Can you relive a moment? And if so, what would you do? Relive it exactly as it is? Or add a different color to it? Perhaps change the soundtrack to it? Revisit is as if you were in a computer simulation, task failed successfully?
Going through Desiree Rogers’ photos makes you relive her moments altered to her own liking: through stickers and paint strokes, she regains control over her past via Polaroid-mediated collages.
On her Instagram account @invisiblespotlight she takes us on a journey through cities, and nature landscapes – sometimes taking it all in at once, other times singling out a particular feature from the scenery. Her affinity for patterns and the outdoors are prominent themes where her love for the complexity of light, shadow and bright colors are fixated on film. Using expired film, Desiree puts the shifts in color and graininess at work to create a dreamy and ethereal aesthetic, characterized by low contrast and chemical failures. But she doesn’t stop there: she creates layers in her memory with other bits of photos or scans of found art such as stickers, labels, print items, etc. Sometimes the past moments require paint strokes to have an accelerated feel – depending on the imagery the strokes are incorporated on top of the collage or sandwiched in between. Digitally scanning the images, she remains steadfast that the Polaroids remain unchanged – as to preserve the core of her memories.
The result is a trip down memory lane with vivid images recounting the past in bright colours, with a funny accent.
Her love for photography and graphic design began at a young age, when she was amazed at the polaroid image slowly appearing in front of her as it developed, describing it as ‘pure magic’. Her parents encouraged her to take pictures from time to time and soon enough she started shooting instant film with her own camera in college. With her fantasy running wild, the only limit was money to save up enough to afford film. This passion pushed Desiree towards a BFA degree with specialities in photography and graphic design.
Today, she has several cameras, mainly Polaroid 600 cameras in various states: from dirty rollers, cracked film doors, and missing viewfinders to an SLR 680 which was gifted by a friend photographer.
For her Instagram account invisiblespotlight’, she only uses Film 600 and iType. One of the newest additions to her instant camera collection is the Polaroid OneStep+, yet she dabbles in other film cameras as well, stating she shoots ‘with anything and everything; Canon 5D, vintage 35mm, film and digital point and shoots, toy film multi-lens cameras or novelty ones which look like canned soda drinks, juice boxes, etc (the quirkier the better)’.
When asked which dreams she’d like to fulfil with her cameras, Desiree has a clear vision. Attracted to the bright colours and costumes of Caribbean Carnivals, she feels the urge to capture these on instant film and understand how these vivid memories will translate especially on expired film.
In addition, she’d like to explore the use of instant cameras and expired film in night photography, to gain insights on how its limitations will impact the combination. Indeed, night photography has its own challenges and boundaries, and creating instant magic with expired film will pose an interesting practical burden – but between the lines we read the making of new memories that Desiree will undoubtedly bring to life again and again, recounting them in layers of paint brushes and stickers.
If only we could do so in real-time, living our current life as Desiree relives her past, life would indeed be quirkier and better.