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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'

nostalgia « Previous | |Next »
October 21, 2009

Polaroid Corpoation has gone. It had withdrawn from analog instant film products completely in 2008. The SX-70/600 film system is now history. There is the Polanoir Gallery first ever Polaroid-only art gallery in Vienna and Polanoid.net the biggest Polaroid gallery on the web.

What is left is nostalgia for what once was. People like the look and feel of Polaroid analog photography. They have a retro look with lovely colors.

BaileyD. flowerPolaroid.jpg David Bailey, Swinger, 2008, Unique Polaroid

This image is from an exhibition at Atlas Gallery. The expiration date of the last batch of manufactured Polaroid film - the 9th October 2009 - marked the opening of the Polaroid Exhibition at Atlas Gallery in London. It is the passing of an era.

For many people, Polaroid film was reminiscent of a simpler form of instant photography --a mass product during the 70's/80's. Polaroid hopes to reposition itself in the digital-imaging environment with the PoGo, an instant photo printer producing 2 × 3 inch (5 × 7.5 cm) prints, whilst building on its brand-name recognition and long history in the medium.

In contrast, we have the revival of polaroid film and cameras by Florian Kaps', a leading manager of the Lomographic society and founded Polanoid.net, a site dedicated to the art of Polaroid photography, with his Impossible Project. This project aims to produce film of two exposure types, each compatible with both the classic SX-70 cameras popular with artists and the more modern 600 series. The team in the Netherlands has had to start from scratch as many of these components don't exist anymore. The aim is not to rebuild the Polaroid format but create a new system complete with characteristics of its own.

Will the same problem that plagued the original Polaroid stock — the increasing popularity of digital photography — befall the fate of the film produced by The Impossible Project? Or will it become a niche or micro-market that treats photography as a craft that keeps a picture-making technology alive when a major manufacturer can no longer justify keeping it in the product line. The faux-Polaroid “Polaroid look” will doubtless endure in our lens culture.

| Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at 8:07 PM |