Then it dawned on me: While I took Polaroid photos well into the 1990s, it's been years since I last used my camera...and come to think of it, I have no idea where it is and am not positive I still own it. And reading coverage of the film plant shutdown, I learned that the company stopped making cameras a year ago. I didn't notice at the time, which is probably a sign that I don't really have the right to be livid about the film going away.
Still, it's a sad day. I don't really need to explain why the once-iconic Polaroid instant camera was rendered obsolete: When photography went digital in the late 1990s, all cameras became instant cameras in most respects that mattered. Poor Polaroid became an anachronism; thousands of people at the Cambridge, Massachusetts company that was an icon of my Boston-area youth lost their jobs.
But in the great scheme of things, it wasn't that long ago that Polaroid was the coolest consumer-electronics company going. I was eight years old when the Polaroid SX-70--the first instant camera that shot a photo out of the camera with no work needed on the part of the photographer--was released. And I have vivid memories of lusting after a family friend's SX-70. At $180, it was an extremely pricey gadget for the early 1970s, but it was a beautiful-looking piece of machinery (parts of the case were made of real leather!) and what it did felt closer to magic than any piece of personal technology I can think of.
Polaroid in its heyday reminds me of Apple--it was a company led by a charismatic, long-serving leader (Edwin Land) that made slick, innovative, somewhat pricey gadgets. And in decidedly Apple-esque fashion, it marketed them really well. So looking at a few vintage Polaroid commercials is an entirely appropriate way to mourn the end of Polaroid photography. Thanks to YouTube, we can do that right here.
Back in 2005, we named a 1965 Polaroid model called the Swinger as the 43rd greatest gadget of the last 50 years. I'm too young to remember the camera; actually, I never heard of it until we began to plan the article. But I vividly remember a coworker, about a decade older than me, passionately argue for its greatness. And it had a TV commercial that sported both a catchy jingle and a pre-Love Story Ali McGraw...
Don't miss Harry McCracken's awesome article and watch the YouTubes he collected ... it's fun.
Polaroid may be out of the instant photography business, but the company lives on as a shell of its former self, licensing its name for use on products such as HDTVs and DVD players. I find most uses of the venerable, once-great brand on generic technology products to be embarrassing at best--can anyone tell me why it makes sense to sell a Polaroid GPS unit? But there's one modern Polaroid product that I can get at least a little excited about: Its pocket-sized photo printer, based on technology from a company called Zink. It's a unique way to get photos instantly--and hey, Zink was founded by refugees from Polaroid.
Still, I feel a twinge of sadness each time I see the Polaroid name on a modern product. The real Polaroid's technological innovations brought a lot of pleasure to a lot of people for several decades...and watching these commercials again sure reminded me just how much Polaroid cameras meant to me for a long time.
Royalty free Picture of the day:
Wild Grasses: These plants, when swaying in the warm wind, can turn every landscape into a spectecular sight
Photography lovers who liked this also liked:
withered art
withered canvas prints
withered framed prints
withered prints
withered posters
withered greeting cards
withered photos
vintage art
vintage canvas prints
vintage framed prints
vintage prints
vintage posters
vintage greeting cards
vintage photos
reflection art
reflection canvas prints
reflection framed prints
reflection prints
reflection posters
reflection greeting cards
reflection photos
unusual perspective metal prints
commerce acrylic prints
commerce metal prints
dangerous metal prints
cleaning metal prints
No comments:
Post a Comment