Backyard, Lux Lounge, Rochester, New York 2007

I really had no idea what to expect when I committed to graduate school in Rochester, New York. Where was I going? And, of vital import to my sanity, where was I going to get a drink? The answer, more often than not, was Lux.

The bar’s backyard, where this picture was made, was a big attraction. Spring and summer found a dozen or so picnic tables full of revelers, occasionally a dog would be making the rounds. In winter an outdoor fireplace kept smokers warm; you’d go home smelling like cigarettes, a campfire, or both.

The night I made this Polaroid was brutally cold. I placed the bulky folding camera on a mini tripod and pressed the shutter, several seconds elapsed as the film soaked up the scene. Out came the print and I rushed it to my pocket so it would develop correctly in the sub-freezing night. Just then, the camera – too awkwardly heavy for such a small tripod – proceeded to fall face-first into the snow. “God dammit,” I bellowed as I snatched the camera; there was snow packed into every nook and cranny. I had just bought damn the thing; now it was full of what would soon be water.

There was nothing to do but shake out as much of the snow as possible and go inside. I grabbed some napkins to sop up the melt but after a few drinks I abandoned my babying, my full attention now focused on the frantic consumption of $1 cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. The next day the camera worked perfectly. Me, not so much.