Polaroids — growing wild

I spent every second possible of my precious holiday vacation days outdoors hiking and taking in the beautiful California winter scenery. The primary destination was Point Reyes National Seashore which, due to its wind blown rugged beauty, has easily become one of my favorite places on earth. Although I wanted to take pictures while I was out there, I didn't want to be bogged down with heavy gear and a thousand different camera settings to think about. Instead, most days I only took a small plastic vintage Polaroid camera acquired for $0.75 a few years ago. At the time I made the purchase no film was being made for the camera and I bought it purely for the five shots left in it. Now, a company called the impossible project makes a dreamy, uneven film that works with the camera. The only control I have over the pictures it makes is where to point the camera and whether to focus up close or far away. It was a freeing experience that brought photography down to its most basic elements of content, composition, and quality of available light. Today I'm editing the first selection of these simple square photos that I will be posting over the next three weeks. It was a beautiful close to 2015 and I'm looking forward to more days spent in the wild in 2016.