I am a Polaroid artist living in London, originally hailing from Co. Cork, Ireland. I have been taking Polaroid photographs for over ten years. I started out shooting with a cheap 600 series Polaroid camera and lots of free film. After catching the Polaroid bug - falling in love with the tangibility of the instant image – I quickly started collecting as many Polaroid cameras as I could lay my hands on. This has led to a collection resembling an addiction.

My work is concerned with cataloguing life in all its eccentricities, using only available light, with no cropping, editing, or manipulation. Polaroid allows me the freedom from complication, allowing me to concentrate on creating the image in camera, creating a dialogue between viewer and photographer. What I see is what you see. By using Polaroid, I am able to authenticate the images, proving to the audience that this image is indeed how things were, without embellishments, adding gravity to the statement that ‘the camera never lies’. My pictures stand in direct opposition to digital imagery- I use Polaroids not because they are convenient but because it is a medium with a whole set of individual rules particular to instant photography that allow an honesty and mysticism one can only dream of with digital.

Since Polaroid ceased production in 2008, I have been forced to use more and more expired materials, which has led to whole new ways of working. Now, more than ever, each image I shoot is half mine, and half belonging to the peculiar eccentricities of a particular film pack. My work is often autobiographical in content, focused on familiar locations from my life. My aim is to allow the viewer of my works to feel some of the intimacy I feel for a place, or person. Polaroids, with their illicit subtext, and rapid creation, break down the barriers between viewer and photographer – everyone knows how to take a Polaroid. They are accessible, and timeless, allowing my work to be assimilated by the viewer in a way that I could not achieve with more complex photographic methods. … Read More