Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Shutter Closes on Polaroid

Photography can be magical. I remember the first time I slid exposed photo paper into a tray of developer and watched the image appear. Polaroid film was even better -- it developed on its own, right before your eyes, within minutes of pressing the shutter. But in this age of ubiquitous digital cameras, which everyone has in their pocket, their cell phone or PDAThe Petters Group, owners of Polaroid, announced that it will abandon the Polaroid instant film products. Polaroid, which was founded by Harvard University dropout Edwin Land in 1937, will make enough instant film to last into 2009.


Edwin H. Land, inventor of instant photography and founder of the Polaroid Corporation.

Polaroid enthusiasts take heart, the company plans to license the technology to third-party businesses to keep loyal users supplied. Polaroid stopped making instant cameras for commercial use in 2006 and halted production of consumer models last year. "We're trying to help what have been extremely loyal Polaroid customers to make our film categories last as long as we can,'' said CEO Tom Beaudoin, who was quoted in a Bloomberg news story. "The most popular film is the one everyone recognizes. It's the 600 series with the white border that you see in advertisements. It's become an icon.''


Polaroid pictures of dogs who are missing their owners are taped to a wall in an animal shelter in Baton Rouge, La.during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The shelter housed over 1,000 companion animals, including 641 dogs, 391 cats, and assorted pigs, rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, hamsters, gerbils, mice, tortoises, and birds.

Many artists, including Andy Warhol, were fans of the Polaroid process. Even filmmakers used Polaroid for creative stop-motion videos.


Passengers walk past a photograph of former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, part of an exhibit called "Faces of Ground Zero," at Union Station, Chicago, in 2002. The series of photographs was shot by Joe McNally, who used a one-of-a-kind, 12x16-foot Polaroid camera to make the pictures.

- Dave

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obama says that small town America hates people who are different. They cling to their guns and religion.

Hmmmmm?

Bit of a generalization there. And even if it is true, was it a wise thing for a presidential candidate to say. I don't think so. I guess we'll see on April 22.

Also, Wikipedia describes Rashid Khalidi as Obama's friend. Obama may even have raised money for Khalidi's charity.

Wikipedia says Khalidi used to work for the Palestine National Authority. So Khalidi may actually have worked for Yassir Arafat.

Khalidi has said a few interesting things too. Like he implied that Ariel Sharon was a terrorist. Or he made both negative and positive comments about Arafat, his supposed former employer.

Khalidi explained that Israel didn't like to talk to Arafat because he was a terrorist.

"But I could say the same about Sharon," said Khalidi.

Indeed, I feel Khalidi is correct but I suspect most American voters would not feel that way, especially those "pro-Israel voters from New York and Florida."

"Pro-Israel voters from New York and Florida" is a quote from Tony McPeek, a foreign policy advisor for Obama. McPeek's statement was "we don't have peace in the Middle East because of those pro-Israel voters from New York and Florida."

I agree with McPeek too but as Mrs. Obama stated, America is basically "ignorant." So most voters would not agree with McPeek, especially those crucial pro-Israel voters.

I agree with McPeek, Mrs. Obama and Khalidi.

But I'm not running for president.

Anonymous said...

THANKS FOR AN INTERESTING BIT OF HISTORY ABOUT THE LAND CAMERA. MOST FOLKS FIGURED THE CAMERA WAS MADE FOR TAKING  PHOTOS ON THE LAND. I WAS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WHEN I WAS TEN. I WONDERED IF THEY WOULD MAKE A SKY CAMERA OR A WATER CAMERA. GREAT LITTLE ESSAY. THANKS. IT IS SAD TO SEE PROGRESS SQUEEZING THE OLD OUT OF BOUNDS SOMETIMES................................ROB