Another passing of era was just announced! Polaroid is ceasing production of its instant film, which will become unavailable sometime after 2009. So much of our family histories were recorded on Polaroid film. We discovered the joys of “instant” pictures.
I was a teenager when the Swinger Land camera made its appearance in the market. You might remember those sometimes fuzzy black and white pictures and the gooey, chemical stick that needed to be rubbed on the image to keep it stable. But, oh, it was instant…or at least as instant as any product available for a teenager to use. And the Swinger by the community pool added to the fun because EVERYBODY wanted to be in the picture.
During a television interview in 2007, Oprah Winfrey remarked that her Swinger camera, a gift from a fan, was the first thing she would want to save in a fire. As a teenager, she could not afford one and so, that inability to own one became part of her personal history. As one of the richest women in the United States, Oprah could afford just about any object she wished. But that Swinger camera was so much a part of her past that the fan’s gift filled a hole in her personal history.
Harry McCracken recently held a nostalgic “wake” of sorts for Polaroid, complete with You Tube videos. Remember the James Garner and Mariette Hartley partnership (when viewers wondered if they were married), Hugh Laurie of “House” and the Muppets as spokesmen and the advertising jingle for the Swinger? You shouldn’t miss all the videos at http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/006464.html
The blog posting doesn’t mention how aspiring “artists” discovered Polaroid could be a canvas when we learned how to move the emulsion around before the image set. All of sudden, a face could appear distorted or a head could sprout horns. It was all part of the fun of Polaroid.
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But family history was recorded for posterity on Polaroid film.
When my child was born, my husband and I didn’t have a camera with us to record his first few hours, but the hospital did. It was a Polaroid. Over time that image has begun to fade so it has now been digitized and archived to stop the passage of time. Without Polaroid, that instant in our family's history would not have been recorded.
The thrill of watching an image appear as the photograph developed will soon be lost. Somehow the convenience of digital cameras doesn’t replace the emotion that was part of Polaroid.
I was a teenager when the Swinger Land camera made its appearance in the market. You might remember those sometimes fuzzy black and white pictures and the gooey, chemical stick that needed to be rubbed on the image to keep it stable. But, oh, it was instant…or at least as instant as any product available for a teenager to use. And the Swinger by the community pool added to the fun because EVERYBODY wanted to be in the picture.
During a television interview in 2007, Oprah Winfrey remarked that her Swinger camera, a gift from a fan, was the first thing she would want to save in a fire. As a teenager, she could not afford one and so, that inability to own one became part of her personal history. As one of the richest women in the United States, Oprah could afford just about any object she wished. But that Swinger camera was so much a part of her past that the fan’s gift filled a hole in her personal history.
Harry McCracken recently held a nostalgic “wake” of sorts for Polaroid, complete with You Tube videos. Remember the James Garner and Mariette Hartley partnership (when viewers wondered if they were married), Hugh Laurie of “House” and the Muppets as spokesmen and the advertising jingle for the Swinger? You shouldn’t miss all the videos at http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/006464.html
The blog posting doesn’t mention how aspiring “artists” discovered Polaroid could be a canvas when we learned how to move the emulsion around before the image set. All of sudden, a face could appear distorted or a head could sprout horns. It was all part of the fun of Polaroid.
.
But family history was recorded for posterity on Polaroid film.
When my child was born, my husband and I didn’t have a camera with us to record his first few hours, but the hospital did. It was a Polaroid. Over time that image has begun to fade so it has now been digitized and archived to stop the passage of time. Without Polaroid, that instant in our family's history would not have been recorded.
The thrill of watching an image appear as the photograph developed will soon be lost. Somehow the convenience of digital cameras doesn’t replace the emotion that was part of Polaroid.
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