A customer's weird question about a Polaroid SX-70 made me laugh and then think

So this older guy brought in his dad's old SX-70 last week, the leather is all peeling. He watched me clean the rollers for a minute and then goes, 'You know, I always figured these things ran on magic.' I laughed, but he was totally serious. He said his dad told him that when he was a kid, and he'd never questioned it. He asked me, point blank, if I was just the guy who 'recharged the magic.' I mean, idk, it was funny but it also kinda hit different. It made me realize that for a lot of people, especially with these older cameras, the whole process is just a complete mystery. They drop it off and hope the repair person is a wizard. Makes you think about how we explain things. Has anyone else gotten a question that made you totally rethink how you talk about your work?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_carter2mo ago

Ever get someone who thinks the mirror flipping up is the camera taking a breath? I had a kid ask me that once, and honestly it's a better way to see it than just gears and springs.

harper6932mo ago

Oh man, that's perfect. I had a lady ask me if her film camera had a "little darkroom inside it" that developed the picture. It really does feel like explaining a kind of magic sometimes, and that's a special part of the job.

skylerrobinson2mo ago

My favorite was a guy who thought the memory card was a tiny photo album and got mad when he couldn't flip the pages. He was so sure the pictures were stored on little pieces of paper inside.