Abigail Crone – Moments of Flowers and Summer Sun

Abigail Crone is a visual artist based in Pennsylvania. She submitted this wonderful, summery nostalgic series of self-portraits she took with a Polaroid SX-70 camera. Hazy colours in soft tones, surreal-looking double-exposures and all in all an atmosphere of a peaceful fairy-tale – it’s as if the Polaroids Abigail took are from another world.

Along her submission Abigail wrote this:

“I’m not sure I’d like to label myself a self-portrait artist necessarily, only because that feels limiting to me, but recently that’s been the bulk of my work. I’ve said this before, but it’s true, I can be pretty reclusive, and that’s what has drawn me to making self-portraits. When I make self-portraits I get to tell people how I experience the world, the way I feel, and even what I dream about without speaking to them directly. It’s amazing really, and it’s allowed me to connect to so many people online that I never would have met otherwise. I’ve formed a lot of relationships at a distance this way, and with other artists who I think really understand me through my photos.

I do all my work with film, but mostly I prefer instant film. Instant film gives these wonderful color qualities that add something a bit extra to my ideas. For instance I was just working with some expired Polaroid 669 film, and the colors in that film shift to blue and green, it can give photos an eerie and sad appearance. I made one photo in particular where it looks like I’m walking off into the forest, and the blue and green tint gives it this unsettling feeling, almost like it could be a still from a horror movie.

This set of photos sprung up really organically, they’re little moments of flowers and summer sun that just caught my imagination. Walking through gardens and drinking iced tea in July, it’s magical. I like to say I always feel a bit like a fairy walking through a garden wearing a summer dress. I wanted to show that ethereal feeling I get.”