Punk icon and keen photographer Patti Smith has become choosy with her subjects because she uses rare Polaroid film.

The Because The Night hitmaker has become "frugal" when she is out snapping because the Polaroid company no longer produces instant film for its classic cameras.

She tells Reuters, "I've been taking pictures continuously since 1995 until the end of Polaroid film. I'm taking very few pictures now because I have very little film left, most of it expired...

"I never snapped everything. Polaroid by its nature makes you frugal. You walk around with maybe two packs of film in your pocket. You have 20 shots, so each shot is a world."

Smith is launching Camera Solo, an exhibit featuring 70 of her Polaroid snapshots, in the Art Gallery of Ontario in Canada from 9 February (13) to 19 May (13).

The collection features pictures of gravestones, religious imagery and items that belonged to late writers and artists.