The end of an era. Polaroid ceases production of its famous instant film
With the rise of digital technology in the late 20th century, it’s no surprise that the Polaroid instant camera will soon join the ranks of the transistor radio, the reel to reel tape recorder, the HI FI set, the vinyl record, the 8 track tape player, the hand held movie camera, picture slides and the princess phone. These things, like the Polaroid camera, once were beloved by a postwar generation, a generation that was spoiled and more than a little naïve. But mostly they were hopeful about their future as they looked at life through those 3-D rose colored movie glasses.
Edwin Land invented the revolutionary Polaroid instant photography. Land was the American inventor and physicist. His one-step process for developing and printing photographs created the sensation of instant photography. The first Polaroid camera was sold to the public in November 1948. But, for me, it was in the 1950s that I was given my first beautiful Polaroid. They were expensive, selling at $166.00 a pop. They came in their own heavy leather box- like case, with all the tools, gadgets and film needed to make taking pictures the most interesting and fun thing to do with your friends.
Later, the black and white Swinger camera sold for under $20 and was a big hit with consumers of all ages. Teens loved them for slumber parties, where they could take pictures their parents would never see, or so they thought. There was a negative of every photo that was taken in the cast away film, if someone like a parent wanted to check it out! Like most kids in the 1950s and 60s receiving a deluxe Polaroid for Christmas was high on our wish list.
I’ll never forget my first Polaroid. It was a model 600, a pristine, metallic gray with a long accordion type bellows that unfolded, extended out and locked into position before taking a picture. Just going through the process made one feel as if we were somehow just a little more artistic, talented and intelligent for just having one of these wonderful cameras in our possession. There was always one person in the household who understood the complicated directions on how to use this new fangled wonder. In my house it was my older brother who seemed to understand the directions best.
So he was given the job of loading it, setting the lens openings, and coating the film after each picture was taken. To this day, I don’t know why we had to coat the picture with that pungent smelly stuff, but it was a must or the picture wouldn't develop. No one was allowed to touch the picture, or come near it, not even breath on it, or so we thought, for at lease a full minute while the picture was going through its metamorphoses and somehow mysteriously materialized into a clear picture.
There were multitudes of failures before we finally got one good picture. We all were so excited by the mere thrill of it; we were blaming each other for every bad photo that came out, but no matter how upset we got we never lost sight of the magic that was happening before us. Up until then we had to use flashbulbs (flashbulbs, for those of you who don't remember, were small lamps that popped in and out of the old fashioned cameras and created a bright flash when the picture was taken). After every picture the subjects in the film went around with big black spots before their eyes.
The unique and cleaver Polaroid didn't need flashbulbs, it had a light attachment called a "wink light" that never needed replacing, it lasted forever. How cool was that? It took me some time before I could use my Land camera without help from my big brother or consulting my lengthy instruction booklet. Once I learned how to set the meter for shade, full shade, sun, light sun, hazy sun, full sun, cloudy, no sun, indoors, and outdoors, there was no stopping me and no end to the fun I would have. I remember how my relatives eyes would light up with excitement when they saw my family coming to the get-togethers with our Polaroid Land Camera under my arm...
I think my Old World Grandma was the most impressed by the magic of this miraculous camera, she just delighted with giggles and laughter every time she saw her image emerge from that small black 4x4 blank canvas. Great Aunt Isabelle thought I could only take pictures on land with my new camera because it was called "a Polaroid Land Camera." Papa, on the other hand, just shook his head from side to side as if something had been lost instead of found.
The little kids in the family really loved the new camera and soon had developed their own mantra every time they saw me with my camera, "take my picture", "take my picture,"... but the owners of Polaroid cameras couldn’t just take pictures willie nilly, the film was much too expensive for that, no we had to choose our shots carefully and make sure we got as many people in the frame as we could. Otherwise, if someone didn’t get to see himself or herself in one of my Polaroid pictures it was taken as a personal affront.
Through the years, people have owned a lot of different styles and makes of the Polaroid camera, but trying to decide which one was the best would be like trying to decide which episode of "I love Lucy" was our favorite. They were all great! The Swinger was every teen’s favorite for parties, school and home. The sx-70 model 2 was one of the first models and the land camera model j66 was popular with men and women who took their picture taking more seriously.
The square shooter was everybody's favorite from grandpa to grandson. And like most collectors, I wish I had kept my beautiful model Polaroid that came with its own heavy leather case, Swede bag for all the "Wink Light" and film. The camera was heavy and made to last, not like the many throwaway cameras of today that are tossed when they have shot a roll of film. I guess I'm beginning to understand just what grandpa meant when he’d lament over the loss of an old, well made, item.
He'd say to me, "Cookie, they just don’t make things like that anymore". Yeah papa, I understand now just what you meant. We’ve got our blackberries, our digital cameras, our picture cell phones and our toss away cameras, etc. Yeah, papa, they just don’t make ‘em like they use to anymore.
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