Polaroid Week: Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff

Polaroid Week: Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff by Michael HoneggerJune 6, 2025

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Farewell

Polaroid photography, with its distinctive immediacy and nostalgic charm, has long captivated artists seeking to push the boundaries of image-making. This week we spotlight five innovative Polaroid artists whose diverse practices explore the full spectrum of the medium’s creative possibilities—from experimental manipulations and emulsion lifts to hand-altered prints and conceptual storytelling. Each brings a unique vision to the format, demonstrating that the instant photo is a dynamic and thriving alternative

In a digital world obsessed with clarity, speed, and permanence, Danish photographer, Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff turns her lens—and her process—toward something far more fragile: impermanence. Through her project, Decay, she submerges fully developed Polaroid photos in water, allowing chemistry, time, and chance to dissolve the image into something unpredictable and one-of-a-kind. The result is a body of work that explores memory, erosion, and the quiet beauty of letting go. I inquired about her philosophy behind decay, the patience the process demands, and what it means to create art that’s impossible to replicate in the series of questions that follow….

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Collage of Decays

What first inspired you to work with Polaroid in this way? Was there a specific moment or image that sparked the “Decay” project?

In 2017 I visited Wim Wenders Polaroid exhibition at the Photographer’s Gallery in London and my life changed. It was such a beautiful and honest exhibition. Extremely clean colors showing behind the scenes Polaroid work from his film sets. Returning home from London, I decided that my focus should no longer be primarily on digital photography. Also, I decided to no longer be a commercial photographer but a visual artist / art photographer. Polaroid had simply stolen my heart, and I felt a very clear calling that there was no turning back. I started my Polaroid journey by buying the book – or I should say, Polaroid bible “Polaroid, the Missing Manual” by Rhiannon Adam. I read the book from cover to cover and was particularly focused on the book´s second half where Rhiannon presents the reader with various techniques to experiment with Polaroids.

I found the chapter on film souping/decaying an easy go-to for a start and was ever so curious to try out the technique myself to see if it was true that the Polaroid would dissolve when in contact with water. And it did. I remember how I ran to my partner at that time and showed him how the polaroid was starting to change in the water. He was just as thrilled as I was.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Chewing Gum

The idea of letting photographs literally fall apart feels radical in a medium often used to preserve memory. What draws you to the theme of decay?

I am drawn to doing the unexpected and my curiosity to finding out if I can create something even closer to my core than the photo that came straight out of the camera. I am not talking about doing something unexpected in a destructive way for the sake of it. But in the hope of creating something different, perhaps more interesting and more to the point of what I wish to express than the initial and raw result that came out of my camera.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Broken but Standing

Could you describe the process of creating a Polaroid Decay? How long does it take and what variables affect the result?

The process of creating a polaroid decay is a long process that requires tons of patience. Not in the sense that you put a lot of work into your piece but in the sense of having considerable patience and loads of time to wait for your piece to be ready.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Alsted Decay

The process:

If you want to speed up the decaying process, choose a freshly exposed Polaroid. Take a small container with a lid. Put a little bit of plain tap water in the container…enough to cover the Polaroid. Place the Polaroid in the container face down and cover it with the lid. Leave it in a dark place. Keep it out of the reach of children. Check on the Polaroid occasionally. If you work with a fresh Polaroid, check on it for the first time after a week or so. For an older Polaroid, check on it, the first time, after a month or so. Then keep checking weekly or daily until you are satisfied with the result. Dry it on a towel in a dark place for at least a month. When it is fully dried, wash off excess chemicals and dirt from the image and the frame around it using a cotton pad with a little water. Your polaroid is now ready to frame, scan or store as you please.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Spirits

Variables: I have a theory that the amount of water used for soaking the photo, defines how bright colors you get in your decay because the concentration of chemistry and color is “thicker” the less water you use. I also tried to experiment with the temperature of the water when starting the decaying process. And I have buried my polaroids in the garden to see if the moisture from the soil would give another result than soaking with water in a container.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Red Volley

Are there any particular images that surprised you in how they transformed? Do you find beauty in the unpredictability of the outcome?

I was especially pleased and surprised with how the piece “Alsted Decay” turned out. And that shot was a turning point for me in how to control the uncontrollable in the decaying process. The secret is: LOTS of patience and check on your Polaroids OFTEN and handle them with great care when lifting them out of their film soup. This is because the emulsion is fluid when it comes out of the water and drifts away easily. And then you might lose your intended look that has been under way for already a month or more. Handle it with care.

Initially “Altered Decay” was a shot of trees on a foggy day in my forest. But during the decaying process, I felt that the way the decay evolved, it became a person standing on the right side of the image with a partial face, neck and shoulder. I never expected that look for one minute, but I love the result.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Not Today

There’s a poetic contradiction in crafting something with care and then watching it erode. How do you personally relate to this tension between control and surrender?

I am fascinated by the extremes and the sensitivity of life. How you can easily lose something you think you have and that you take for granted UNLESS you handle it with great care. It applies to anything in life, really: your art, your love life, your family, everything really. Don’t take anything for granted and appreciate what you have. And tell your stories through your art. It is a meditative process to work with decay. You can only control so much – the rest is up to fate. As in life…you may have good genes and look fantastic when you are young – but you don’t have a clue as to how you will age when that time comes. To be honest, I do not think I would have had the same results with my decay work when I was younger, because I would not have had enough life experience to see it / discover it. I think that what I am trying to show is something that requires the experience I have now being in my 50’s and being halfway through life. I have started to appreciate the beauty in decay. Decay holds stories and life experience that you can only know when you are “decaying” yourself – mentally and physically.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Mortality No 3

How has your work on this project evolved over time? Has working this way changed how you think about time, artmaking, or even photography, itself?

Initially I was just happy to see a decaying result of bubbles and cracks when soaking my shots. Then I started to soak my decays to the extreme by prolonging the soaking time much more than needed to achieve a very abstract result (as if it were a painting). Then I went back to decaying only to the point where my original image was still identifiable. I started to add biological material in the drying process (flowers, feathers etc.) which made the pieces extremely fragile when dried. I appreciate that a Polaroid decay takes time to create. The process cannot be forced. In today’s world we tend to rush through life. Everything has to be at a certain pace. Quick, quick, quick. But why, really? That is something I think about a lot. You can NOT do that with a Polaroid decay. And it gives me great pleasure that the process can NOT be forced.

©Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff, Micro

In an increasingly digital world, your work is tactile, analog, and slow. Is that a deliberate response to the speed and perfectionism of digital photography?

Definitely YES. I used to do digital work as a wedding- and commercial photographer. Working with Polaroid, however, has taught me to look for, and appreciate, the decisive moment. With a digital photo I can just point and shoot and if the lighting etc. is not perfect – I can always just adjust it in Lightroom afterwards. So, the risk of working this way is, for me, a risk of forgetting to grab the moment in the first place. Also, with digital photos you can do as many shots as you like. Of course you can also do that with instants, but it will quickly cost you a fortune if you just point and shoot and cross your fingers for a result. With analog photography, I think you must be more aware and present in your work and your idea and spend the required time on your shot in the search for the perfect conditions. With analog photography, you cannot rush the process or the setting if you want the intended result.

Looking ahead, are you exploring any new techniques, materials, or ideas within this theme – or beyond it

Not too long ago, I started to add a drop of food coloring to the water of some of my decays. Sometimes I choose a color that is the same color as the general color in the Polaroid. Sometimes, especially for the black and white shots, I add a contrasty color.

I have also started to roll up my Polaroids the second they come out of the camera and before the chemistry starts to dry up. This technique immediately gives the look of a polaroid decay, so it will be fun to see what happens when I soup a rolled Polaroid. Will I have a double effect, perhaps? and how can I control it? Also, I have an idea of doing a decay collage of 3×3 polaroids using the lab maybe. But this is quite an expensive project, so it is just in the pipeline at the moment.

These days, Anne-Mette Kelter Weinkouff,’s focus is on storytelling, mainly through Polaroid and primarily through the destruction of the Polaroid either as an Emulsion Lift or via decay. She likes to experiment and is fascinated by how the decaying process, along with the visible image in the shot, works as a wordless narrative in its own right. Up until 2018 Anne-Mette worked as a wedding, portrait and commercial photographer combined with a professional background within administration.

In 2022, Anne-Mette moved from Copenhagen, Denmark to County Galway on the Irish west coast to further investigate photographic techniques and learn about her overall passion for Polaroid photography, photographing the beautiful landscapes of the Irish west coast. During her stay in Ireland, she taught her techniques to various art groups in the Galway area. By the end of 2024 Anne-Mette moved back to Denmark to be closer to family and friends and make her work known to the Copenhagen photo scene. Anne-Mette mostly exhibits internationally, and her work can be found in several international publications.

Instagram @kelterphotography