Vintage ’80s Polaroids of Amsterdam’s barflies
- Text by Miss Rosen
- Photography by Marc H. Miller and Bettie Ringma
![Vintage ’80s Polaroids of Amsterdam’s barflies](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/8.-Ricky-and-Gigi-at-the-transvestite-bar-Mdm-Arthur1_2023-03-27-104029_tome.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
In spring 1979, Bettie Ringma and Marc H. Miller moved from New York’s Lower East Side to Amsterdam. The newly arrived couple had already become known on New York’s downtown art scene, taking “Paparazzi Self-Portraits” with the new Polaroid SX-70 instamatic camera, and giving the world a taste for instant gratification.
In search of a way to support themselves in a new city, they remembered a photographer hustling Polaroid portraits at Coney Island and decided to test the waters. “We tried first at Zandvoort Beach but it was too much work,” Miller recalls. “The sand was potentially deadly for the camera so we moved to the nightclubs and it clicked right away.”
For next two years, they made the rounds five or six nights a week, shooting anywhere from 30 to 100 portraits a night of locals at old-school bruin cafés, Turkish cafés, soccer bars, gay bars, discos, red-light district bars, and tourist traps. They describe the portraits as “tronies,” comparing them to 17th-century tavern paintings by artists like Adriaen Brouwer who painted typological portraits very similar in spirit.
![Bar girl with live snake at Chez Tony](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/10.-Bar-girl-with-live-snake-at-Chez-Tony.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Bar girl with live snake at Chez Tony
Long before digital photography, the Polaroid SX-70 was the perfect way to get your portrait on the spot. “There are people that want the affirmation of the photos, and the opportunity to get pictures of people they knew primarily through bars and clubs,” Miller observes.
“It’s a little bit theatrical because when we’re taking a picture, the bar doesn’t completely stop but there’s a lot of attention on the process and some of the characters in these bars used that to assert their presence. There are people that want the affirmation of the photos.”
![Customer and performer at Mdm Arthur](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/7.-Customer-and-performer-at-Mdm-Arthur.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Customer and performer at Mdm Arthur
Now, nearly 40 years after they were first taken, the photographs will be on view in Amsterdam Polaroids, an exhibition at Stigter Van Doesburg Gallery, Amsterdam (January 13 – February 17, 2018). The pictures give us the perfect slice of life, from the beautiful animeermeijes (bar girls) and the regulars who stop in for a drink, to the immigrants working at local brothels have a cool one after a hard night’s work.
The desire to preserve the moment in time with a Polaroid has been so strong that even though digital photography helped put the fabled camera company out of business for a while, the tradition lives on. “To this day people come by with roses and a Polaroid camera,” Miller observes with a laugh. “Bettie and I can take some credit for that.”
![Monique and Majar at Cafe Festival](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/12.-Monique-and-Majar-at-Cafe-Festival.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Monique and Majar at Cafe Festival
![Photographer Bettie with a man with a big knife on the Zeedijk.](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/15.-Photographer-Bettie-with-a-man-with-a-big-knife-on-the-Zeedijk.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Photographer Bettie with a man with a big knife on the Zeedijk.
![At the Turkish bar Cascade](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/11.-At-the-Turkish-bar-Cascade.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
At the Turkish bar Cascade
![Bar girl Nettie at Cafe Mascotte](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/9.-Bar-girl-Nettie-at-Cafe-Mascotte.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Bar girl Nettie at Cafe Mascotte
![Drinking Group at the Old Bell Inn](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1.-Drinking-Group-at-the-Old-Bell-Inn.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Drinking Group at the Old Bell Inn
![Fifi, the French bar girl at the Mexican Saloon](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2.-Fifi-the-French-bar-girl-at-the-Mexican-Saloon.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Fifi, the French bar girl at the Mexican Saloon
![Couple at Jazzland](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/4-Couple-at-Jazzland.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Couple at Jazzland
![Ricky and Gigi at the transvestite bar Mdm Arthur](https://images.huckmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/8.-Ricky-and-Gigi-at-the-transvestite-bar-Mdm-Arthur.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Ricky and Gigi at the transvestite bar Mdm Arthur
Amsterdam Polaroids is running at the Stigter Van Doesburg Gallery in Amsterdam from January 13 to February 17, 2018. See more of Miller and Ringma’s work on their official website.
Follow Miss Rosen on Twitter.
Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Latest on Huck
![“I refuse to accept child poverty is a normal part of our society”: Apsana Begum MP on voting to scrap the cap](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/332218299_653673959895869_4114766209936780526_n_2024-07-26-125639_apuo.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
“I refuse to accept child poverty is a normal part of our society”: Apsana Begum MP on voting to scrap the cap
After seeking to “enhance” the King’s Speech by voting for the scrapping of the controversial two child benefit cap, the MP for Poplar and Limehouse lost the Labour Whip.
Written by: Apsana Begum
![Is skateboarding really a subculture anymore?](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Huck81_Socials_HeroImage_SkateboardingIsNotASubculture_240618_V2-1.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Is skateboarding really a subculture anymore?
With skate’s inclusion in the Olympics, Kyle Beachy asks what it means for the culture around the sport, and whether it’s possible to institutionalise an artform.
Written by: Kyle Beachy
![Autism cannot be cured — stop trying](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/shutterstock_2322534063.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Autism cannot be cured — stop trying
A questionable study into the ‘reversal’ of autism does nothing but reinforce damaging stereotypes and harm, argues autistic author Jodie Hare.
Written by: Jodie Hare
![Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/Hashem-Shakeri-from-the-series-_Staring-into-the-Abyss_.-%C2%A9-Hashem-Shakeri.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Bristol Photo Festival returns for second edition
After the success of it’s inaugural run, the festival returns this autumn with exhibitions, education and community programmes exploring a world in constant motion through still image.
Written by: Ben Smoke
![Documenting the life of a New York gang leader paralysed by gun violence](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/web-Eyanna-has-always-been-Maliks-primary-caregiver.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
Documenting the life of a New York gang leader paralysed by gun violence
New photobook ‘Say Less’ is a complex yet humanising look into a life wrecked by gun violence and organised crime.
Written by: Isaac Muk
![The woman who defined 80s Hip Hop photography](https://images.huckmag.com/tco/images/Huck/7_ULTRAMAGNETIC-MCS_NYC-1990.jpg?w=1920&q=75&auto=compress&format=jpg)
The woman who defined 80s Hip Hop photography
A new exhibition brings together Janette Beckman’s visionary and boundary pushing images of an era of cultural change and moral panic.
Written by: Miss Rosen