The Power of Polaroid

When Lonnie Graham was 8 years old, his Uncle Floyd brought home a Polaroid Land Camera—the original instant camera named for its inventor, Edwin Land. Graham was immediately captivated by the device. “I spent every penny I earned from throwing papers onto porches and returning bottles to the store on film,” he says, “and once I’d figured out how to load the camera, all I did was photograph.”

Uncle Floyd, a mill worker near Pittsburgh, also bought Graham a World Book Encyclopedia set. Those volumes sparked a desire to travel—and also inspired “A Conversation With the World,” a photographic journey similar to the “Humans of New York” photolog, taken in 50 countries over 30 years. Graham’s work comprises scores of Polaroid shots of people from diverse backgrounds; in his books and exhibits, he often pairs the images with their subjects’ answers to a series of questions relating to life, death, the origins of the universe, family, community, and traditions.

“The project is based on my belief that we all share a common humanity,” says Graham, an award-winning photographer who retired this spring after teaching at University Park for 22 years.

“Everybody has a different way of interpreting the way they got here, everyone has their own culture and traditions. But I’ve found that often, we’re just separated by a single idea, and we all have the same basic needs.”

Those needs are simple enough: A safe and comfortable home. An opportunity to make a decent living. A happy family life. A peaceful death. A desire to pass along culture and traditions. “If there’s a lesson to be learned from my work,” Graham says, “I think it would be something like this: that if it were possible for people to listen to each other and share their ideas, if we respect other individuals enough to want to sit and listen to them, then we may not have some of the problems that we’re having.”

Throughout his career, Graham has used the arts—particularly photography and installation art—to explore humanity in communities around the world. He has won grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pew Charitable Trust, and the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, and he was named Pennsylvania Artist of the Year in 2006. His work, he says, endeavors to explore the bonds that exist between people regardless of their ethnic, racial, gender, and cultural differences. He credits the strength of “A Conversation With the World” to the power of instant photography.

“For me, the picture is the beginning of the conversation,” says Graham, who shoots on Polaroid Type 55 film, which produces both a print and a negative, the latter of which he keeps to develop. “I can be anywhere in the world, but when I take that picture, when I peel it off and give it to the person, that’s when the conversations begin. Some of those conversations have lasted five minutes, others have gone on for five hours. Some have resulted in lifelong friendships.”

The conversations and the portraits are as meaningful to his subjects as they are to Graham: A farmer he shot in 1989 in a small village in Kenya still keeps his Polaroid in the family Bible. In Ghana, Graham learned that fishermen from the north of the country had requested their portraits be published in the newspaper along with their obituaries.

For Graham, “A Conversation With the World” is a labor of love. He intends to keep the project going, even as it’s becoming more of a challenge. Polaroid film is scarce—“I’m scavenging the internet to find the last of it,” he says. Even in the remotest parts of the world, people have cellphones, and the selfie is commonplace. But Graham still believes in the power of the physical image, in the magic of a photo that he can hand over to a subject moments after capturing them on film. And for that magic, he will always be grateful to the Polaroid Land Camera—and to the uncle who, he says, “changed my life.”

A Sample of Photos from "A Conversation With the World"

Click the arrows to advance through the gallery below.

Ancient Treasures

Mr. Mungai was seated outside one of the 11 rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in western Ethiopia. “He had the most incredible face—its textures related to the wall behind him,” Graham says. After he was photographed, Mr. Mungai guided Graham through the tunnels and trenches that connect the churches, to a for-men-only inner sanctum housing a sacred manuscript printed on lion skin parchment. “Mungai,” says Graham, “like so many Ethiopians from that region, is dedicated to preserving the past, to honoring ancient traditions, and keeping those ancient churches going.”

Lonnie Graham's black and white portrait of Mr. Mungai of Ethiopia

Pride of Place

The Turkana people are nomadic herders who move between Kenya and South Sudan, through the disputed Ilemi Triangle that’s de facto controlled by Kenya but to which South Sudan lays claim. “The Turkana resisted the British Empire, they have resisted missionaries and other Westerners, they distrust all governments,” Graham says. “I asked this lady what she wants for her children—she said all she wants is to preserve her tribe’s lifestyle as is. That this would be her gift to her children.”

Lonnie Graham's black and white photo of a Turkana woman

Expert Guide

His name was Westphal, his English was perfect. “He made a good living as a guide,” says Graham, “and he was proud to be able to provide for his family. He traveled with me throughout Ethiopia. We talked about everything—the relationship between life and death, the importance of parents, the origins of the universe.”

Lonnie Graham's black and white portrait of Westphal of Ethiopia

Revelry in Peru

Every July, residents of the southern Peruvian town of Paucartambo pay homage to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, patron saint of fishermen and sailors. Graham’s then 12-year-old daughter, Mary, who had accompanied him to Paucartambo, pulled this costumed reveler off the street and into the courtyard where her father was shooting. “It was one of those serendipitous encounters where no words were exchanged, but I was able to capture on film a moment of pure joy,” Graham says.

Lonnie Graham's black and white portrait of a costumed reveler in Peru

The Matriarch

“Christine is an activist who clearly articulated her belief that the role of a Turkana woman is to hold her family together and make sure the values of her tribal community remain intact,” Graham says. “She was vehement that Native women everywhere should find the strength to fulfill this role in their community.”

Lonnie Graham's black and white portrait of a Turkana woman named Christine

When Beauty is Strength

For the Maisin women of Papua New Guinea’s Oro Province, traditional face tattooing is an immensely painful procedure that requires great strength to endure. Graham was awed by Airara’s strength as a steward of the land she lives on, and by her determination to preserve it for future generations.

Lonnie Graham's black and white portrait of Airara's a Maisin woman of Papua New Guinea's Oro Province

From Silence to Soliloquy

Ash-covered Hindu Sadhus who have renounced the material world are a common sight outside Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu, Nepal. “I was talking to the guy next to him,” says Graham of the individual in the photo, “when suddenly this man started talking—about the infinite, the cycle of life, the universe—and he wouldn’t stop.” It was only later that Graham learned the Sadhu had just broken a long vow of silence.

Lonnie Graham's black and white portrait of an ash-covered Hindu Sadhu outside the Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu Nepal

The Economy of Words

Outside a Buddhist shrine in Zanskar, India, an elderly pilgrim sits down, arranges his robe, and gives Lonnie Graham the once- over. “I never know,” says Graham, “when I photograph people how long they’re going to talk to me or whether they’re going to talk to me at all.” The pilgrim was a man of few words who, beyond asking Graham to take his photo and expressing his appreciation for the image, did not have much to say.