A short while ago, I started spending a bit of time (and a bit of money) buying some secondhand film gear from Aperture Photographic on Museum St, Bloomsbury, London. Apart from my friend, Mike Perry, who runs David Lipson Photography in Great Dunmow, Essex, they are about the only retailers I deal with regularly.
On one of the visits I stumbled across a book of photos of Venica by Dorothy Bohm. I loved it and started looking for a copy. It was out of print but I could get a secondhand one from Amazon. No problem.
By pure chance, and before I bought the book off Amazon, I met a fine art print dealer at a photofair in London who, by a quirk of fate of Biblical proportions, turned out to represent Dorothy Bohm's work in the UK. I now have two books (Venice and Paris) signed by Dorothy Bohm.
When I went to pick the books up from Dorothy's representative, she showed me a dozen or so prints made by Dorothy at the time the negatives were taken and processed. They were stunning. However, in a little box, she had 9 Polaroids taken by Dorothy in the 1970's / 1980's (I guess) and they were just beautiful.
Forgive me but, until then, I've never really considered Polaroid photos as a true art form. Quirky, interesting, colourful in an other-worldly sort of way - but never "art". Until now.
Where can I get an SX70? Are there any other Polaroid models that are capable of similar results? I know Polaroid film is as rare as hens' teeth but what else (mono or colour) is there available?
I've seen the light and it's changed my view of what I'd always regarded as a bit of an oddity....
