Capturing our Todays for Tomorrow

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a photography nut. I have at least one camera on my person at all times, *in addition* to my cell phone.

I think any true lover of photography has an innate, nostalgic love for Polaroid and it’s old school instant print cameras. I am so happy that even in the day and age of all things digital, they have managed to not only keep up with the times, but also still provide fun, instant options for us. As a matter of fact, when I saw the new Polaroid Z2300 Instant Print Digital Camera at CES this year, I just knew I needed to have it.

The 10-megapixels caught my eye, but what reeled me in was the ZINK Zero Ink Printing Technology. Your pictures can be printed instantly on the fly, on fun peel and stick paper. While I had some vague ideas of how I could use my new friend, it wasn’t until I was given this beautiful Peter Pan commemorative journal from my luncheon with Kathryn Beaumont that I *knew* just what this new camera would enable me to do.

I would start InstaScrapbooking. I’ve always been a fan of tangible things like “snail mail” so the thought of creating a handwritten journal of our family’s todays to someday give to my son really appealed to me. Being able to snap a picture of the moment I’m writing about and sticking it to a page in the book was just perfect!

But a funny thing happened. The first time I pulled the Polaroid Z2300W out to snap pictures of Whistler’s first “real” haircut, it instantly caught my 3 year old son’s eye and he wanted to learn to use it. It only took me a second to say, “Sure, why not?” After all, it is a simple enough camera with few settings and a nice big red shutter button.

I handed it over to Whistler and with only the instruction of “press the red button when you want to take a picture”, he was off and running. At first he took pictures of his toes, and me, and dad but then he moved on to his toys.

And then something happened. He put down the camera and told his toys that he was doing a photo shoot and they needed to get ready and line up.

And I believe in that instant, a photographer was born. His creativity and “eye” for the shots he took made my heart melt on the spot.

And it was in that instant that I also realized our InstaScrapbook had grown into so much more. While it started out being a written version of *my* thoughts, words and observations – it was now a collaborative project that could showcase Whistler’s point of view as well.

So I printed out some of my favorites from Whistler’s photo shoot (above) and added them to the book next to my own first entry.

And in the end, this is how Polaroid has managed to keep a place in my heart and a permanent place in our home. I’m very much looking forward to the memories of today that we will capture as a team for tomorrow.

Thank you to Polaroid for providing the Z2300W Instant Print Camera and to Zink for providing the Zero Ink Paper for purposes of this review. All opinions 100% original and as always, mine, all mine.