strandgut

on the death of the polaroid

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:: hello :: this is going to be a special post about the death of the polaroid ::

:: i‘m sure this sad news has reached everybody by now :: since a large part of this space is devoted to the polaroid, i just wanted to say something about it :: i was very sad at first but i wanted to let it sink in for a while ::

:: where to start :: when i started studying photography, hardly anyone had a digital srl. when i finished almost everyone had one :: sometimes i was being surrounded by a bunch of tech-geeks, that just happen to be around in these kinds of facilities :: these folks would worry about things i never even thought about :: so, at times it felt like hardly a week passed by without someone announcing a major change or company breakdown :: there is the digital revolution in photography going strong and it has an economic wave on it‘s back sweeping the ground :: so many companies and products just vanished or got sold because the consumer market for digital cameras rolled up the field from the bottom to the top :: there is no more bronica :: there is no more contax :: there is no more agfa and rpx black&white film, that was so widely used by so many photographers for ages :: at times, there was a serious worry, wether leica would be able to make it (have no idea what the situation is now) :: the latest that bit the dust is sinar :: i‘m sure there‘s tons of others :: so the death of the polaroid is but one link in the chain of events :: it might sound cold, but it makes perfect sense to me economically, that they stop making the film we love so much :: it won‘t stop there either, that‘s for sure :: i wonder at what point a company announces that they stop making film altogeher ::

:: why do i tell you this :: maybe you get the point that when photography is the main thing you do, this gives you the air of uncertainty :: it was all a flow and a wave and still is :: it has affected my everyday life as a photographer already for years :: a while back the lab where i had small jobs done just stopped developping film altogher and would not do the prints anymore i had them do for me :: where to go now ? :: the labs in my university where doomed to be closed for years, with shift-hours being reduced all the time and closure extending. people would take the most craziest effort to not have it fall under the economic death sentence - with not much success :: these constant changes felt at times exhausting because there just seemed nothing to rely on anymore :: the overall idea is : the things that you (just) got to know are about to go :: i want to say at this point, that i‘m truly greatful everyday, that i had the opportunity to learn all those old techniques ::

:: as i learned today, there might be various parties interested in buying up some of the polaroid producing plants :: it might be, that some of the instant life will prevail :: what i‘m really worried about is these special varieties, that only polaroid produced, that would produce a negative or you could do transfers with :: will those still be there ? ::

:: but the main point here for me is this :: i‘m not going to have myself being dominated by this anymore :: i will have noone dominate my vision and most certainly not any kind of company with purely economical interest :: i‘m not going to stock up on anything :: it does not feel right to me to invest and hold onto things that are doomed to go and frankly i don‘t have a freezer to pile it all up in :: it feels like a negative activity to me :: if there is material around i‘ll use it. if not, then so be it ::

:: the visions will prevail always :: in any photographer :: so many people have expressed their sadness already, but i truly believe, that the visions of the people who‘s polaroids we all love so much in the online-community and beyond will prevail, no matter what will become of the polaroid or any other film :: they will continue to amaze us and paint the sky for us in any color in other mediums :: they will keep on saying what they want to say and great pictures will continue to be taken until doomsday :: we all will find new ways to express ourselves like the water finds its way :: the polaroid being stopped will not put an end to the great need for things that feel handmade, authentic and unique that is so visible everywhere and that i so love in the polaroid :: the vision and the mind will keep ruling ::

:: keep calm and carry on ::

:: thanks for your time ::

posted by anne
Feb 15, 2008 - 14:26
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