Polaroid Go with Blair Caldwell, Zaynab Issa + Venus X
The newest (and tiniest) addition to the Polaroid family is the Polaroid Go camera. Featuring a miniaturized version of the classic Polaroid film (it fits right in the palm of your hand), the Polaroid Go is ideal for an on-the-go creator. Three such creators, Venus X, Blair Caldwell and Zaynab Issa, took the new camera out for a spin to see how it handles as a must-have creative accessory.
"I am a Venus X and for the last ten years I've been a full-time DJ and creative, working with artists like MIA and Erykah Badu and traveling to over 35 countries to perform as a DJ. I absolutely love music and fashion. Human culture fascinates me and I feel really lucky that I've been able to become a part of the conversation as a DJ and with my personal style and projects. I am really inspired by NY legends like Angie Martinez, Lil Kim and Misa Hylton. I have always had a really clear idea of what I could add to the game being a Dominican girl from uptown with a wacky sense of fashion and a taste for really extreme music. I am slowly designing and becoming one of the superheroes I looked up to. I am here to DJ as long as the music continues to make me feel and dance and the people trust me to select and mix. It's truly a divine undertaking to manipulate people's bodies and minds with audio frequencies. I love every second of it.
For these photos, I was having a really posh day off, which is a pretty rare occasion. I'm usually in sweats. I had just come back from a studio trip to California where I was producing and recording new music with some insane artists named Hudmo and Breerunway. I got inspired by this song we made called 'RODEO' and got dressed up for this day. I hit one of my best friends who is nice with the camera and we met on the Upper East Side for veggie burgers. After that, we drove to Central Park and the area we stopped and shot at was screaming to be captured. There was a feast for the eyes in sculptures and architectural details that I was honored to have stumbled upon. I love prints and detail and pattern so I could see the vision. I feel like the theme of the day was rest and beauty, the kind I often feel guilty for and that is what I was trying to capture, some really happy 'I LOVE ME' time.
Lately I feel the most fulfilled when I'm learning new things. Recently I started taking piano lessons and I began interning at a music studio for trade. Activating parts of my brain I haven't used in a long time feels really great. Doing things that are confusing and mysterious but finding confidence is a whole mental exercise that produces a lot of fulfillment. I used to shoot photos in college when I studied art and this Polaroid project reminded me how much I love film. I have so much of my early DJ career photographed in film and this just inspired me to get the archiving done so I can make a photobook!!!"
"My name is Blair Caldwell and I’m from Tyler, TX. I’m a creator living in Los Angeles and I’ve been doing photography for a while now. I started developing a passion for it around high school and was shooting on a Razr cell phone before anything else. I went to college in Dallas to study photography full-time and now here we are today. I'd like to describe myself as a faith-driven guy. I feel like nothing is possible without God. I'm also a people person. I love people and creating art with people. I'm a huge music fan and a sucker for karaoke and having fun with my friends."
"I had so much fun shooting with the Polaroid Go camera. It's so easy to travel with. I decided to take it around the city with me on the weekend and document what I usually do. I live in downtown L.A. so I took it to the carnival, and I also took it on a walk to get lunch, hang with friends and work out. I spent some time with it and it's literally become my go-to camera. I'll take it with me on all my upcoming trips or any events I go to because it's super convenient."
"I feel most fulfilled when I'm helping others and also balancing life. Living in L.A. can be such a fast-paced life that you’ll find yourself in your own world all the time, but I try to stop and make sure I'm taking care of myself and balancing my time with work, my self-care, and time with my family and friends. I love helping people and providing a place to turn up and have fun, so if I can provide that space for people I care about, I feel fulfilled because you never know what people are going through."
"I’m a cook, recipe developer, writer and freelance creative based in New York. For as long as I can remember, the kitchen has been my happy place. It started with a penchant for baking (specifically experimenting with dividing recipes down until they only made 1 serving so I bake every day without accumulating a mountain of cupcakes). It eventually grew into experimenting with different flavors inspired by my travels and developing recipes that are now my personal classics.
Outside of the pure joy I get from cooking, eating, and traveling, I also really enjoy crossing restaurants off my NYC restaurant hit list, browsing through print magazines, drinking matcha chai lattes (although I can’t resist a good flat white), exploring galleries and museums, and hunting for great vintage finds."
"Shooting content with the Polaroid Go was so fun! Although I didn’t grow up around Polaroid cameras, something about a printed photo is nostalgic in the best way possible. So much of creating nowadays is instantaneous and it can be easy to forget that trust and uncertainty are huge parts of the creative process. When you click that capture button, hear the whirring sounds of the printing, retrieve a blank photo, and return to it a few minutes later with a perfect image of what’s now a memory -- there’s just nothing like it."
"Seeing things come together, and being a part of the reason why they’re coming together, is really beautiful to me. I mean that both literally and figuratively. Literally, there’s something about the process of cooking that’s so cathartic. Cooking provides for a sensory overload that’s fairly unique. You're feeling something as you chop, hearing the cut, tasting as you go, smelling things, seeing the vivid colors produced by nature. And at the end of it all, you get to eat. Figuratively, using food as a means of connecting people is such an integral part of the reason I believe food is so powerful. For me, food, specifically sharing a meal, is a holistic experience that sparks joy and conversation, ultimately bringing people together and encouraging sharing."