In conversation with Alan Schaller

It began as a hobby—this might resonate with a lot of people—and I just ended up becoming obsessed with it. Gradually I started developing my style and ended up working full-time as a black-and-white photographer and getting to travel around the world. It was honestly something I never thought I'd be able to do professionally.

Developing a style is about the convergence of a few things. Being in a place where you feel inspired, staying alert to the world around you, and honing your craft so that you can capture the moment when it presents itself. For me, the real skill is first figuring out how to get into interesting places and actually making the time in your life to get there. It’s a very subjective thing. In my book, Metropolis, a lot of the pictures were taken in very interesting, inspiring cities, which helps.

I’ve been doing black-and-white photography for about nine years now, which isn't that long of a time in the grand scheme of things. So I still have loads of ideas to explore. It helps to keep it fresh by playing with contrast and pushing cameras to their limits. I'm sure there’s much more that can be done with black-and-white photography. I've kept experimenting and ended up with my current style. I'm sure my approach will continue to evolve, but I also know it’s important not to force it.

I think finding the concept is very much an instinctive thing. But then the craft stage is about understanding what makes those images a cohesive body of work. The way I've worked has always been more instinctive. I try to avoid restrictions and just let my passion drive me. Though I still prioritize purposeful photography. You know, spraying and praying isn’t the most productive way to hone your craft.

Ansel Adams once said that taking 12 significant images a year means you’ve had a good year. I think that’s a much more realistic target than perfection. And so far, it's been about six years since I've been trying to do that, and I think I’ve managed it. There can't be a perfect image. It’s all about pushing the craft with the next photo you create.

I've had experience with previous Polaroid cameras like the SX-70, but they’re definitely not as accessible as this one. I'm quite a creature of habit, and I've used the same lens for pretty much my whole career. So it's quite a big thing for me to try out something new because I'm so entrenched in my way of working. It took me, honestly, only about three or four frames to understand what was going on with the I-2. My style of photography, you know, is very ordered and considered, and that's something I've been able to translate onto the I-2. It’s very sharp and very specific, which makes it a great tool for storytelling, especially with the depth of field and the sharpness of the I-2’s lens. Being able to use exposure compensation and shutter priority aperture is also a game-changer. It has all these things that you would expect on a 35mm camera.

If you’re just getting started in analog photography, it can be quite hard to learn lessons because of the time between taking the shot and seeing the outcome. But with the Polaroid I-2, you get that immediate feedback.

Yeah, it’s all mind games, though. There are times when you have a certain amount of growth or features and don’t hear from anyone for a few months. It can feel like, 'maybe I'm doing something wrong' or 'maybe my style isn’t in vogue anymore. Whenever I start feeling like that, I’ll try to take a picture that really excites me. I've also found the best way to deal with these feelings is remembering that I got into this line of work for the love of it.

In the '60s, photography was more limited to professional and photojournalistic use. I recently read a statistic that went something like ‘600,000 cameras were sold worldwide in 1960, and today it's close to a billion if you include phones.’But the prevalence of the medium today has changed our world. People are documenting a lot more and becoming far more connected with one another through photography. It’s made people much more aware of a lot of situations around the world. Where before it was reserved for something quite artistic, now photography is a part of daily life. When Ansel Adams was alive, there might not have been as much appreciation for his work and what a genius he was. But now that photography is so prevalent, I think there's an appreciation for photographers that wasn't there even 15 years ago. I believe that we’re in a golden age of photography.

To be honest, I'm really happy with the images I’ve created on the I-2. At one stage, I’d love to do a Polaroid photography exhibition and maybe even a book. But in the immediate future, my second book, Street Safari, is currently in development. It’ll be a collection of animals great and small that I have encountered over the last nine years of shooting in urban environments. I’m looking forward to seeing it printed.