In their day, Polaroid Land cameras were stunning. Up to that point in my young life, instant photography was the most enticing innovation I'd ever seen. I received a small Polaroid camera (called the Polaroid Swinger) for Christmas one prepubescent year and wanted to photograph everything with it. The photos weren't all that great, but the immediacy of the results was addictive. I loved everything about it. One would click the shutter, pull out the developing package, count until the processing was complete, pull apart the package a peel off the print. And there it was, a complete photo! I even loved that acrid preservative that one applied to the image afterward. Sticky and oddly pinkish, the preservative came loaded onto a long swab-like applicator that was sealed in a black, plastic cylinder. Applying it at the end was the best part of the whole process.
