Polaroid - a new beginning

Polaroid:

The end, the revival and Lady Gaga Polaroid

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This is not a history of Polaroid, nor is it a tutorial on instant photography. This is not a promotion piece. It is just a short and simple tribute to an iconic brand. A short tribute

Polaroid is dead, but not quite:

Polaroid is dead, but not quite It occupied a unique niche, for amateurs, artists, and professionals, casting agencies, i nsurance companies, builders, surveyors, and many more. In the of spring 2008, Polaroid ceased production of cameras and films.

The impossible project:

The impossible project What a shame it would be to lose a truly iconic brand. The Impossible Project was created in Holland to keep the Polaroid idea alive. The impossible project was created to keep Polaroid alive.

It all started with Edwin Land:

It all started with Edwin Land 1929: Edwin Land decides to make his name by solving one of science’s long-standing unsolvable problems – polarizing light without needing a large crystal of an esoteric mineral. He creates the first synthetic sheet polarizer in 1929 and later files his first patent 1937: Polaroid Corporation is founded. 1948: Instant photography goes on sale to the public for the first time with the Polaroid Model 95 camera and Type 40 film. Ansel Adams is hired as a consultant.

Polaroid for artists, for pros, for you and me:

Polaroid for artists, for pros, for you and me Everyone who dabbled in photography must have used some Polaroid product at one time.

Instant Artists:

Andy Warhol Instant Artists David Hockney Elsa Dorfman

Andy Warhol:

Andy Warhol 6/08/1928 – 22/2/1987 Enfant terrible of the art world in the 60s, he famously said that “everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. ” Some pictures were taken with a specific camera that Polaroid kept in production especially for Warhol. Debbie Harry (Blondie) Farrah Fawcett

David Hockney:

David Hockney David Hockney is considered one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. Between 1970 and 1986, he made his “joiners” by taking Polaroid photographs of one subject and arranging them into a grid layout. Born 9 July 1937

Elsa Dorfman:

Elsa Dorfman Elsa Dorfman (born in 1937) is a portrait photographer who works in Cambridge,  Massachusetts. She is known for her use of a Polaroid 20 by 24” camera from which she creates large prints. She has photographed famous writers, poets, and musicians and ordinary people too.

Tools for pros: instant proofs:

Tools for pros: instant proofs All professional cameras could be fitted with a Polaroid back for proofing.

Tools for pros: negative+positive:

Tools for pros: negative+positive 6x9cm Negative-positive . This was a strange combination of negative + positive print. The positive was fixed with a gel stick. The negative was fixed with a solution in a plastic bucket. It produced an excellent tonal range and beautiful low grain. Then you could use quite rapidly in your enlarger and produce blow ups with very attractive tonal range and sharpness, excellent for portraits

Tools for pros: the SX-70:

Tools for pros: the SX-70 And then, there are all the artists who try their hands at manipulating the film from the SX-70, a fabulous reflex camera, lifting the emulsion, transferring it to a different support, painting it, doing all sorts of weird processes. Check the Web for examples: you will find something that you like.

Toys for the rest of us:

Toys for the rest of us There were so many models of cameras and films across the years, for every taste. But they all provided the same thrill of delivering a real photo on paper in a matter of instants. The magic of instant picture lived on for years, until digital took over.

Classic Instant- Polaroid 300:

Classic Instant- Polaroid 300 is back with the new Polaroid 300 Instant Camera and film. They say that it has everything you loved about instant photography back in a fun and one-of-a-kind Polaroid way. With four lighting settings and an auto-flash, your photos will be perfect every time.... It’s not clear if this is still available and where. INSTANT

Pogo – Digital camera:

Pogo – Digital camera The Polaroid PoGo™ Instant Digital Camera is the first digital camera with its own integrated printer that is small enough to take on-the-go. Zink means Zero INK The PoGo Instant mobile digital printer with no ink, to print your photos anywhere form any digicam or even your mobile phone. The colour pink is not compulsory. Zink means Zero INK

Pic 100 and 600 films:

Pic 100 and 600 films In 2010, there was a project from Polaroid to offer a completely redesigned, modern version of the Polaroid OneStep camera, the PIC 1000. Available in a range of fun colours, it used the use classic Polaroid Color 600 Instant Film to produce the brand’s classic white border instant pictures.

Enters Lady Gaga:

Enters Lady Gaga Polaroid and its Creative Director, Lady Gaga have unveiled Polaroid Grey Label , an original line of products co-designed with Lady Gaga: style, fashion and technology.

The new Zero Ink Models:

The new Zero Ink Models Polaroid Grey Label Instant Mobile Printer GL10 GL30 camera  uses next generation ZINK - Zero Ink Technology.

Eye wear – camera glasses:

Eye wear – camera glasses GL20 Camera Glasses Users can instantly capture or upload photos with the built-in camera and then display the images on the glasses' LCD screens for others to see. Only Lady Gaga could create a hybrid that's part fashion statement, part revolutionary technology and part tool for self-expression.

Polaroid: a new beginning?:

Will new technology and a celebrity save the fate of this iconic photographic brand? Polaroid: a new beginning? Only the future will tell. A future captured by instant digital images shared on social networks across the world.