SIDE STREETS - a Polaroid Study

“Side Streets”

A Polaroid Study by David Young

The main streets of life are pretty and refined. The side streets though are often where the richness of real life plays out. There you will find characters not quite ready for prime time and colorful patina of places not well known. What better way to capture this than with a Polaroid image, themselves artfully imperfect.

Polaroid cameras and film ruled the instant photography world until the digital age. Most known for ordinary snapshots, they also have been an important contributor to art. 

Edwin Land, a physicist, invented the Polaroid Land Camera in 1947. Its importance to art grew quickly. Land met Ansel Adams at a photographer’s convention where the camera was first introduced. Adams intrigued by the instant film, agreed to work with Polaroid as a consultant. The film progressed from a poor quality brownish look to vivid colors. Adams used the film to record “El Capital, Sunrise” in 1968, one of his most famous pictures. Andy Warhol in the 1960’s used an inexpensive Polaroid called the “Big Shot.” He never went to any party without it, liking the arty close ups it produced. His shots documented the “Pop Culture” and provided a springboard for his paintings.

With the introduction of the Polaroid SX-70 film in the 1970’s, a whole new art scene took off. Chuck Close and other artists discovered that the gelatin emulsion used took time to dry. Close manipulated the film with a dull pencil and other instruments creating unique art that approached oil paintings in effect. This painterly impact soon caught on with other artists such as Walker Evan, Robert Maripol and William Wegman.

The film was used in another way Polaroid did not intend. Photographers could write on the oversize white bottom portion of the frame allowing for unique renditions and notes. SX-70 film production unfortunately ended in 2008 and along with it this unique art form.

In 2010, Lady Gaga declared that “I am a Polaroid camera girl.” She became a creative director for Polaroid amid a big advertising blitz. Even her star power was not enough to return Polaroid to prominence.

Today the company still produces a small line of cameras but none of their film approaches the artistic aspects of the SX-70 line. If you hunt through camera stores, you can still find and buy used original Polaroid cameras.

I can’t say that I am a “Polaroid Guy.” However, when I do happen upon an aging Polaroid in a camera store, my imagination wanders thinking of the art it can produce. So I borrow a friends Polaroid once in a while and head to the Side Streets of life to recapture that lost art.

For your enjoyment, I present my Polaroid Series of Side Streets.

David Young

Other Notes on Polaroid:

Edwin Land was a serial inventor and unique individual. While he was at work inventing the Polaroid camera, he was asked by the army to help them develop a better bomb site. In two weeks, he invented a site that was used throughout WWII. Land was also a showman. When his products were introduced, he orchestrated extravagant launches with bands and fanfare. Steve Jobs said in interviews that he was inspired by Land’s approach to technology, business and launches. He learned from Land the methodology he used to bring a product to market.  Ironically, the demise of Polaroid was in part due to the iPhone.

Sources for Series Notes:

“What Steve Jobs Learned from Edwin Land of Polaroid” by Chunk Mui, Forbes Magazine

“Six Artists in Sixty Seconds” by Christopher Bonanos, Share This

“The Polaroid Picture Was Instantaneous, But it was Artists Who Made it Eternal” by Jonathon Keats, Peta Pixal

“Polaroid Art” by Vituzzu

“Back to the Future: What Makes Polaroid Cool” by Ashley Fetters, The Atlantic

Published by: Studio Four Art  www.studiofour.com   © 2014

Wandering Sweet Portland

The July sun warmed us, a cool breeze from the distant Pacific miles to the west freshened our steps. Our car had become a distant memory as we walked through the districts and shops in Portland, the City’s sweetness addicting us.

If ambitious, you can walk the major districts of Portland in one day. There are far too many treats for the senses along the way to ever do this. Two major rivers, lush hills to the West and Mount Hood to the East beckon you from all corners.

Portland invested heavily in mass transit starting in the 1980’s. It paid off. Today, the major light rail lines run from the Airport/Gresham through downtown and then west to the farm to table community of Hillsboro. In the downtown area you have the streetcars running north to south. The train station and airport are linked by this system. An honored citizen (senior citizen) can travel on the system for $1 anywhere it goes. Portland has been called the city of bridges. There are eleven bridges that cross the Willamette River downtown and two major ones that cross the Columbia River. Amtrak Trains link you with Vancouver BC to the North, Los Angeles to the South and Chicago to the East. The Portland airport is ranked #1 in the US for passenger comfort. All this makes for a great canvas of wandering.

To wander on foot is to discover the real Portland. There is a special spirit here. “Portlandia” abounds here from the names of goats prominently displayed at farmer’s market cheese stands. When we ask a woman where the nearest place to have a cup of tea and cookie, she invited us over to enjoy tea at her home. Many young people move to Portland for the quality of living, sacrificing greater financial gains that could be made elsewhere.

There are well known districts such as funky Halsey, “The Pearl” with Powell Books, galleries, unique shops, design stores and wonderful places to eat or the “NW District” with its alphabet tree lined streets and distinctive homes.

Some of our favorite districts are less known including the Cultural, Stadium, Hollywood, and the industrial East Side. These are the quiet ones. Where museums, Portland State University, the park blocks with farmers markets, elegant buildings and raw bone commerce are located. The streets in these districts are less traveled or crowded. You find surprises here such as a firm that manufactures violins, the neighborhood grocer, Produce Row Café located in a warehouse or the Alligator Restaurant. Small retail stores, cafes and other enterprises are spaced between apartment buildings and business locations. The scale of the buildings are very human here, most one to four stories. They invite you to pause and enjoy their architectural beauty. There is time to visit with the retail shop owner and turn the merchandise at your own pace. These districts massage you with their slow wonderful pace of life. It is not hard to find a good cup of java and comfortable chair to soak it all in.

Wherever you wander in Portland, you will find friendly people who seem to have found a fuller way to live than the normal city dweller. Musicians craft wonderful sounds for farmers markets, artists paint scenes, and small business has a chance to flourish. Even social workers interfacing with the less fortunate street people know their names and treat them with dignity.

Portland is a wonderful place. You find yourself asking people you meet why cities are not all like this? I think they know the answer but never say.

Angelo Tosi's Italian Market

Angelo Tosi with Kathleen

At the far end of Chinatown in Vancouver B. C., I walked into an unassuming storefront to find a true treasure. Tosi & Co.an Italian market. A older man with gray sideburns wearing a black flat cap leaned over the counter "Angelo, hai ricevuto I mier pomodori? (Angelo, have you received my tomatoes)." Angelo raised a finger in the air proclaiming he had and started to walk toward the back of the market. The man followed "Avete qualche notiza, del pases vecchio? (Do ou have any news of the old country?).

By this time, both men were in the back and looking at the packed tomatoes from Naples. I could not hear Angelo's response to the question about the old country but the pleasant expression on both their faces seemed to indicate the news was good.

The man exited the store and I had a chance to introduce myself to Angelo Tosi, the 82 year old owner and operator. The store looked like a warehouse, light streaming into it at sharp angles from skylights above. Only one small old light hung from the ceiling of the 6,000 sq ft store.

Angelo noticed I was looking at the light. "Father did not believe in florescent light, he wanted things to look natural." He went on to tell me that the store was started by his father 111 years ago and that he had operated it since 1973.

"We only sell authentic and quality products here." Angelo said as he pointed to the Tiger Brand Olive Oil, the Tosi Brand Tomatoes from Naples and Organic Parmigiana Cheese.


Among the most curious thing was why the store was even here on the edge of Chinatown? I did some research unearthing an article written by Jack Mackie of the Vancouver Sun in 2011. I also reviewed Tosi & Co website at www.tosifoods.com. It turns out that the area was originally known as Little Italy because of the Italians who immigrated there in early 1900's. At that time, Chinatown was only one block long. Then in the 1930's there was a large influx of Chinese and other Asians. They bought all the homes and the Italians moved further East to the Commercial District in Vancouver.

Many of these old time residents still make the trek to Tosi & Co. for the food products they love and to say hello to Angelo. He also still maintains an active wholesale trade supplying local restaurants, driving a 1967 truck with a canvas top to make deliveries.

As you look around at Angelo's products and store, you can't help but notice a wonderful spark in his eyes, he still enjoys running the family business. You can find almost anything at the store. Jack Mackie reported he once fond a bottle of liquid named "Alphoma" with an Indian Chief label on it proclaiming, "Alphoma is real medicine, believe me paleface."

What you will not find is another person or experience quite as genuine as Angelo and his market. A must see when you are visiting Vancouver. It is hard to tell how long it will be there. Large condominiums have replaced old buildings across the street. Knowing Angelo though, I imagine he will find a way to carry on his business and keep that spark in his eyes.

David Young

Kathy's Day at Farmers Market

Kathy explores farmer's market in Park Blocks of Portland, OR

The Drake