It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed…
No, wait, that was Snoopy launching his career as a great writer with a manual typewriter… 🙂
Actually, IRL… It was a gloomy morning in late May. A Metro North train from Stamford, CT to Grand Central Terminal. An old photographer with a backpack full of cameras and films. Nobody screamed. Nobody knew what would happen next…
It was just me on my way to Polacon NYC 2025, brimming with quiet excitement about the things I’d learn, people I’d see, and photos I’d take in the next 8-10 hours. I had a bag full of fresh film with me, but I knew one pack of “circle-frame” Polaroid 600 Color film had been sitting for a while, unrefrigerated, and would likely yield rather faded, muted colors. Better shoot that one before I get to PolaCon, right? So, with a young couple sitting across from me watching with wonder and a bit of WTF, I unzipped the bag, and began the ballet of loading a vintage Polaroid camera with a pack of film and a flashbar on top.
After loading the camera and tucking the protective “dark slide” into the box the pack came from, I waited a minute or two before asking the couple if I could take an instant photo of them. They smiled, the woman said, “I was wondering what that was!” (or something similar), and agreed. I told them to lean in as if they liked each other and warned them the photo might be faded because the film was old-ish. They were nice, but had no clue what I was talking about, until I showed them the image as it fully developed over the 30 minutes or so before we arrived at Grand Central Station. I gave them my card and promised to send them a scan of the photo. It did turn out a bit faded/muted, but OK — I tweaked the scan to boost contrast, shadows, saturation, lower highlights, increase sharpness, with the following result:
Just before we arrived at Grand Central, a young woman behind me, across the aisle, put her hand on my camera bag and said, “Excuse me, I was eavesdropping and I’m interested in your photography. May I have your card?” (Or something similar.) I thanked her, gave her my card, and she promised to contact me as we exited the train. We shall see what happens and post about it here, of course.
Chihuahua on a Subway
On the No. 6 local subway from Grand Central to 14th street, I watched a quivering, perpetually-nervous chihuahua-in-a-bag in the seat across from me. I couldn’t help but smile and speak a bit of daft dog-child-sweet-talk to see if I could calm the creature, to no avail. So I took an instant photo of it, with mother/owner’s consent (see featured image above). Here is an iPhone shot of the mother/owner with her little being in a rare moment of perky calm:
Bushwick Graffitti
The Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick is well known as a graffitti gallery; so much so that several “graffitti tours” are offered in the area! I had 6 more shots left on this pack of old-ish 600 circle-frame film which had to be used up before arriving at PolaCon, so I shot the rest on different sections of a wonderful long wall of street art around the corner. Oops — forgot the last one was unexposed and opened the camera too soon… Wasted the last one! Here are the 5 good ones:
Subject 1: Couple on Metro North Train from CT to NYC
Subject 2: Chihuahua on No. 6 Local Subway Downtown
Subject 3: Graffitti in Bushwick, Brooklyn (5 images)
Location(s): Connecticut, Manhattan & Brooklyn
Camera: Polaroid SLR 680SE (vintage)
Film 1: Polaroid 600 Color / Circle-Frame (expired)
Photographer: Russ Murray
The 2025 (third) PolaCon NYC event, sponsored by Polaroid and Brooklyn Film Camera (aka “BFC”), was held from May 30th — June 1st. Friday and Saturday were held mostly at 53 Scott Ave in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, with a few sessions/events at BFC. As usual, I went on the Saturday (May 31st) and had a great time learning, playing with gear, meeting old friends, making new ones, and shooting 50+ instant photos!
russ murray 
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