September 27, 2004 - This week, we interview Matt Balara from PolaroiDiary:

You've been quite the traveler in your life. Can you give some details?
I was born in 1969 in Washington D.C., moved at the age of 9 to Canberra, Australia, back to D.C. at 16, and back to Australia at 23. Six years ago I began a world tour which was supposed to last 2 years. After 6 months in India and Nepal, I made it to Europe but fell in love and got stuck in Hamburg, Germany. She and I split a couple years ago, but I'm still in Hamburg after 6 years, even though the weather really bites. I work as an art director in a web agency, which is most of the reason why I play with such a thoroughly analogue medium (SX-70 polaroids) in my free time.

Speaking of which, your photoblog has one of the more unique formats out there: you shoot exclusively with polaroids. Why?
I'm one of the many "web designer by day" photobloggers out there, and spend far too much of my life working with pixels. I wanted something as immediate as a digital camera, but as analog as a hammer. That's a polaroid. I love my chrome and brown leather cameras, I love the square format, I love the "objectness" of the images themselves. If there was any way of showing it to as many people as I can with my site, I'd be gluing the polaroids in a book and would've never scanned even one of them.

So that's why you started your photoblog?
At first, my PolaroiDiary idea was to make a physical book, with one week of polaroids on each page. I love the analogueness of polaroids, the frame around the image, the thickness of the photo - each image is a little object - and imagined a physical book full of polaroids would be a wonderful object. The only thing I couldn't imagine was the audience. Who would see the book other than the occasional friend? I used to run a text blog (Boogie Church, no longer online) so when thinking about the audience I came to the idea (of a) photoblog pretty quick. A project like PolaroiDiary just seems like a waste of time if no one sees it. The polaroid collection is growing in a little box on my desk, and they may end up in a physical book one day, but for now the site's the point. I've got a little dream of an exhibiting them: a whole year hung in a gallery in calendar format... we'll see.

I'm also very interested in the "private/public" border. Sometimes I take a photo, and to me that image is a symbol of something very special, a captured memory, maybe even something intensely private. When I really catch something personal, that usually makes for a special image, but it's also something that most people can't decipher - it's there for everyone to see, but they don't know me well enough to see it. I often ask myself if I'm showing too much, just making a big exhibitionist fool of myself, but the inherent ambiguity of images protects my privacy again and again, in spite of my best efforts to expose myself.

Do you remember the first time you grabbed a camera?
My Dad gave me a Canon AE-1 Program for Christmas when I was 15. That camera was a real tool, not a toy. I shot with it on and off for 10 years, but never really appreciated it. Like an idiot, I sold it and bought a piece of plastic crap when I started my world tour. I still miss that AE-1P.

You've mentioned your 'world tour'. What brought this about? Mid-life crises, the experience, etc? How has it been thus far?
In '95 I moved from the U.S. back to Australia to be with my mother who was dying of cancer. When she died in '98, I was left with the feeling that I didn't have any reason to be in Australia any more. As a kid, my Mum and I moved around quite a lot, so I've never had any one place where I feel I belong. So not knowing where I should be, I decided to go find somewhere to be. After months in India and Nepal, I landed in Hamburg, where I've been for over six years. So the world tour has more or less ended, at least as originally planned. I'll go back to Australia one day, but haven't got a concrete plan yet.

Very powerful... is photography the same for you? Why does it interest you?
Geez, lots of reasons. It's a way of making art which I can take with me anywhere. It's like going hunting, only without the need to kill anything. It extends my super-bad memory. It encourages me to look, really look, at the world. It's a way of expressing myself; of sharing my view of the world with others. And it simply makes me happy to make images.

Other hobbies other than photography? Do they mix with it?
I read a hell of a lot, which stimulates my visual imagination and surely influences my photography, though indirectly.

Do you have any memorable shooting experiences?
I was doing some street photos - one of my first attempts at this kind of work - and being unsure of myself, I was staying far away and using a telephoto lens to get closer. I wasn't really making contact with the subjects, but was instead sneaking a photo whenever I thought I could get away with it. I shot an old man waiting for a bus, people walking by, and some alcoholics in a park. I'd given up for the day and was waiting for the bus myself when a lady tapped me on the shoulder. She was one of the alcoholics, and she was irate. Why hadn't I asked? What was I going to use the photos for? Who the hell was I? This went on for about 15 minutes, with her getting more and more worked up, and me stammering out half-answers, totally caught off guard. She was so outraged she punched me in the stomach, which shocked me more than it hurt. The bus came before the confrontation could escalate any further, and I left, thoroughly shaken.

Well, she was drunk, but I've noticed people are a lot more cautious about being photographed. I remember a day when it was an honor to be photographed. What's happened?
I think the worst thing to happen to photography was Lady Diana being hounded to death by paparazzi. That tragedy, and many others which were less publicized, has created the public impression that any photography is an invasion of privacy. The thing the drunk lady kept saying over and over was, "what are you going to do with the photos?" People have become very media aware, and don't want to be shown in an unflattering light, or shown at all. However, I've also found that friendly contact before shooting can alleviate these kinds of problems.

Do you have any shooting styles and/or themes?
I carry one of my SX-70 cameras with me always. There are rules which I thought up for PolaroiDiary, and they dictate in large part my shooting style. I make one and only one polaroid a day, every day. I don't plan or set up my shots, but simply shoot whatever I see when I have the feeling, "that's today's image." The site's a diary, so I try and stick to images that say something about me or document events, people and places in my life. I try hard to simply shoot, quick and without any fuss, and not judge my ideas or the results too much. Even if I don't like a photo, I don't re-shoot it, but just scan it in and throw it online. The point for me is to see where my eye goes, to see what turns me on, to learn to trust my instincts, and not to create a perfect artwork every day. The camera also influences my style of course: it's quite conspicuous, bulky and loud, so candid, spontaneous street style doesn't really work. That leaves me doing lots of still-life and portrait shots (see this for an idea of what my cameras look like).

As for themes, a friend once said my photos are all about loneliness, but I'm not so sure myself. I think it's hard to analyze your own work. It's like trying to see your own eye without a mirror. I just shoot whatever I see: still-life in my flat, street scenes in my neighbourhood, portraits of my friends and colleagues, whatever. I try not to think too hard about it.

So you actually shoot EVERYDAY, and post that image that day? No backlog? Isn't this a time constraint?
I shoot one and only one polaroid every day (almost), but I'm not so strict about posting daily. Sometimes every day, sometimes once a week. Whatever fits in my schedule. I am however strict about not lying about making an image. If I forget a day, a black polaroid appears on the site.

Which do you prefer: film or digital?
For PolaroiDiary, only Polaroid SX-70 film. I bought a Nikon D70 a short while ago, and will be starting a new photoblog for digital work, but PolaroiDiary will always be polaroids and only polaroids.

But which do you prefer; not necessarily what you use more? What are the positives/negatives of each format?
It's not an either/or question. I have 3 Polaroid SX-70 cameras, a Leica M6 and a Nikon D70. With the polaroids and the D70 I love being able to see my photos immediately. The D70 makes me happy because I can shoot 1000 photos a day, and if they're all crap, it doesn't cost me anything, whereas each polaroid costs 1.23 Euro, about $1.50 (USD). The M6 is a beautiful object which I love dearly, and when I see how sharp the pictures look, even on 800 ASA film, I do a little dance of joy. And somehow the complete analogue nature of the M6 and film seems to improve my shooting: on a roll of 36 I usually have about 10 I'm really happy with, whereas it's more like 10 in every 100 with digital. I take a lot less photos on film, but think about each of them much more.

With that said, what's your all-time favorite camera?
Probably my Canon AE-1P, although that may just be after the fact nostalgia on my part.

What's been the best thing about running PolaroiDiary?
The ego-stroke is of course nice, knowing there are people checking out and enjoying my photos. I've had a number of comments from people who've been inspired by my site to play with polaroids, which is also nice. I also have friends and family in America and Australia who keep up with me through my photoblog, which gives me a stronger feeling of being connected to them.

Any strains?
I've planned so that it's not a strain. I remember the self-imposed pressure from my text blog, "I've got to update, I've got to keep it fresh!", which just leads to throwing something, anything, online, and eventually resenting the blog and the demands it makes on your life. The 'one and only one image a day' rule makes that kind of silliness impossible. I've also developed a routine, so scanning and posting a new image takes less than 5 minutes, and I post new images whenever I feel like it, not necessarily daily. Not very strenuous at all.

So is that really your handwriting in the polaroids? Do you ever 'enhance' any of your shots with Photoshop?
Yes, it really is my handwriting. As soon as I make a polaroid, I write the date on it with a Sharpie and stick it in a little polaroid-sized cigar box I carry everywhere with me. All I do in Photoshop is scan the polaroid, hit it with curves to make sure the background is completely white (so it blends with my site background), and adjust the scan colour so it matches the polaroid itself. If my scanner's really dirty, I touch up any obvious dust as well. The whole process takes me about 1.5 minutes per polaroid. It's important to me not to spend too much time fiddling with pixels out of the office.

Do you feel photography or photoblogging has changed your life?
Other than the minimal time involved in shooting and scanning, I can't really say photoblogging has changed my life. Photography in general certainly has. I take many of my vacations specifically to photograph a place, I spend a great deal of money on photography, I earn a little with it too, and my bag is always heavier than it used to be.

Who are your inspirations, in both in photography and photoblogs?
"Real world" photographers that inspire me: James Nachtwey, Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Ugene Smith, Sebastiao Salgado, Edward Weston, Mary Ellen Mark, Wolfgang Tillmans, Richard Avedon, Anton Corbijn, Martin Paar... this list could go on for a while...

Photoblogs that I enjoy... well, there's quite a few names that get named everywhere, so I'll stick to the ones I really consistently enjoy, the ones that jump out at me every time I look: way up there is Red's 990000, fiftymillimeter rocks, and I love 52: A Picture a Week and Stranger a Day. Jimbus has a great sense of humour and an excellent eye and Laura at emptyPictures is a poet.

The best photograph you've ever seen?
Jeez. Just one? Are you crazy?

Yes... very much so. But if you can't name just one, can you give us a handful of favorites?
One of the most haunting pics I've ever seen is W. Eugene Smith's shot of a mentally ill man in Haiti. Also from Smith, "Tomoko in her Bath" is remarkably moving and has been burned into my brain since I first saw it. Cartier-Bresson's photo "Behind Gare Saint Lazare Train Station" is the definitive decisive moment which boggles my mind every time I look at it. Jim Nachtwey's photos during and immediately after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, such as this one, left me gaping in awe. The list could go on and on...

In your opinion, what can make photoblogs better?
Without a question, a higher quality standard. I have the feeling that many people's photoblog is just a 'me too' sort of thing. They're posting not because they have ideas, or something to say or share, but just because they have a digital camera. If people look at good photographers (and here I don't mean photobloggers, but the real masters) and think about what makes their photos so spectacular, they'll certainly get a better idea of what a good photo is, and this will surely improve their own. Also, a pet peeve and advice to many photobloggers: put the previous and next buttons in the same place on every page, and make them big enough to click without hunting! Everyone who looks at more than one image on your site will thank you.

Are you involved in anything else photography-wise other than your photoblog?
I also submit polaroids every now and then to Photo Friday, but not religiously. I'm currently organizing a submission to 28mm - who knows, maybe I'll appear there soon.

Best of luck with that. Thanks for the interview Matt; highly appreciate it.