Polaroid Pictures

A friend sent me this video [g-rated] that I adored [Thanks Brenda :o)]

http://www.snotr.com/video/1299

Witty and well done. If you listen closely, toward the end, you'll hear a clip of "Hey Ya" by OutKast, where you're supposed to
Shake it,
come on, sugar,
Shake it like a Polaroid Picture

And if you watch this couple dance.....they did their homework. Look at them, they are too young to really know WHAT "Shakin' it like a Polaroid" was! .....but those of you in my age bracket have very fond memories of Polaroid "instamatic" or land cameras. When I heard those few words, it made me remember a very specific time in our lives.

The "Instamatic". You aimed, clicked, ....and an undeveloped picture slid right out of the camera. The "shake" part. Well. SOME people believed that either the pictures developed faster, or better, if you shook them. The "shake" itself was very basic....pinch the side of the picture between your thumb and pointer, and wave it around in the air. ALL similarities end there though, there were as any different "shakes" as there are fishies in the ocean.

You had your "Miami Shake". Grandmas used that one. Kinda slow, while holding the pic up by the side of your face, so you could peek at it in between turns at canasta or flipping mah jong tiles. The "Kiddie Shake",- the pic held in one or both hands while the kid hops around like they need the bathroom. The "Sophisticate Shake".....the photo held a little higher than your Miami shake, but the Sophisticate wouldn't be caught DEAD letting anyone know they couldn't wait for the film to develop.They peeked though, Everyone did. The "Espresso Shake" self-explanatory,and those people thought that the more air the snap got,the faster it would develop. The "Group Shake",- when one friend got a camera,they could take the snaps, but the developing pic had to be passed back and forth between everyone in that group of friends. If multiple snaps were taken, sometimes you never got to see the first pictures taken fully developed, cause they were put aside while waiting for the later ones to develop.

When Steve was a senior in high school, his parents gave him a Polaroid camera. He held onto that, and the pics of the first years of our married life, are all instamatics. From our second reception [long story,but be assured you'll read it sooner or later, pretty funny too] to our first apartment, and the arrival of Stevie and Boo, hell, I have some of Tony, but by then [the late 80's early 90's] I think we moved beyond that camera. Or it broke so we bought a cheap replacement. Not only could you take pics, but you could see them right away,............no waiting a week or more for the developed pics to come back, and you could take additional pics on the spot when presented with a cute kid moment and you wanted to share it with far-flung family and friends.

Seeing that couple, that adorable young couple who didn't have a clue how to "Shake it like a polaroid" but did their homework, made me think of our Polaroids. And Steve. And Fathers Day.

Dear, Dear, Steve,

Happy Fathers Day! You have been the best Dad our kids could have hoped for, and even though they're all adults now, they know they can turn to you for advice when the going gets tough. And they DO, and THAT is the true litmus test of your parenting. Their Love and Respect for you aside, Your adult kids LIKE you and look to you for guidence. From me to You, here are a few blasts from the past, from that Polaroid camera. I Love You. Happy Fathers Day!

Over the years, I scanned a lot of them into the puter, and "fixed" them, much to my chagrin. Looking at the real untouched originals now, I LOVE the margins on them,and the much softer focus of the finished pic.But all these came from that time frame, and that camera