Andy Warhol's Polaroids: Why Everyone Remembers the Photographs
Andy Warhol's Polaroids: Why Everyone Remembers the Photographs
The Culture Edit, Vol. 02
Nobody remembers the drinks. Everyone remembers the photographs.
Andy Warhol photographed almost everyone who walked into the Factory: artists, actors, friends, strangers, all on a little Polaroid camera. Decades later, those snapshots are the record of who was in the room. That idea is the whole reason this post exists. If you've ever wondered what to do with the stack of instant prints on your fridge, this is your sign to give them an instax™ photo album of their own.
Who did Andy Warhol photograph with his Polaroid?
Everyone. From the early 1970s until his death in 1987, Warhol's camera of choice was the Polaroid Big Shot, a strange, boxy thing made only for portraits. Fixed focus, built-in flash, head and shoulders. You didn't fiddle with it. You just stepped closer, or further away, and pressed the button.
And he pressed it constantly. Liza Minnelli, David Hockney, Jerry Hall, Grace Jones, Truman Capote, Paloma Picasso. Society friends and commission clients sat for him too, usually after lunch, and he'd shoot a sitting dozens of times over, sometimes close to two hundred frames, before choosing the one that would become a silkscreen portrait.
The paintings hang in museums now, but it's the Polaroids I can't stop looking at. Small, slightly overexposed and a little too close, they feel like being in the room.
Why do Warhol's Polaroids still matter?
Because the parties are gone. The Factory is gone. Studio 54 is gone. What's left is a pile of instant photographs, and they tell us more about that world than any guest list ever could.
That's what an instant photo does. It doesn't wait to be edited, filtered or posted. It comes out of the camera already finished, already an object you can hold, hand to someone, or lose down the side of a couch. It's the opposite of the 4,000 photos sitting on your phone right now.
Warhol wasn't the only one who knew it. Helmut Newton, one of my all-time favourite photographers, shot Polaroids before almost every frame, and those little test shots became some of his most loved work. Even in film, the photographer is often the person paying the most attention. Think of Anna in Closer, quietly making portraits of strangers, or Cristina in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, finding herself in the darkroom. The camera is how you say: I was here, and so were you.
Edie Sedgwick and Factory Girl
If the Factory had a face, it was Edie Sedgwick's. The silver-blonde crop, the heavy liner, the chandelier earrings, the black leotard worn like eveningwear. In 1965 she was everywhere Warhol was, starring in his films and turning up in his photographs, and she became the original It girl of his world.
Factory Girl (2006) tells her story, with Sienna Miller as Edie and Guy Pearce as Warhol. It's a film about glamour and the cost of it, but what stays with me are the photo booth scenes and the snapshots. The way a single strip of pictures can hold an entire friendship.
Look at Edie in a photo booth and you'll see why those little frames still matter. Four pictures, four different women, all the same girl. No retouching, no second takes. Just a moment, kept.
How do you start your own Warhol-style instax™ archive?
You don't need a Big Shot or a Factory. You need an instax™ camera or printer, a few packs of film, and the willingness to look a little bit silly.
- Photograph everyone who walks in. Dinner parties, birthdays, Sunday lunch at your mum's. Warhol didn't only shoot the famous people. Shoot the ones who matter to you.
- Get close. Head and shoulders, like the Big Shot. Faces age beautifully in an album.
- Take more than one. Warhol shot dozens a sitting. Give the extra one to the person in it.
- Write on the back. A name, a date, one line about the night. Future you will be so grateful.
- Give them somewhere to live. A print on the fridge is lovely. A print in an album is a story.
Which instax™ photo album is right for you?
Our FUJIFILM INSTAX™ collaboration albums are linen-bound and made to fit instax™ film exactly. Each one is $89.
Moments is for life as it's happening. The party, the portrait corner, the after-party. Available in Mini and Wide.
The Archive is for memories. Your own Factory record, the one you'll hand to your kids one day. Available in Mini and Wide.
Pictures is for fun. Nights out, besties, the photo booth strip you can't throw away. Available in Mini.
Or shop the full instax™ collection.
Your photos are on your phone. Print them. Don't leave them in a drawer. Give them somewhere beautiful to live.
Elif x
The Culture Edit is Wild Romantic's journal of the films, women, photographs and cultural references that shape our visual world. To hear first about what we're up to, join The Romantic Club.
FAQ
What camera did Andy Warhol use for his Polaroids?
Mostly the Polaroid Big Shot, a fixed-focus portrait camera with a built-in flash. He used it from the early 1970s until 1987, and his Polaroids became the starting point for his silkscreen portraits.
Who played Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl?
Sienna Miller played Edie Sedgwick in Factory Girl (2006), with Guy Pearce as Andy Warhol.
What is the best photo album for instax™ photos?
Look for one sized to your film. The Wild Romantic Moments and The Archive albums come in instax™ Mini and Wide, and Pictures comes in Mini. All three were made with FUJIFILM INSTAX™.
Where can I buy Wild Romantic albums in Melbourne?
Online any time, and in store at Film Never Die on High Street, Northcote.
