For local photographer Maddy Green, a love for what's vintage extends to the device one may use to capture the perfect moment.
And if you visit the home she shares with her boyfriend, you might find dozens of these old gadgets not far from the mid-20th century retro furniture and home furnishings they've found at antique shops and flea markets. They're Polaroid cameras, and not just a couple of them. Maddy, who favors portrait photography for her own work, has collected more than 100 Polaroid cameras, famous for their ability to produce an instant snapshot with a distinctive look, feel and color.
Maddy's camera collection dates back seven decades to 1948 with the Polaroid Model 95 Land Camera. Some work, some don't. Various styles, shapes and technologies are represented, but all of her cameras, some bought for just $1, have that unmistakable Polaroid look.
Her interest in Polaroids originated in a genuine affection for film-based cameras, which people would give her. But then her boyfriend, only two years ago, provided her with that first Polaroid, and from then on their antiquing trips had an additional purpose.
"It's kind of like a little treasure hunt, so it's fun finding more and more," said Maddy, who's been a photographer for about 10 years.
What was it that captivated her about that first Polaroid?
"I think it was the nostalgia factor. I think it's the same thing with all of our antiquing and mid-century stuff. It's just that it has sentimental value," Maddy said.
She professes to be an old soul and loves to hear the stories older people can tell.
A practiced photographer who's used many different types of cameras and tried various types of photography, Maddy started doing journalistic photos in school but over time moved on to portraiture.
Her business, Maddy Green Photography, is done on the side.
She and her boyfriend have visited hundreds of flea markets and antique shops - on one trip visiting 35 shops in Northwest Arkansas.
The result is a collection of Polaroids in various stages of working or not-working order. She keeps parts handy, exchanging and fixing as she works with them. She has about 30 Polaroids just for part swapping.
Photographers can still buy Polaroid film, but it's a little more costly than years past, she said, roughly $2 an exposure. "It's not as inexpensive as it was before," Maddy said. Between testing them and using them, Polaroids are an expensive hobby.
In an age when people use Instagram and their phones to endlessly capture images, Polaroids feel like a total throwback.
"You get one shot and that's it," Maddy said.
From the earliest Polaroids, the design graduated to a more square-ish shape, she said. "It moved from the large bellow-ness to just all mechanical. That's when it really shifted the design because you didn't necessarily need roll film. You could put instant film in there and it would come out instantly." They became more compact.
"I have the first-ever Polaroid that was made," she said. She doesn't have the newest ones, but she does have them up to the late 1990s.
Maddy maintains a list of what she has, noting where she bought the camera, how much it cost and other pertinent information. "I do a lot of research once I've found them," she said. She doesn't spend more than $30 on a Polaroid because she feels it's not worth it.
"It would be cool at some point to display them in a museum-y type sense," she said, "but I have a long way until that happens."
(On the Net: MaddyGreenPhotography.com. You can also find Green on Instagram, @maddygreenphotography.)