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Polaroid Automatic 100 Land Camera

Remember the Land Camera?

It’s not the flip-up viewfinder, cool as that might be. Not the pull out lens, magical as it is.

It’s the smell that you remember when the photographer flips up, pulls out and lines up the shot.

Before the film is wrenched from the back (in the time that it takes to say “Polaroid”) and laid down somewhere smooth and flat while the timer ticks down.

Even before the aroma of developer wafts towards you — a heady mix of gluey, vinegary smells — it’s in your nostrils and you’re back to birthday parties, to family Christmases, to all those childhood memories you thought you’d forgotten*.

*And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, then this being ‘Roid week, it’s the perfect time to find out.

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