SX-70 Polaroids

Sometime around 1981, Waldrum began photographing with a Polaroid SX-70 camera. He was fascinated with the similarity between the little square window of the SX-70 print and his own painterly concerns. His canvases had often been square and he liked to stress the effect of equal pressures on all sides of his compositions. Polaroids also have a fullness of color, a kind of swelling with light, that had long been a feature of Waldrum's paintings.
—William Peterson, Artspace Magazine1

Thousands of Waldrum's SX-70 Polaroid “monoprints,” as he called them — mostly images of adobe churches and moradas — were donated to the Museum of New Mexico in 2009, and all of the images on this page are shown courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives.

As part of that donation, the Albuquerque Museum of Art featured hundreds of Waldrum Polaroids in a 2011 exhibit named "A Passionate Light."

Churches photographed by Waldrum: Abiquiu, Agua Fria, Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Seco, Cañon, Cañoncito at Apache Canyon, Cañones, Capulin, Chacón, Chamisal, Santo Niño de Atocha, Santuario de Chimayó, Cleveland, Córdova, Corrales, Cuartelez, Cundiyo, El Valle, Estaca, Galisteo, Golden, Hernández (2), Holman, Isleta, La Cueva, Lamy, Las Colonias, Las Trampas, Ledoux, Llano Quemado, Villita, Los Lunas, Madrid, Medanales, Mora, Ojito, Ojo caliente, Ojo sarco, Picuris Pueblo, Pilar, Placitas, Ranchitos de Galisteo, Ranchos de Taos, Rio en medio, Rodarte, San Cristóbal, San José, San Miguel del Vado, San Ysidro, Santa Cruz, Guadalupe (2), San Miguel, Santa Rosa de Lima, Sena, Talpa, La Loma Plaza, San Geronimo mission, Tecolote, Tierra Amarilla, Truchas, Upper Pueblo, Valdez, Vallecitos, Velarde, Villa Nueva, Youngsville, Hernandez, Llano San Juan, Carmelita Convent, Chamisal, El Prado.

Moradas photographed by Waldrum: Abiquiu, Alcalde, Larry Frank home (former Arroyo Hondo morada), Chacón (2), Los Cordovas, Cañon, Talpa, Antigua, Taos, Vadito, Rodarte, Truchas.

1Peterson, William. "Harold Joe Waldrum: The Churches of Northern New Mexico." Artspace Spring 1986: 23. Print.