Los Angeles based photographer Michael Kirchoff is serious about Polaroid. Here’s what he has to say about shooting with it. “Using Polaroid film came to me at an early age, and looking back I realize that it is the one thing I have done longer than anything else in my life other than breathing. I’d taken photographs using a plastic Brownie style camera for a few years on family outings, but it was when my parents purchased a Polaroid SX-70 in the 70’s that my fascination took root. I was thrilled just to hold that camera, and begged my parents for more film the second we ran out. That thrill is still with me today, only it’s me having to shell out the funds. Every new image created with Polaroid indulges my memories and sense of personal history with the medium.”
For years Michael shot using only expired Polaroid film but eventually the stocks dried up. From necessity he has now moved to the current instant stocks from New55 Film and the Impossible Project, a step that was necessary to continue his worldwide archive of imagery.
Besides Polaroid, another thing Michael is serious about is Russia, as seen in his ongoing body of work, ‘An Enduring Grace’. He has traveled there, as well as to many of the former Soviet republics, seven times over nine years to photograph the timeless architecture using vintage Graflex cameras, expired Polaroid film and a sense of non conformist composition . The images are exquisite, the result of repeated concentration and a deep understanding of process. The long expired film adds a unique signature to each image.
Andy Romanoff
Michael Kirchoff, Polaroid Photographs in a Digital Age
October 3rd through November 18th
Orange Coast College – Art Center Gallery
2701 Fairview Rd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
USA
