiagnosed for years and
years. In fact, the first time I met him he was
introduced to me as ‘somebody who wasn’t
expected to live through college.’ That may
be one of the reasons why there’s so much
intensity [in his work]. It was a matter of
living in the moment.”
Livingston’s photographs were for himself,
not to seek the admiration of others. His
carefree images lack the forced feel of pho-
tographs that are composed simply to grab
attention. Perhaps that shot of a half-eaten
baked potato was what he had for dinner one
night. Perhaps it meant something. Maybe
not. A bowl of cherries became as beauti-
ful as a work of art. Crawford recalls to me
a tradition in which every year Livingston
30 I
would run across mid-Manhattan with the
elephants from the Ringling Brothers Cir-
cus (apparently for some arcane reason the
trainers would walk the elephants through
the midtown tunnel and across 34th street
to Madison Square Garden at midnight).
“Word had gotten out that the night before
the first day of the circus, elephants would
run across town at midnight, so of course
there are a whole bunch of people that go
too. But I remember there’s at least one time
where we did [the elephant run] and I said
[to Livingston], is this gonna be the pho-
tograph of the day? And he said, ‘No no,
the sun was shining on this bag of potato
chips today so I did that instead.’” But to
many of Livingston’s admirers, this simplis-
tic trait in his photography was part of its
appeal. “Some of [the photographs] are just
breathtakingly beautiful. There’s a picture of
a bowl of cherries and [once] you look at
it, your mental, visual dictionary of what a
bowl of cherries looks like is pretty much
that because it’s just so perfect.”
In exploring and poring over Livingston’s
photographs, we unconsciously bring a part
of ourselves into the project as well—our
own ideas and lives become a reflection of
how we interpret his. Crawford himself feels
that there are two distinct reactions to Liv-
ingston’s work that illustrate a generational
divide with respect to how the P.O.D. proj-
ect is interpreted. “People in their 50s, but
his friends in particular, sort of look at it as
this incomplete life,” Crawford explains.
“He died on his 41st birthday, there’s so
much potential that didn’t happen—sort of
sense of loss and everything. The younger
generation, people in their 20s in particular,
see it as this amazing thing: ‘Gee, if I’m really,
really lucky I could have a life as cool as his.’
So for the younger generation it’s this sort of
an inspirational thing.”
“He never really talked about the project
but you could get the sense that it was ob-
viously really important to him,” Crawford
says. Four suitcases, one fruit crate, and
six and a half thousand meticulously la-
beled Polaroids could not have been made
to satisfy a simple whim. Livingston didn’t
try to convince you that he was somebody.
His photographs merely show us what was
ordinary in his life, which has now become
extraordinary to ours. We are drawn to his
project because these images are what make
up real life. Ordinary unimportant things,
friends, and random events. This endeavor
speaks to us on a very basic intuitive level
because in his hopes, struggles and joys, we
see reflections of ourselves and are reminded
of the passion with which we hope to live
our lives.
 “Why are so many complete strangers drawn to this
project? There’s some sort of ambiguity to it, like the
expression of the Mona Lisa. In some ways it’s really
easy to read what’s going on, but you’re bringing so
much of yourself to it to figure it out.”
- Hugh Crawford

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 31

 1979
1980

1982

1981

September 8th
32 I
 We liked the idea of choosing one day in
the year to trace Jamie’s life between 1979
and 1997. The following photographs were
all taken on September 8th of their respec-
tive years. Can you find a story in them?

1983

1984

1985

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 33

 1986

1990

1991

34 I
 1988
1989

1987

1993

1992

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 35

 “People in their 50s, but his friends in particular, sort of look at it as this
incomplete life. [But] the younger generation, people in their 20s in par-
ticular, see it as this amazing thing: ‘Gee, if I’m really, really lucky I could
have a life as cool as his.’”

1994

36 I
 1996

1997

1995

To see the entire Photo of the Day project, visit:

photooftheday.hughcrawford.com

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 37

 H o t e ls
a n d
HOstels

38 I
 Surveying temporary living spaces and shooting with 120 film,
photographer Matt Powers shows us the possibilities when
working with squares.

Explore the transitory life with images from the Rush Lake Motel of
Gainsville, Florida and the USA Hostel of San Francisco, California,
to the Homeplus Hostel in Budapest.

Yashica Mat - 124, 6x6 on 120 film

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 39

40 I
 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 41
42 I
 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 43
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 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 45
The
Russians
are Coming
photos by Denis Khripyakov
illustrations by kaitlyn ellison

That is
Russian
Cameras,
48 I
 Not only do films have cult followings, but Cameras do too.

In this case, it’s the russians - Photographer Denis

Khripyakov shows us the particular style of the

Largest country in The world.

“I try and take photographs as much as possible. Each shot is in the moment
- in a time when I can really feel something, and when I want to keep that
feeling. I press down the shutter because I can, because I have to - it is as
necessary for my life as breathing is. I shoot the ordinary objects in life,
whether it be a lonely horse on a sour russian field or the Post-Soviet lost
and destroyed design. I see in them new life - pure and simple.”
-Denis Khripyakov

FED 5 Zenit-E Belomo Vilia

 “This is my Dad. He had just gotten that hot tub and was really proud of it.
Hasselblad
This picture IS my father. I wouldn’t explain to anyone through words who
Kodak 400 NC my father is, I would just show them this photo. That’s what I am as a photog-
rapher—this is what I strive to do with my work. I try to capture the perfect
fraction of a second. In my opinion, this was that moment.”

52 I
 Photographer
Piper Robbins
Writer
De Blennis

Photographer Piper Robbins shoots

only in film. She shows us a selection
of her portfolio here, hand-selected
images accompanied by captions
written by De Blennis.

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 53

 Hasselblad

Pro Color Fuji 800

“I started to become obsessed

with the way water and light inter-
act. The color here was perfect,
and the image is a happy accident
that captures that interaction.”

54 I
 Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 55
56 I
 Hasselblad

Pro Color Fuji 800

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 57

58 I
 “This is one of the few times I used a tripod. I never really used one in school, Mamiya RB67
which I got a lot of flak for. I find my camera is constrictive anyway, because
of the weight and waist finder—a tripod just makes it more cumbersome.” Expired Provia 100

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 59

60 I
 Mamiya RB67

Expired Provia 100

“The film was given to me as a

donation. In school, my teach-
ers gave me bags of film just
because they knew how dedi-
cated I was to film. This image
is a product of that—I shot it for
an editorial class”

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 61

Polaroids,
Philosophy
& THeology
Putting a new twist on
an old idea, photogra-
pher Parker Fitzgerald’s
‘365 Polaroid Quotes’ com-
bines beautiful photogra-
phy with pithy quotations
for a coffee-table-book-
worthy collection of in-
spirational images.

Interviewed by Robin Lam.

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Q&A
Parker ftizgerald
What was your goal for this project?  a Polaroid Automatic 100 sometime
I found myself without any projects at
the start of the year and wanted to do
something meaningful that would pro-
vide me with a design problem to solve
each day. I originally wanted to draw
something every day as the basis for the
project, but photography won out be-
cause it was quicker.
Why Polaroids?
I decided to use Polaroids almost on
a whim. At the end of last year, I was
fairly bored with digital photography
and wanted to do something different.
As luck would have it, I had purchased
64 I
earlier in the year and picked it up last
December and started shooting with it.
Things evolved from there. I mainly use
a Polaroid 195 now.
How did you decide to add text to
your photographs?
I’ve always cared about philosophy and
theology and the bigger questions of
life. I have always had a desire to share
that interest with others. This was a
small way in which I could bring more
explicit meaning to my photos. None of
the quotes are my own. All of the quotes
are from people I find inspiring in one
way or another.
What significance does this project
hold for you?
This project means a lot and means a
little. On the one hand, it’s ‘just some-
thing I to do,’ but in a lot of ways, it’s
actually come to define me. I’ve really
poured a lot of myself into this proj-
ect, from finding the film to investing
in the cameras and searching for decent
quotations. My interest in Polaroids has
also branched out into other film types.
I love medium format and 35mm now
because I picked up Polaroid first. I’m
not sure what I’ll do after this is all over,
though, I still have a whole fridge full
of film.
 How do you think your experiences with
this project and creating these images
have changed you? 

Things have changed significantly for me.

The photos aren’t always my favorite and
the typography isn’t something I’m always
proud of, but just the discipline of having
to make sure something gets done for every
day in the year has had so many positive
implications in my everyday life. Most of
my Polaroids get done late at night after I’ve
laid aside my commitments for the day and
finally have time to read through quotes for
awhile. By then, I’m usually tired and want
to just go to bed. It’s done wonders for my
self-discipline to bust through that feeling
everyday and get that last bit of work done
before I turn in.

That discipline transfers to so many differ-
ent things—my regular work life, how easy
it is for me to get myself up in the morning,
and even how long I let myself sit in the
shower, etc. As someone who’s worked for
the last few years as a full-time freelancer,
discipline is everything. There’s no work
schedule forcing you to get up at 7am, no
boss who’s going to ride your back to get
the work done. It’s just you, the client, and
no safety net. I consider doing the Polaroid
quote like my daily mental trip to the gym.
What makes your project different from
other 365 Day projects?
I’m not so certain how to answer that, ac-
tually. I didn’t really set out to be different
than everyone else, per-se. I just wanted to
create a practice exercise for myself. I sup-
pose it’s different than most simply because
the project involves 365 different Pola-
roids. The film is hard enough to come by
without committing to use so much of it
on something like this. The types of quotes
I use are also a little different. There are a
lot of photos-and-text type things going
around these days, but I don’t always tend
to find those very intellectually interesting.  had a very cursory interest in cameras
Sappy, overly-romantic phrases can only go
so far, I guess. I try to use words that hope-
fully spark an interest in people to think
deeper about the lasting and meaningful
things in life.
What has been the reaction to this proj-
ect?
The project has been received far better
than I had hoped—a lot of the Polaroids
have been spread over blogs and Tumblrs
and the like. Either way, people always
love quotations—little quick, encapsulated
ideas that they can pass around like trading
cards or whatever. Putting something out
daily that people can reblog easily (and at
least find halfway interesting) has made all
the difference, I think.
What is your background as a photog-
rapher? What projects are you currently
working on?
As a photographer, I’ve only been shoot-
ing for about a year and a half. I honestly
until around April of ‘09. At some point,
though, things just clicked and it’s grown
since. Before then, I worked as a designer
and before that I wanted to do illustration
and concept design full time. I kinda work
by doing a mixture of all those things now,
as the opportunities arise (mostly photog-
raphy, though).
What inspires you as a photographer?
If I have to answer this question succinctly,
I’d say that wilderness, vintage things, and
pretty women (haha) are what I find most
inspiring and interesting to photograph.
The more I can combine these things as
I take my photos, the better. Ultimately
though, I seek to reveal the transcendent
aspect of beauty through art—even if I am
only able to reveal just a glimmer at a time.
Either way, the pursuit of beauty is some-
thing I consider a life-long endeavor.

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 65

 Where do you find the subjects of
your photographs?

Most of the subjects in my photos hap-

pen to also be my friends and those clos-
est to me. I also occasionally work up
the guts to ask strangers to model for
me. The rest are people approaching me
on a for-hire basis.

Any additional comments or informa-

tion you would like to add about your
project?

In the end, as I go through life, I try

to come to a deeper understanding of
things that are true and good and beau-
tiful. This project is just a small way for
me to share glimpses of what I find im-
portant with others.

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 about the photographer:
Parker Fitzgerald was born in Wisconsin, raised in
Colorado, and currently lives near Portland, Or-
egon as a freelance visual artist. From an early age,
Parker developed a taste for tractors, dinosaurs
and video games that lead to a penchant for draw-
ing, and an intense love of Pokémon, philosophy,
and theology.

After having graduated from Colorado Univer-

sity with a business degree in marketing, Parker
moved out to the west coast to pursue a career as
a graphic designer. After two years, he becaome
enamored with photography, and now owns more
than two dozen different cameras, ranging from
the digital high-end, down to the lomo. He is
particularly fond of Polaroid Land Cameras and
peel-apart pack film.

Parker is an avid Chuck Norris enthusiast who

shares his birth date (March 6) with both Michel-
angelo and the Battle of the Alamo.

Parker is also single.

contact:
Portfolio: cargocollective.com/parkerfitzgerald

Flickr: flickr.com/photos/parkerfitzgerald

Twitter: @parkerfitzhenry

Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 67

 Photo by Piper Robbins

68 I
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Snapixel Magazine I Analogue I 69