Puh-LAAAH-roid? What dat is?

I had a funny encounter with a TSA agent while travelling back from the States a couple months ago. I was carrying 15 packs of unexposed Impossible Project (Polaroid) film, and given the cost per pack, I requested them to screen these by hand, rather than risk running them through the X-ray detector at security and fogging the film.

The TSA agent surprisingly agreed to the request with no hesitation. Score. But the guy I asked said his colleague would do it. So I'm standing there grinning like an idiot thinking, "Cool, that was easy." Meanwhile said colleague (a black lady at the security line one aisle over) shoots me that look of "What, you think I'm gonna walk to you? Get yo ass over here, foreigner!" It was kind of intimidating, so I quickly brought my foreign ass over there for inspection. I explained to her that I wanted my Polaroid film inspected by hand, and this is where I was so amused by her response. "Puh-LAAAH-roid? What dat is?" I wanted to laugh at how she said this, because it was so exaggerated, but I also didn't want to risk irritating her any further than I already had by apparently not knowing she expected me to present myself to her.

Anywho, here are an assortment of some shots taken with a Polaroid SX-70 on this Impossible film while we were in NY and Chicago on this trip. They look like crappy instagram photos, but I assure you, these were far more costly.


Antoine and Susanna, a French and Chilean couple we met at JFK airport.


The sights and smells of Chinatown in NYC. Fresh crabs anyone?




A wall sized display of Chuck Taylors at the Converse Store.






John, bartender and tour guide at Revolution Brewing in Chicago. Oh, and their beer? Amazing.




Susan, volunteer guide with the Chicago Architecture Foundation.


The Marina City towers.


Wrigley Building.


View from our hotel window.




A sculpture inside the Chicago Institute of Art (an awesome art museum).