THE LIST
v ‘ Nigel Billen sees ten Fringe favour- ites snapped by David Williams using the giant Polaroid camera. lavent pictures by Graham Maelndoe.
lliet hate tuggling' ( "iieus ( )/'seontpan_\ :itanagei had told me on the phone. But h} the hue I reaehed tlte l’olaroid Instant Images \hthition. our photogt aphei . l'dinhiirgh hased “in id \Villtams had alread_\ hought tlte oranges ‘ltt a litttlgel as light .1\ lllts one the\ eertainls weren‘t going to he \sasted. lhe idea
iringe pei hunters and one oi the not his most Lllll\ll.tl ealtle'l .t\ llittl heen l).i\ ltlis lille' ' ltotographer ptohah|_\ hest klttm n loreapttiring -he heliind the seeties \soi ld ot a git ls‘ hoarding eltool in his hook I’it lures from .\'o liq/is lurid. had heen ltt\ ited to he the lust photographer to
[it l‘l'lltg together it disparate hand ol
’ the] N _‘(i:\ug lSept Ws‘s‘
tise the giant Illin h} 24in l’olaroid eantet‘a on its inaugural \ isit to Seotland. 'I don't knots it it is a eoinpliment'. he told tne. ‘\\‘ho's to knots the hlootl} thing \\ ill \sot‘k'.
that \s as hel'ore \\ e aetually s;t\\ the eamera attd its operator (and ettratot' ol'the International l’olaroid('olleetion). .lan llni/do. l earnittg to use the eamera and marshalling the ltinge perl'ormers all in the spaee ol a l'e\\ hours. suddenly seemed a lar less daunting task. 'l‘he eamera- onh in eol'them \\ ere e\ er httilt has none ol'the sliek linesol'a eotnntereiall} axailahle l’olaroid. But then _\on are not going to “am to s\\ ing this one round _\our neek. .'\ slightl} lleath Rohinson eomhination ol'mahogan} atid meehanieal parts that look as it the} tttigltt lta\ e eome ottt ol a Meeeano set. the eamera eotild almost helong to the last eentut'}. l hall e\peeted l)a\ id to disappear heneath a hlaek hood and tor e\‘et'_\ image to he preeeded h_\ a llash and pull ol smoke. But .lan \sas reassuring. It might ttot look like the leth eentur}; htit meehanieal|_\ it had nex er let its operator dots n.
.lust eight} seeonds alter the shot is taken. e\;tetl_\ as in a domestie Polaroid. the haeking is peeled oil to re\ eal a pin sharp image. at least the equal to an_\ l‘\ e seeti taken h_\' a normal s‘iltttct‘a.
\alttt'all} . seeing the results til the photographer‘s \sork almost immediateh adds a tie“ element to the photographie proeess. \Vhat \\ e had hoped lor “as an ex ent \sot‘tlt} ol the atmosphere ol the hinge. and that is \\ ltat \\ e got. .\lit‘aetilottsh . all our ehosen ten arrii ed tnore or less in time. \\ ith onl} one unlortunate mis up depris ing its ol' the l’estix al's laxottrite James Bond l'l'he list's apologies). l’a} l’t'esto. sleight ol‘ hand expert \s ho had a it“ nights hel'ore passed. helore my \ er} e_\ es. a eigarette through a perleetly solid ten penee pieee. arri\ ed together is ith lter tnagie eahinet lot' splitting people in halt. ‘l las en't heen a roadie lor _\ears‘. remarked Rot ()tiantoek lending a hit ol .-\tissie hra\s n to help get it in plaee. ()uantoek. as \\ ell as helping to holster \\ hat had heeome a \ agttel} .-\ustralian theme to the shoot (in addition to ( 'iretis ( )1. \s e had do“ n-under satirist and Queen impersonator. ( ierr} (‘onnolls ) had heen
in\ ited to sase him the trouhle ol gateerashing.
.-\rnold Bro“ n \\ ho has this festival lttguhrioush heen enio_\ ing his role as an ‘anti elima\' ( lte \son the l’et‘rier .»\\\ard last _\ear) arri\ ed in his erumpled raincoat. looking a little like ( ‘olumho and gix‘ing his masterh impression ol'soineone \\ ho took a wrong turning some“ here and had got in\ol\ ed h_\' mistake.
'I‘imhila. a l)uteh l'olk mtisie group (OK I‘m sort'_\ . 'l'he} don‘t real} like heingealled a l'olk group the} pt‘ohalil} don't like iuggling either). represented h_\ Ben \‘liiminex and Hans Van l)orp together \\ ith their huge Atriean inspired ealimha. eompleted the piettire.
\\ ith deadlines ol perl'ormanee times elsexs here to he met. the Polaroid eame into its on n. 'l'iming a lire-eater. a iuggler attd an aerohat \\ ith the earnera isn‘t the easiest thing in the world. “ith the l’olat'otd at least _\ou knots almost immediateh il'.\ott'\ e got it right. When you do. \\ ith no ttegati\ es to reprint lrom. the result is a unique \sork ol art (see eo\'et' shot ). But asiou eatt see aho\ e. e\ en the ones that don‘t quite \sork Ita\ e their on n eharm.
I’u/umu/ Iris/tut! Images The Seottish ( ‘ouneil lor l)e\elopittent and Industry . 23 ( ’hester street. 225 7011. lt'sopenMon l-‘ri. 0.30am 4.30pm throttghout the l-‘esti\ al. [I \\ ill he re\'ie\\ ed in the linal l’esti\ al issue ol The list. next \seek.
l Dave Willams photographed by Graham Maclndoo