The Polaroid Book: Selections From The Polaroid Collections Of Photography

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After a series of bankruptcies between 2001 and 2008, and as digital photography took hold, it looked like Polaroid would stop making its iconic film forever, and history would close this chapter in history. She has curated several national exhibitions and currently collaborates with the Photography Collection Committee of the Harvard University Art Museums in Cambridge. In fact, it was such a winning formula that it inspired another famous company visionary at Apple, Steve Jobs, who baked their version—“the intersection of liberal arts and technology”—deep into the values of his company as well. But we all knew from day one that the mission was to reunite with Polaroid—after all, we were making Polaroid film! The company’s brand and products permeated pop culture, and nearly fifty years after the invention of this iconic instant photo format it is still recognized, cherished, and used by millions of people around the world.

The impact on culture was impressive; artists from Warhol to Hockney and Haring to Basquiat were all using Polaroid regularly—sometimes in their work and often in their personal lives. This is when the most iconic Polaroid format was born, the one I was holding in my hands in the gallery in New York, taking it all in.This idea of business being at the intersection of art and science became a guiding north star for Polaroid - a star we still look toward today. We love instant photography; it’s still the heart and soul of the brand, and we have big plans for it for years to come. Polaroid was still a mighty business for years to come, and only started having serious problems in the late ‘90s into the 2000s.

The following is an excerpt from the new photobook, Polaroid Now, The History and Future of Polaroid Photography, by Steven Crist, with contributions from Polaroid CEO, Oskar Smolokowski. Altogether it paints a sincere picture of a brand that, despite bankruptcies and struggles against the tide of digital photography, remains a beacon in the worlds of image making and pop culture.In true Edwin Land style, he thought deeply, recruited the best scientists to the project, and worked day and night until the first instant photo product from Polaroid was launched in 1948. For keen fans eager to dig deeper into the history, the book comprises images that give an insight into manufacturing, advertising and the evolution of the camera range over the years. The Polaroid Corporation’s photography collection is the greatest portfolio of Polaroid images in the world.

there is latent interest in each other; there is tenderness, curiosity, excitement, affection, companionability, and humor. There are many books and articles written about the history of Polaroid and its legendary founder Edwin Land, and my short introduction is not meant to be a match for them. At the end of the day, we are just a bunch of people who are excited and proud about the opportunity to take the brand and what it stands for forward. Brimming with all the warmth and nostalgia of a family album, this ode to the instant camera presents hundreds of images from the Polaroid Corporation’s own collection.

It would be more than ten years later until Polaroid would first bring the idea of instant photography to the world. At the same time, Polaroid the brand lived on as strong as ever, with new ownership developing a successful licensing program. He would often sleep in his lab to keep working on projects that were “manifestly important and nearly impossible,” as he himself put it. W]e have a yen for, and a primordial competence for, a quiet, good-humored delight in each other: we have a prehistoric tribal competence .