Many years ago when I used to work in the sales dept at PIX, an elderly African American gentleman would come by every other week or so to buy Polaroid. He was always dressed in a style that men don't really wear these days - sort of a classic look and always only bought Polaroid. I inquired once about that and turns out he ventures to night clubs to take Polaroids of people. I think he charged $5 or $10 bucks a pop. After a while, I just started giving him discount and saw him on and off for many months until one day I realized I hadn't seen him in a while. Sadly I didn't have any contact info but wonder about him now years later on when I saw Leopoldo Peña's series "Instantáneos". During my daily routine of going through websites stumbled on Leopoldo's series.
Well, let's start at the beginning, tell me about these photographs !
One day this past summer, while walking MacArthur Park I noticed some photographers still using Land Polaroids and other instant camera. At first, I did not think they were selling much, so I just waited there for a while and watched them work. And to my surprise, they do get clients every now and then. A couple weeks later, I went to Olvera Street, and there again, I saw several men and women selling instant photos. This time, however, I approached one of the photographers and asked him how long they all had been doing that type of photography. He said most of them had been there for years. As for himself, his father had introduced him to the business over two decades ago. As the conversation carried on, I asked why they were not shooting with digital cameras; his answer was simple: people are still buying instant photographs and digital cameras are expensive.
His resolve to continue using a system that most people nowadays would consider impractical and the fact there still is people who would purchase instant photographs made me realize that what still really matters is the content of the image not the format. But it also made me think that, maybe, these instant photographers are just leaving their last days. And before they completely disappear or switch to digital, I wanted to document them by taking their portrait.
For the portraits, I used a Hasselblad 500cm with a 80mm lens, 400 iso film and a light reflector. For the ones at McArthur Park I used flash fill.
Tell me about how your work. What drew you into photography ?
I started taking photo classes at East Los Angeles College while taking general education classes. Regular academic courses were not motivating me much, so I chose photo just for the fun of it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with photography, I was just taking one class after another, and it was basically for fun. Towards the end of the program, I became interested in documentary/journalism but had no knowledge or training in that area. I left ELAC in 2005, and in late 2006, I began experimenting with landscape photography and at the same time I was trying to built a journalism portfolio which did not go very far. But I am no longer interested in having a journalism portfolio, I am concentrating on just finding stories, doing landscapes and finding work. Eventually, I want to focus on documenting the Mexican indigenous communities here in California. I have already started on the project and I think that will be sort of a life-time project.
Since I am only doing personal projects I prefer to do them on film, it keeps more motivated and it forces me to value every frame. Occasionally, I do commercial jobs (very little), and I do those digital. For the moment, I am busy trying to finish a master's degree and trying to find paid work to continue financing my projects and pay my bills.
I'm curious about these photographers in your images. I'm sure you've had many conversations with them over time and curious what their stories are.
I photographed them while they were working so I really did not have a change to have a conversation with everyone of them. From those that I did talked to, I can tell you that most are Latin American immigrants, some from Mexico others from Central America. They have non photography jobs during the week. One of the guys at McArthur Park, works at a chicken slaughter house the days he is not doing photography. From the people at Olvera Street, the younger lady you see in the photographs works there along her mother who refused to be photographed. There is also three brothers who work there, one of them told me that his father was the first one to start shooting at Olvera St., and of course, them three are just continuing the tradition. Curiously, when I did the portraits one guy (the first one on the series) asked about digital cameras. He wanted to know if one could do double exposures with digital cameras. I told that some of the newer models have that feature. Last week, I returned to give them a copy of the prints, and he is already shooting with a digital nikon but has not stopped shooting with his Land Polaroid.
There's something tangible about Polaroids - I love how you feel it. Thank goodness Fiji continues to make "fujiroids" though I've heard that there may be a come-back for Polaroid but we'll see about that. A question I always asks photographers is what inspires them and I'm going to pose that to you now :)
It would be nice if Polaroid brought back their complete line of products. I am still holding a box of Type 55 for 'that very special' project which I have yet to think of.
What inspires me....? Well, like many others I have a desire, passion, drive to take photos, it just makes me feel less frustrated. However, lately I have started to focus my photo creation process on my own community; its people, the surrounding landscape. That is what inspires. I feel there is a need to document the immigrant community from within, to photograph not only those individuals who make public figures but to include those that form part of it without necessarily getting public recognition. In synthesis, what motivates me to do photography is simple a desire to get in touch with my own surroundings.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Happy Thanksgiving to you too !
www.leopoldopena.com
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