LIVE PORTRAIT SESSIONS WITH THE 20x24 POLAROID CAMERA - October 27-29, 2016

 

HATHAWAY is excited to announce the arrival of the historic Large Format Polaroid camera for three days of live portrait sessions. These beautiful 20x24, one-of-a-kind portraits will be shot by Executive Director of 20x24 Studio, John Reuter and Atlanta based fine art photographer, Sheila Pree Bright.

The 20x24 Project began in 1976, when Polaroid built the first functioning prototype to demonstrate the quality of Polacolor II Film, as the company was about to release a professional color film in 8x10 format. The five 20x24 cameras were built between 1977 and 1978 by Polaroid’s metal and woodworking shops, under the direction of John McCann of the Vision Research Laboratory. To continue the project, Polaroid opened a studio on Ames Street in Cambridge, MA, which contained two studios and a gallery to exhibit the images. The camera gained recognition as they invited a number of select artists to experiment with the cameras, in exchange for donating images to the Polaroid Collection. Since 1978, many well-known artists have shot with the camera, including Dawoud Bey, Ellen Carey, Chuck Close, Elsa Dorfman, David Levinthal, Mary Ellen Mark, Robert Rauschenberg, Joyce Tenneson, Andy Warhol, and William Wegman.

The 20×24 Studio has recently announced that it will be ending production operations at the end of 2017. The company has been operating with film stock purchased in 2009 from Polaroid Corporation as it exited the film business. John Reuter, who began working for Polaroid in 1978 stated that “our original business plan was for five years with the inventory purchased and for a variety of reasons we have not worked through the material. Instant film will not last forever and despite storing the film stock in cold storage and mixing the chemical reagent only as needed the studio projects that they can maintain the quality for two more years.”  www.20x24studio.com

Click HERE to book your portrait session!

The 20x24 Polaroid camera will be at HATHAWAY from Thursday, October 27 through Saturday, October 29, 2016. 

ARTIST TALK WITH JOHN REUTER - Thursday, October 27, 6:00 PM