‘I went to the Ritz, pitched myself as the perfect person to add to the scene, and they went for it,’ says Sharon Smith, relaying the genesis of her ‘camera girl’ persona and introduction to New York nightlife, via the East Village club (later known for MTV’s ‘Live at The Ritz’ series), circa 1980. Previously a prom photographer at the Copacabana, shooting teenagers on a bulky press camera (her technician boss would be holed up in the basement downstairs, processing images in real time), for the Ritz she adopted the Polaroid SX-70, and subsequently spent the 1980s working across various dancefloors, selling snaps to dolled up patrons and not infrequently, photographing celebrities.
‘There were people who had little point and shoot cameras at the time,’ continues Smith, ‘but I was the only one doing what I was doing.’ Over nearly a decade the photographer took 1000s of Polaroids, selling them first for $3 a piece, and later $5. Now, forty years after her Ritz initiation, IDEA Books has launched a new monograph of Smith’s photographs, titled Camera Girl and edited by former editor-in-chief of LIFE magazine, Bill Shapiro. ‘When I look at these old Polaroids, what I feel is creativity and community, freedom and hedonism, excitement and envy,’ observes the DJ Honey Dijon, who spoke with Shapiro for the book’s introduction. ‘These pictures talk to me.’
