Holga Blog

photo courtesy of kim

it was a dark and early morning when i started up my car to make a four and half hour drive from my home to an abandoned house down south.

located an hour north of los angeles california, and five hours south of san francisco, an abandoned house sits above a road, overlooking a resevoir lake to the north. the house itself isn’t all that spectacular. but amongst the two doves who’ve nested inside, and the numerous mice who inhabit this crumbling home, resides hundreds of polaroids strewn about.

the little house on the hill

the work of flickr artists and polaroid afficianados, the house was slowly filled with donated polaroids. most are 600 integral instant film, with the occasional type 667, 669 laying about. in my first, and sadly last visit; i spent two hours pouring over the polaroids which lay to rest on the wooden floor beneath me. polaroids can also be seen scattered below the floorboards, and some even lay about in the dry brush outside the home. the house was just littered with polaroid shots, mostly the work of artist ~KIM~.

edward so how did you first come across the house?
kim last may i was driving out to the poppy field in lancaster and drove by the place. it really struck something inside me and i knew i would be back. it was so quaint, representing a bygone era in its craftsman styling. the decay of the house and the decay of that era.

photo courtesy of kim
the wall of polaroids

edward and after that, when did the house start becoming adorned with the polaroids?
kim it became “The Polaroid House” on June 9, 2008, when jena, chinako and i went out there to leave my polaroids.
edward what was the concept of the house? how did you see it as a medium for art?
kim the concept revolved around the recent demise of polaroid film. i love polaroids and that announcement came as a shock. so the house was a tribute to polaroid and the slow decay of the past.
edward since then, how many times have you visited the house?
kim 5 times.

photo courtesy of kim

sadly as of april 24, 2009. the house and project came to a close, when kim was notified by the owner of the house, to cease all further visitation and contributions. in spite of the closure, kim had successfully promoted the project and hundreds of photogs flocked to the site on weekends, sunrises, and even at evening; to take and donate polaroids. on flickr alone, 200+ members joined the polaroid house group to keep track of the project and watch the changing of the house’s rise…and subsequent fall.

edward what was your feelings and thoughts when you discovered that the house would be closing? i heard that you were contacted by the actual house owner!
kim i knew it was coming. the house was getting a lot of visitors, and it wasn’t being treated very well. every time i went there were new holes in the wall and garbage and such. there were more and more pictures were being stolen from the house and they were not being replaced. it was going the way of the house.

there is an artist compound next door, and it wasn’t long before they got tired of people climbing all over their property. they live out in the middle of the desert for a reason. the owner of the house was very nice. she just asked me to remove the pictures when I could because the “glory had faded”. she is an artist and understood the concept and even appreciated it for a time.

holes in the drywall grew bigger and bigger with each visit. this wall eventually was torn down altogether, sans the framing studs behind it.

edward can you describe to me, the day that you visited the house for the last time?
kim it broke my heart a little to see the house. as the owner had said, the glory had indeed faded. there was garbage and dirt everywhere. the polaroids no longer looked like pearls in the dirt. they looked like trash as well. the shine of the photos had become dull with dust and footprints. the giant polaroid wall we created was missing a lot of photos. those holes in the wall looked so sad. i knew this was the right thing.
the reason i started this, was to share it with other people. i hate that that was the same reason i had to shut it down. i loved the house. i treated it with such respect, and that others didn’t feel the same, it hurts me.

photo courtesy of kim
the wall of polaroids, now empty.

photo courtesy of kim
an empty floor

edward do you plan on revising or finding another house in the future?
kim absolutely. i boxed up all the photos that were left (only about half of the originals) and they are awaiting a new home. this time the owner of the house will be aware of the plan!

photo courtesy of kim

edward how do you feel that Polaroids have changed your perspective on photography?
kim polaroids are amazing. in my opinion, they more accurately reflect the skill of the photographer behind them. what you see is what you get. there is no post_processing, there is no cropping to change the framing, no zoom lens, and most importantly NO DUPLICATES. that piece of art you hold in your hand seconds later, is one of a kind. sure, you can scan it and make reprints, but there is no hiding that it isn’t the original. if you don’t like the exposure? you just have to take it again. framing wrong? too bad. want to zoom in? get closer. i like the permanence of it. the unchangeable fact of the picture you took. don’t get me wrong i love technology. i also truly appreciate something that can’t accidentally get erased, can’t be manipulated to within an inch of it’s life.

in a world where you can change your face, body, hair and eye color, where second rate photos are tortured in photoshop into something they are not, i like something so true. without trying to sound too melodramatic: polaroids are truth.

kim estimates that she had left 2000 polaroids since the house was first started. on her first visit, she initially donated approximately 1200. her friends bradley donated approximately 500, and chinako leaving a couple of hundred as well. and let’s not forget the members of the flickr polaroid house group who left their donations behind too.

it is unknown how many polaroids were taken from the house during it’s short life. but before it’s end, some were swapped and now probably adorn someone’s bedroom wall. i know that there are two on mine. long live the polaroid house.

my grateful thanks to ~KIM~, for letting me use, with permission, her photos and words as this story would have not been possible.