Polaroid x Dossier Journal

In December 2010 I continued with a few ongoing projects for Polaroid. Having shot backstage at NY Fashion Week for 2 seasons, I shot an editorial exclusively on Polaroid film for Dossier Journal. Featuring models Lyle Lodwick and Coco Young in Simon Spurr, Marc Jacobs, Philip Lim, Mandy Coon, Siki Im, Dolce and Gabanna and more. Here's what Dossier said about the piece...

Photographer Shawn Brackbill began using Polaroid cameras and film to shoot fashion last fall during New York Fashion Week, where he discovered the unique emotional bond that the instant film creates with its subjects. “In all of the backstage chaos,” he recalls, “I found that the Polaroid camera really put my subjects at ease. They’re familiar with it and they’ve used [the cameras] with their friends and family. There’s something about Polaroid that feels intimate and more casual.” Inspired by this experience, Shawn expanded his experiment, using a variety of the brand’s cameras and films to capture models Coco Young and Lyle Lodwick in studio. The resulting images, which you see here, recall an era before digital cameras and evoke the nostalgia of a lost scrapbook. As Lyle explains, “When you shoot Polaroids, you are making history. [It is] an artifact that, for this moment, is the only physical record of what just happened. It’s in my hands, developing before my eyes. You caught it just then. And here it is. It is now a window into that moment. You are instantly overcome with nostalgia—as if you are looking at the image you just took through your children’s eyes.”