Charlie Fish
Goodbye Polaroid
Resource, July 1st, 2008
Who doesn't love Polaroids? In this probing article, various industry insiders reveal how the loss of the beloved format will affect their professional--and personal--lives. Excerpt:
"It’s doubtful Polaroid instant camera creator Edwin H. Land could have predicted just how important a contribution his 1947 Land Camera would become. It’s even more doubtful Land would’ve given the thumbs up on halting production on the company’s number one product if he were around today. Decades later—and various reincarnations later—Polaroids are as much a part of our personal lives as they a part of the fine arts.
But Polaroids aren’t just for those who’d received an SX-70 as a birthday gift. Industry professionals rely on the medium because, they insist, there’s magic in Polaroids that digital still hasn’t captured. Iwona Waluk, a partner of (and booker for) Basic Model Management, relies on Polaroids on a daily basis to, “Capture the most natural way the model looks.” Like all modeling agencies, scouts rely on Polaroids rather than on digital images not out of necessity but out of its aesthetic appeal. “Digital images lack a three-dimensionality,” she says. “The slightly blurry effect,” she continues, “Creates a certain mood: It’s not so see-through and transparent, it captures the spirit."
