In this digital age, Daniel Rodrigue ('08, '10 M.J.) prefers the Polaroid camera.
"When each photo is taken with a Polaroid camera, a little chemical magic happens as the photograph develops and appears before the subject's eyes," he says. "It's a very what-you-see-is-what-you-get medium that's extremely limiting for a photographer because you can't edit the photo after it's taken like you can with digital images."
Rodrigue's interest led him to co-found the Instant Film Society, which sponsors annual PolaWalks and PolaCons -- gatherings in which fans learn more about film and techniques.
Rodrigue, who is a professor of journalism and photography at Brookhaven College in Dallas, won the 2019 Excellence in Teaching/Minnie Stevens Piper Professor Award at Brookhaven and was named the 2019 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association's Adviser of the Year.
He began PolaCon in 2012 without a budget, spreading the word through the media. More than 250 fans from the U.S., Europe and Canada attended last year's event in Denton.
"From the regular PolaWalks to our annual PolaCon, the coolest part of the Instant Film Society is meeting other instant film aficionados from across Texas, the U.S. and, now, the world," he says.
