Photo Archives WEST Spring 13: In an Instant

When I was twelve, I received one of the greatest gifts of my life, a Polaroid camera and a pack of 600 film. In an instant, I was hooked. I photographed all of the important elements of my twelve-year-old world: my house, my mom, my pets, my bedroom, and my friends. I would save up my babysitting earnings to spend on more and more film. I had a 35mm camera, but it just wasn’t the same. There was something magical about my Polaroid, something hard to explain, but I felt it when the camera made it’s unique sound and my photo was released.

Play for that awesome sound!

Polaroid camera

Polaroid SX-70, OneStep, and Sun 660

Examples of Polaroid Photos

I knew that my Polaroid was special, completely unaware of its history or it’s extraordinary inventor. Polaroid instant cameras entered the consumer market in 1948. They captivated amateur and avid photographers alike, with the amazing ability to produce instant pictures in 60 seconds or less. This incredible achievement was the pioneering invention of Edwin H. Land (May 7, 1909 – March 1, 1991). Born in Bridgeport, CT, Land was a scientist and inventor who dropped out of Harvard after his freshman year. He co-founded Polaroid in 1937, with the vision that the instant camera would become a key element in people’s daily lives; just like the telephone and the television.

Edwin Land showing off his inventions

“I think the new camera can have an impact on the way people live. I hope it can become a natural part of people. It can make a person pause in his rush through life. It will help him to focus himself on some aspect of life, and in the process, enrich his life at that moment. This happens as you focus through the view finder. It’s not merely the camera you are focusing; you are focusing yourself. That’s an integration of your personality, right that second. Then when you touch the button, what’s inside you comes out. It’s the most basic form of creativity. Part of you is now permanent.” Land, Time Magazine 1972

How does it work?

Original process:

A negative material was exposed inside the camera, and then pulled out while being squeezed against a chemical layer and a positive material. After 60 seconds or less the layers could be separated and the negative discarded.

Current Polacolor process:

Inside the camera, light makes a series of latent images on dye layers of the film. When the picture is auto-ejected from the camera, a processing chemical activates the image in the dye layers. After a few minutes, the final form of the print is revealed and protected by a hard plastic film.

Land’s greatest achievement was the SX-70 and remains unmatched even by today’s most sophisticated digital camera. The SX-70 made it possible for anyone to aim their camera, focus, press the shutter button, and instantly place a physical print in their hand. This is quite a remarkable thing.

SX-70, moominsean.blogspot.com

The SX-70 was a single-lens reflex (SLR) model, which simply means, what you saw in the viewfinder was what you got. It was the true realization of Land’s dream of creating, “absolute one-step photography.”

The fall and rise of Polaroid

Despite Land’s great achievements and the appeal of instant photography, Land would be asked to step down and Polaroid would fall out of favor with consumers.

Polaroid filed for Chapter 11 in 2001, was bought by the Petters Group in 2003, went bankrupt again and was sold again in 2008. Polaroid had stopped manufacturing instant cameras in 2007 and finally announced it would cease production of its instant film in 2008. Thankfully, for people like me who have a nostalgia for instant photography, there is the Impossible Project.

Impossible Project Products

“Polaroid’s end of production didn’t mark the end of interest in Polaroid photography. Actually, it helped jump-start its rebirth. What had been an unwanted commodity suddenly looked like a precious resource.” http://technologizer.com/2011/06/08/polaroid/

Excerpt from website: “In October 2008 The Impossible Project saved the last Polaroid production plant for integral instant film in Enschede (NL) and started to invent and produce totally new instant film materials for traditional Polaroid cameras. In 2010 Impossible saved analog instant photography from extinction by releasing various, brand new and unique instant films.  Therewith Impossible prevents more than 300,000,000   perfectly functioning Polaroid cameras from becoming obsolete, changes the world of photography and keeps variety, tangibility and analogue creativity and possibilities alive.”

I'm not twelve anymore, but I still get the same feeling when I use a Polaroid camera. It's instant, exciting, and magical. No digital camera can give you a one-of-a-kind, direct positive image in the palm of your hand. That's truly special.

For more information:

Polaroid official website

http://www.polaroid.com

List of Cameras:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Polaroid_instant_cameras

Timeline of Polaroid’s history.

http://polaroids.theskeltons.org/history.htm

Edwin Land

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21115581

The Impossible Project

http://www.the-impossible-project.com/about/

Insisting on the Impossible, Edwin H. Land biography