My Last Mocha
an 8×10 Polaroid passion project by David Poyzer
Brzz, bzzzrrr. The rollers on the vintage Polaroid developer start to suck in the 8×10 Polaroid.
Dan Bosman, a Mars Cafe barista of 14 years, and I are chatting just like we always do.
“It’s been slow,” says Dan. “None of my regulars have been through.”
The developer is a contraption like no Polaroid camera you’ve seen. Because it’s not a camera. It’s just the developing part, separated from the camera because it’s huge (weighing in at 20 pounds) and has to be plugged into the wall.
Cleaning the rollers of the Polaroid 8x10 developer.
Brrrzzz. The photo jams. Brz, brz, bzzzz. The rollers finally suck in the positive and negative, burst a packet of developer and squish it between the layers of film before shuttling the photo into the light sealed holding box.
After a few minutes, Dan and I peek at the photo. It’s not all there. An error in film loading, or a fluke of the processor, has rendered only half the image. I’ll have to try again.
I open up the film holder and slide in a single negative film pack. I close it, pull out the light cover, and walk back to the accordion camera.
