Farewell Polaroids

In one of AIGA’s most recent articles in Voice (“an online publication for the discussion of design matters, featuring insightful interviews, engaging essays and thoughtful criticism”), Phil Patton addresses the announcement this past February that Polaroid will be closing its U.S. factories that are making instant film. He traces the history of different models of older Polaroid cameras and some famous uses of Polaroid photography by artists and in movies in the past. I agree with his assertion that Polaroid cameras were momentous in democratizing photography. Now that everyone can photograph, is everyone also a “photographer”? It really is unbelievable to think about how certain technological advancements from the last decade (e.g. digital cameras, cell phone cameras, online photo sharing sites, Facebook, blogs, and online photo printing sites) even make disposable cameras and the notion of 1-hour photo development in your local Walgreen's seem obsolete.

So while many are up in arms about the expiration of older Polaroid cameras, I have to ask: is it the actual camera you’re going to miss or are you more importantly going to miss what Polaroids represent? I think most can agree that it is what Polaroids represent, namely the potential immediacy of a print. Today, with digital cameras and features like viewfinders, can’t we get that same immediacy? We no longer have to wait for hours or days just to see if a picture came out. We can make sure that the moment we’re capturing is exactly how we want it to be remembered. So if both digital cameras and Polaroids have this immediacy, perhaps it is the authenticity and lack of control that will be missed. Polaroids are produced with the conception that they will not be reproduced or altered – what you see is what was really there. The result is a one-of-a-kind object. The same cannot be said for digital photography.

Polaroid has always struggled to redefine its brand in the eyes of a consumer as a technologically-forward brand that can do more than create great prints. And maybe retiring the instant film is Polaroid’s way of saying that it belongs in the digital world that many consumers and artists have already embraced. This fall, according to a New York Times article, Polaroid expects to bring to market a hand-size, battery-powered printer that produces color snapshots in about 30 seconds. I’m curious whether any of the Polaroid loyalists will actually fork over the $150.

http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/gone-in-sixty-seconds
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/technology/13novel.html