Mike Brodie (born in 1985), best known by his pseudonym ”Polaroid Kidd” is a self-trained American photographer from Pensacola, Florida.
In 2003 Brodie left home at 18 to travel the rails across America. A friend gave him a camera and he found himself spending three years photographing the friends and companions he encountered with the Polaroid SX-70. Polaroid discontinued SX-70 film, so now he shoots on 35mm on a Nikon F3.
His photographs have been featured in exhibits in Milwaukee, at Get This! Gallery in Atlanta and in Los Angeles at M+B Gallery. His work was also selected to appear in the 2006 edition of the Paris International Photo Fair at the Louvre. In November 2007 he collaborated with Swoon and Chris Stain to mount an installation at Gallery LJ Beaubourg in Paris. He also has had collaborative shows with artist Monica Canilao.
His photographs largely depict what he refers to as “travel culture”, train-hoppers, vagabonds, squatters and hobos.
Critic Vince Aletti of artsandantiques.net says of Brodie’s work: “Even if you’re not intrigued by Brodie’s ragtag bohemian cohort—a band of outsiders with an unerring sense of post-punk style—the intimate size and warm, slightly faded color of his prints are seductive. His portraits…..have a tender incisiveness that is rare at any age.”
In 2003 Brodie left home at 18 to travel the rails across America. A friend gave him a camera and he found himself spending three years photographing the friends and companions he encountered with the Polaroid SX-70. Polaroid discontinued SX-70 film, so now he shoots on 35mm on a Nikon F3.
His photographs have been featured in exhibits in Milwaukee, at Get This! Gallery in Atlanta and in Los Angeles at M+B Gallery. His work was also selected to appear in the 2006 edition of the Paris International Photo Fair at the Louvre. In November 2007 he collaborated with Swoon and Chris Stain to mount an installation at Gallery LJ Beaubourg in Paris. He also has had collaborative shows with artist Monica Canilao.
His photographs largely depict what he refers to as “travel culture”, train-hoppers, vagabonds, squatters and hobos.
Critic Vince Aletti of artsandantiques.net says of Brodie’s work: “Even if you’re not intrigued by Brodie’s ragtag bohemian cohort—a band of outsiders with an unerring sense of post-punk style—the intimate size and warm, slightly faded color of his prints are seductive. His portraits…..have a tender incisiveness that is rare at any age.”
"One day, I came across a book of portraits by Steve McCurry, the Nat Geo photographer. I was inspired, and told myself I was going to go take portraits like him, so I went out in the world and tried my best to get good photos of the people and places that I thought were important to me. " ~ Mike Brodie
Mike Brodie AKA "The Polaroid Kidd" Self Portrait with a friend.
