Emily Shur's Unseen Polaroids Capture the 2000s Celebrity Era

A cache of Polaroids by celebrity photographer Emily Shur, dating from 2002 to 2009, offers a time capsule of early-2000s pop culture and pre-digital photography. Shur, who shot for magazines like GQ, Spin, Rolling Stone, and Wired, used the Polaroids as reference images for large-format camera shoots. She kept them in labeled IKEA drawers at her Los Angeles home office, valuing their unique color palette and candid moments. Subjects include Mark Zuckerberg, Avril Lavigne, Ghostface Killah, Coolio, Nicole Scherzinger, Kid Rock, Adam Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Peter Sarsgaard, Zach Braff, Jeremy Scott, Mike Gordon, Danger Mouse, Tony Curtis, and Jane Goodall. The Polaroids capture a bygone era of fame and analog photography, as digital soon replaced the need for reference images. Shur held off digital until around 2006, preferring the mystery and control of large-format. The collection reveals unexpected tales, like Cheryl Hines with running mascara, now ironic given her marriage to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Shur studied at NYU, worked at Rolling Stone, and got her break shooting Avril Lavigne for Interview in 2002. She has since released monographs on Japan and her L.A. neighborhood.