Let’s see what develops

Last summer, I posted about my fascination with the company that is attempting to revitalize Polaroid instant photography. In that post, I said that I was definitely not in the market for one of their new cameras, which would be a ridiculous and unsupportable expense.

Well, guess what arrived today?

I am at the same time thrilled and guilty. The camera itself wasn’t bad — $139, which is $20 less than the list price at the manufacturer’s site. It’s the film that’s expensive, so I’ll only be using this on special occasions, and I’ll have to retrain myself to the old ways of making every single shot count.

The original Polaroid, founded by Edwin Land, created the field of instant photography. In 1943, Land was on vacation in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with his 3-year-old daughter. He took photos and she, with her 3-year-old wonder and curiosity, wanted to know why she couldn’t see them right away. Land, a chemist who had already created the Polaroid company to sell a filter for polarizing light, was prompted to develop an instant photography system. The first peel-apart Polaroid cameras were developed in the late 40s, and then in the 70s came a new system which produced a dry photograph with no peeling or waste. An epic patent battle ensued when Kodak introduced its own instant photography system violating some of Polaroid’s patents. Polaroid won that case…